Perhaps the days when hard work and making an honest living actually paid off were circa the 1950s, at the height of consumerism, when the intense and genuine desire to work in order to amass more shit for your starter home was undeniable. But now, in a post-2008 world, there is essentially zero reason to find faith in surrendering your balls to the man for the rest of your life when there is currently no expectation of getting anything in return later on in life for your time investment.
In addition to paying out the ass in taxes as “a person who makes money,” you’ll also invariably find yourself in a touch of credit card debt for all the vacations you need to schedule in order to distract yourself from how soul-sucking your job is. And then there’s the chance you might incur some student loan debt (in case you didn’t have it already) so that you can take classes on the side to earn some sort of degree or certification that will help you to earn more money so you can pay more of it to the people who find reasons to justify you owing them something. The best advice I can give to anyone is: don’t get a job. Either live on the fringe or remain a student forever. Otherwise, you’ll just end up owing everyone money. However, they can’t take from someone who has nothing to give.