You never responded that he shouldn't charge. You just said that you don't charge and then began describing your own experience. He asked if the information he got was right, yet you didn't answer him. In fact your first post just states that you don't do paid gigs for retirement homes and you end with an alluding however... This leads the reader to believe that you are taking in the consideration of paid gigs and may look into the possibility in the future. Thus the ... . You can give your own experience which is no doubt useful to him, but never directed an answer towards the student.

I just feel bad for the kid. Obviously he wants to start something good, but only a few people like stim are actually answering his question. The purpose of the forum is to talk and answer the question given. Not just talk about a related thread because you can do that at other places on this site.