Hi Nick,
In a world where we are subjected to fake news at every turn, it is useful to surround yourself with facts sometimes. I don’t dispute your findings, far from it. It illustrates the futility of what we do, although as i-d-i said, even if the odds weren’t so completely stacked against us, as CGs, we’d end up losing it all eventually.
Your plan to produce and stick to a budget sounds like a great idea. When I have looked at things in the cold light of day without any gambling going on, I was staggered at how little I actually needed to spend to exist. It’s like a real life version of those “Eat/Live Well for Less” programmes on the telly!