if the career you want to pursue doesn't give you enough money do you give up on it?

This is a really interesting question. The answer is a little complicated. Normally I would say you should do what you enjoy regardless of the financial implications. However, there's one big caveat: you need to be able to eat and sleep someplace with a roof over your head. So basically you should focus on what you enjoy, but you do need to at least make sure that you're going to be able to live the lifestyle you want while you're pursuing your passions.

Just be real about it. Decide what you need to get by. How much does it cost to rent an apartment in the city or suburb you want to live in? Do you expect to purchase a home? Do you want to drive a BMW or are you fine taking public transportation? How much does it cost for you to eat and buy clothing and whatever else you need to do? You don't need to budget out your whole life, but be honest with yourself about what you absolutely need to be financially secure at a basic level. To give you an example, for me that's at least $1,000 per month for rent, plus $400 per month for food, $150 per month for public transportation, another $200 for utilities and my cellphone, and $200 for shopping and medicine. That's about 2 grand per month, before counting student loans. Keep in mind that I have to pay taxes on my income (say, 20%?) before paying for all of this. I'm not going to do all the math for you :) but you can figure out the annual total if you add it all up properly.

Once you're sure you have a way to achieve that minimum financial sustainability, I'd say go follow your passions!

The most important aspect of having a career is to LOVE what you are doing. When you love what you are doing, you will naturally want to learn more about it, do it all the time, and you will, in time, become excellent at what you are doing and love. It is important to be able to make enough money to support yourself, too. I suggest you not give up on what you love doing - keep doing that -- and learn more about how you can do what you love and still make enough money to support yourself. For example, if you are a comic book artist, you could go to college and take graphic design and illustration courses, continue to improve your comic books, and also get a job doing other kinds of graphic design and illustration work while improving your comic book designs. Or if you are a musician, you can go to college to learn about different forms of music, become a better musician, do gigs in the evenings and weekends, and teach music to support yourself. I'm 60 years old - and what I learned is that it's most important to love your job and build a career around what you love.

Although money is needed to live a happy life it is not the only thing to think about. Money can buy many things but not happiness. Choose a career that challenges you and makes you happy. The most rewarding part of success is true happiness. When your only goal is money you take the risk of stressing over the wrong things. When you love what you do it nolonger becomes a job and a chore to complete. It becomes a pleasure to continue!

Follow your passion and you will figure out how to cover your needs. Here is a great video from Simon Sinek. Skip the ad and fast forward to 50 seconds into the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNiKmZ__yZY