What is the big deal about health insurance?
I am over 35 ... I pay only $130 a month for a great plan ... it has a $4,000 deductible, but so what? I only go to the doctor 4 times a year ... if I get injured, I have to pay up to $4,000 .... That's fine.
This is for only $135 a month, including dental. There are lots of deals out there.
Don't let "benefits" influence your decision to work for yourself, unless your company has huge 401k matching or something -- or you have an entire family you need to ensure or something.
What's the big deal with medical insurance? Are you serious? I have 3 kids...my first two were born perfectly healthy. My 3rd was born with esophageal atresia and an imperforate anus. By the time he was 3 he had already had 10 surgeries with medical bills totaled in the millions. He is 7 now and is tube fed 5 times per day. Supplies and formula run around $500 per month and in addition he has to get esophageal dilitations several times a year which are over $10,000 each time. That's the big deal. Not every one is fortunate enough to be healthy and you can forget about getting a private policy for yourself or your kid if there is a pre-existing condition. As far as state sponsored insurance programs go those are usually based on your income so if you make over $35000 per year you don't qualify. That being said, I'm fortunate enough to have a spouse who does the 9-5 thing to keep us insured.
As to the original question of "can you make a living doing AM"...yes, you absolutely can. I ran a successful internet based mortgage brokerage for 8 years while doing AM part time on the side. My affiliate income grew every year and I was able to quit my mortgage brokerage and do AM full time. I've been at this full time for over a year now with no regrets. I'm not in the 6 figure league yet (working on it) but I currently have 3 sites which brought in over $50,000 last year. I don't do ppc, all of my traffic is from organic search so all of the income generated, save for hosting fees, was pure profit. I only wish this AM shit was around when I was 18 or 19 as I'd be a fucking millionaire by now.