My formula lately has been to get three levels of education, then stack Cost of Living as much as possible until age 16, along with a purchase of a computer when I am 15 (not sooner, cause there is sales tax that can bankrupt you before you become of working age).

Then at 16 I take a level in Skilled Trade occupation, next year I buy a crypto machine; and then I have one more year of free* income before I leave the house. With the second half of 17 I buy a level of house borrowing (called Secured Loans I think) - having those on standby virtually assures I wont fail early.

At that point I start pursuing whatever I am hoping to learn from this play session.

Note* interest rates can be killers, both good and bad. If you are in a high inflation economy, then Municipal Bonds are a great investment early; and if are in one too, steer clear of debt. There is a lot of RNG in the events sections, although domestic politics can be pretty easy to predict.

If you are not in a high interest rate economy, then I recommend taking some levels in Blue Chips or Income stocks early, and building an independent income that way.

The trick it seems is that if you never have high job income, your life expenses are lower, tho I am not certain. That's the way it works in Rich Dad's Cash Flow games at least.

One thing about having Secured Debt tho; if you DO* get divorced, you split the burden, so a divorce can actually help you sometimes.

The other forms of debt than Secured are just not worth investing time into learning. I did play a game where I didnt learn Secured early enough, so I had to use student loans; it was manageable but not ideal.

Debt, early debt, is an important skill to learn. Dont discount it as a "Grrrr deficit" guy.