By the way, as my post says, I locked away 5k to achieve that hypothetical rate of pay. Most professionals pay nothing to get a job (in fact, some get signing bonuses).

And I never claimed 200k per year. I said 500k for 3 years would have been great.

If we imagine I had 5k sitting around I didn't need or want to invest elsewhere, then there was no cost other than the 5k. In that case, 500k minus the initial 5k would be 495k in 3 years. I have used several grand in PCs, video cards, hard drives, cameras, and other hardware. Replacement cost several grand, say another 5k. So I'd have 490k after paying basic costs and working full time for 3 years.

Just over 160k per year. That would be pretty amazing, a dream job. Even in Canadian dollars that would be as much as my college buddy, who went into programming, and works for a big company in Vancouver. I could even buy really nice hardware (not just replace the old low-end stuff I generally have access to). I could pay a mortgage, feed my wife and son, and start paying for proper health care, track down what happened to me 4 years ago, and see if there's a way I can beat whatever it is. Be able to walk further again, see better, sleep properly, not be in constant pain, not be twitching all over uncontrollably.... man, the idea brings tears to my eyes. It's been so long since I wasn't in constant agony. I can only imagine how my channel would be able to take off.

But like I said in the post, I'd settle for breaking even (not losing money to post here), though I'm a long way from achieving that.