Well, I am out here doing a job I hate, selling my soul if i had sucha thing to afford it... But, there really isn't another way unless you live where you can get insurance for it.

I honestly feel I am moving at a snails pace, but i would have to make over 100k a year to really live in the dc area and transition at the speed I would like. Right now though I am just very excited to have broken out of retail hourly work, making $10 an hour at Target wasn't ever going to let me transition... I couldn't even afford rent and food, or a car. In fact rent consumed 83% of my income, which is a sad reality for many of us who live in cities.

In any case, I make about 3 times what I made at target, and I still have to move pretty slow on things. For me money is the primary thing that dictates how fast I move.

I have a part time job that does not even pay the rent.  I get food stamps, otherwise I would not eat.  But I am still in transition.  Albeit at a snail's pace.

Well in my case i need money  lots of it, but it is not going to happen so the constant fear of living on the knife edge eats away at my soul, so many issues would be erased for me and i could go forward with life to the full but alas like most of us its off to the poor house 

Quote from: Valentina on January 30, 2010, 07:28:43 AM
Repeatedly I seem to come across people that say money isn't important & where there's a will there's a way, but realistically speaking this is easier said than done if we put transition into the picture.  There are also those peeps that think that going to Thailand for GRS is going to be a bargain which in the majority of the cases it isn't.  I went to Thailand, my parents & I stayed there for 2 weeks & let me tell you that we did spend tons of money.  It wasn't cheap as some people claim it is.  We had to make a lot of sacrifices & without the help of my parents, I wouldn't be post-op today.  My personal opinion on this is that if you've got no money to pay for transition, you aren't going anywhere & as harsh as it may sound you're stuck let alone screwed because no mystery goddess is going to come & make it all better.  So in your case, how important is/was financial stability when it comes/came to your own transition?

Money is one of biggest, if not the biggest, hurdle most transtioners face. I make a good living and I still find it difficult to budget my own cost of living expenses and balance that with my transition related expenses. It's hard.

If someone tells you money isn't important to transition, they are either living in dreamland or extremely wealthy. I know if I had a better job when I was younger, or a wealthy, understanding family, things would be much different for me now. But like all things in life, no one really gives you anything... you have to earn it.

A good job, stable income, a well-thoughtout, and frugal budget are super important during transition. No ands, if, or buts. It's a fact.

 Finances are extremely important during transition. I have decided to cut out any non-essential expenditures, as they would impede my ability to transition efficiently. Things like restaurants, more clothes than necessary, entertainment, and meat can be let go of for the sake of your journey.

Entertainment is free, because of the Internet. The rest of it... is simply unnecessary.

I've found out the hard way that financial stability is paramount.

Quote from: JennX on April 11, 2012, 08:55:12 AM
If someone tells you money isn't important to transition, they are either living in dreamland or extremely wealthy. I know if I had a better job when I was younger, or a wealthy, understanding family, things would be much different for me now. But like all things in life, no one really gives you anything... you have to earn it.

I live in dreamland. Money was not part of my decision. If I can't pay for transition it is the same to me as when I can't pay for other things. I make do as best I can.

I was full-time for a year.  Actually, I was in a pretty happy and androgynous place for several years.  I had to detransition and cut my hair for the job I have now.  It really sucks, but honestly, I don't look in the mirror all that often.  I feel a whole lot better being able to support myself and actually plan for the future.  I mean, it was wonderful living as a woman, but the whole rest of my world was a wreck.  I can postpone that until I find a trans-friendly employer.

Financial stability is so important.  I've been to a lot of support groups, and there are a lot of unemployed trans people.  I listened to a couple episodes of the Trans-Ponder podcast this week, and that seems to come up a lot that the average TG person is broke.

Our TG issues can be directly responsible for other depression/sanity/relationship/family problems, so we need to deal with them, but getting your life in order to the point that you can support yourself is more important than transitioning.

Maybe other people have actually been in a "transition or die" state where they were so overwhelmed by the need to transition that it was more important than getting the rest of their life together, but it sounds a bit delusional to me.  Life can be tough.  I've been in the position that I had to get away from an abusive relationship or die.  I've been in the position that I had to get a job or die.  I've been depressed about trans issues, but I've never felt like I had to be accepted as the gender I wish to express myself as or die.  Maybe the thought crossed my mind, but I'm sure there were other issues combining with that to make me suicidal.  If you think transitioning is going to magically fix the rest of your life then you're wrong, and you may be using the obsession with your gender issues as a distraction like I was.

Money might not directly buy happiness, but it can fix just about any stress in your life.  Transitioning will put you in a much better place inside, but it can actually hurt your financial situation quite a bit -- in terms of both the cost of transition and employment during and after transition.

Of course, I'm just talking about the difference between being indigent and being able to afford a crappy apartment.  I've seen a lot of people put off transition basically indefinitely for all kinds of excuses.  You need a plan that involves transition and you need to stick to it.  Don't be that person putting it off and feeling sorry for yourself.

Being financially dependent on other people messes you up.  You lose your self-esteem.  You tolerate abuse.  You can even resent the people who do help you.

Quote from: Janet_Girl on January 30, 2010, 03:08:44 PM
I am unemployed.  I live on Unemployment and it is tough.  But I have finally gotten things in line to begin electrolysis.  It won't be easy but it is a start, or rather a restart.

People might look at this and say your need to rethink your priorities.  A few years ago I was on unemployment and still spending my money on laser/electrolysis.  If your goal is transition then it really helps to be doing something that makes you feel like you're progressing down that path.  It's probably better to get therapy, but when I was on unemployment I could barely afford laser, and I really couldn't afford therapy.

Very important... it sucks for those of us who are younger transitioners, teenagers basically, and we have no financial stability whatsoever. I am completely broke, for example, and I'm forced to bum off of my grandparents and get my meds with insurance.

  I know alot of ts girls that turned to escorting or even the porn industry to pay for their transition. It carries alot of emotional baggage though and if you do porn those images & videos are there forever.

I wonder how different it is between MtF's and FtM's. Like, I didn't change my clothes to transition because society already tolerated my wearing boy clothes. I didn't pay for a haircut because i was just cutting it off and could do that myself. I got counseling free from the episcopalian aid agency down the street, and I pay just $10 a month for my hormones. The buckets of yuban I drink every day cost me twice that.

I also wonder if it's different between parents and non-parents. Part of why I transitioned was that I couldn't live with the idea of being so inauthentic in front of my child. Without having a kid I might have had different priorities.