Entries Tagged 'Career' ↓

I read Laura Rowley’s Yahoo Finance column pretty regularly, and this week she wrote about college debt and how many young adults with large student loans and small wages are basically debt slaves doomed to pay for their education for decades. I have also written a little bit about college finance before. In “Not rich enough, not poor enough” I wrote about how many middle class families do not qualify for financial aid or even scholarships at expensive private colleges and that drew many different responses. Some say that kids should pay for their own college expenses and others say that the financial aid system needs to be reformed. Either way, most people agree that there is a problem with having to take out huge loans to fund college. Here are some things I think parents and college bound teens should consider before signing on to a generation of debt.

1. Consider attending a state public school with in state tuition- I went to the University of California at Berkeley and all four years of tuition plus room and board cost less than one year at any private university. My parents paid for it, but if I could have paid off the entire amount with less than a year of income after I graduated. Recently an article in Forbes ranked UC Berkeley as one of the top colleges for getting rich. The study was done by PayScale.com and the schools were ranked on the median salary of alumni with 10 to 20 years of experience. I think if they gathered data on the amount of student loans some of the private school alumni are still paying, then they will probably find that Berkeley grads keep more of what they earn and pay less to the loansharks. There are plenty of great state college in this country, and I think they are the best bang for the buck.

2. Consider graduating early - If you could shave one semester,term, or even year off your college education then you would save quite a bit of money. It involves a lot of hard work and creative class scheduling, but it is worth it. I took classes that could fulfill multiple graduation requirements and also took classes in the summer session and I finished about a year early. I used the year to work at a couple internships and took one class in my last semester of senior year.

3 . Try  going to a cheap school for the first couple years and then transfer – I know quite a few people that went to community colleges and then transferred to Berkeley or other schools during their junior year. Their final degree is still from the more expensive school and no one can tell that the first two years were spent in a cheaper school.

4. Work before college – I know some people who worked for a year or two before college to save money for college. Many colleges allow you to defer enrollment for a year so you can have the opportunity to do something. 

5. Start saving early in tax advantaged accounts  – Right now I do not have kids yet, but I am putting $100 a month into a 529 education savings plan under my name.  I don’t think parents and children could save too early for a college education.  A 529 allows you to withdraw the savings for education and any gains on the investments are tax free.

Finally, I totally agree with the advice given in the Yahoo Finance article that you shouldn’t borrow a lot more than what you would earn after college.  However,  it is hard to look at the financial impacts of college loans when you are a young idealistic teenager who wants to do the things you love regardless of money.  There needs to be a balance between idealism and practicality, and perhaps more high school counselors should teach students about the effect of massive student loans.

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Recently a news item highlighted a book called “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol Dweck. Her research showed that those who believe they are innately talented and do not choose to grow tend to be less likely to fulfill their potential than people who believe their abilities can increase over time. She labeled the first group as people who have a “fixed mindset” and the second as people who have a “growth mindset”.

Dweck argued that the talented people with a fixed mindset are afraid to make mistakes and look stupid so they tend to take less challenges and develop their skills. On the other hand, those with a growth mindset jump at the chance to change and improve themselves and in the long run this group of people become more successful in business by learning from their mistakes and trials. Finally she says that it is possible for people to change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset even though it is not easy to let go “something that has felt like yourself for many years”.

Personally, I think I have been in a fixed mindset all throughout my childhood. It may have to do with being an Asian nerd who is good at school. People thought that I was smart at a pretty young age and that stereotype kind of stuck. I had very good grades in school and was really afraid of getting a B because that would be a failure. I thought that I was smart. That changed in highschool and college because I met too many people that are a lot smarter. I think when your friends are smarter or more successful than you it keeps you humble. Being in that environment also spurs a bit of healthy competition.

Now I am more up for new things and new challenges because I am no longer in school. I now understand that your grades do not matter that much in real life. Nobody cares what I got on my SATs 10 years ago, and nobody cares that I wrote an English paper that I got an A on. It is important to learn new things at work and try out new projects because otherwise I get extremely bored. If I had to do the same thing for the rest of my life then it would be like living the same day over and over again. That is a frightening thought, but most of us do it anyway because we are used to being institutionalized.

So I guess having a growth mindset means that I would be able to step outside of my comfort zone and try something unknown. I have done that when I moved out of my parents’ house, got married, and changed jobs. I must confess that I am still afraid of failure because my life is pretty good right now, but I am now less afraid of making big changes in my life because change makes life more interesting and colorful.

How about you?  Are you in a fixed mindset or do you thrive on change?

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Well, 2008 is really flying by.  Now we are in the first day of July I think it’s time for a mid year review of my goals for 2008 which I set on 12/31/2007.

Personal Goals

1. Get more involved in volunteering - I am still looking into this, but I think the biggest obstacle is my weird working schedule.  I work from 11am to 7 or 8pm on most days.  Maybe I can find things I can do at home or before I go to work.

2. Get more than 1000 visitors to this blog daily – When I set down this goal I was only writing The Baglady.  In January I was invited to write for Wise Bread and then I started San Mateo Home Sellers in Trouble in March.  So combining all three blogs now I get on average 2000 pageviews  a day. This is a huge improvement.  So I think I will have to revise this goal to getting 4000 pageviews a day on average by the end of the year.

3. Lose a little bit of weight – Well, since getting the Wii Fit and getting some motivation from my family I have been exercising with the hubby almost everyday.  So far I lost about 2 lbs, but I feel that I gained a little bit of  muscle and my thighs are more toned. So I guess we will carry on and see what happens.

4. Help out around the house a bit more – I am working on this, really.  I try to listen to the hubby when he tells me to clean certain rooms.  This weekend he said that my bathroom is above average in cleanliness.

5. Be awesome at my job – I have been at my job for almost 8 months now and I have pretty much settled in.  I learned quite a bit of new things so now my job isn’t that difficult once again.

Financial Goals

1. $100k+ in Income - I received a  small raise at work a couple months ago.  Since I was a new employee and had only been working there for four months they prorated my raise so it was about 3.5%.  I think after taxes I am earning about $100 more a month. It’s almost enough money for gas! Anyway,  I was pretty happy about it since I was expecting nothing.  My manager actually told me it was a special raise since pretty much all the other people who worked at the company for less than six months got no raise.  I believe him since in my last company all the people that has been at the company for less than nine months didn’t get a raise.  I guess it makes sense.    Anyway, my salary isn’t 100k, yet, but my blog income has grown quite a bit.  So it’s quite possible to break $100k in income this year.

2. Increase Networth by 40% - Well, we’re actually progressing nicely towards this goal.  Our networth has gone up 21% since 12/31/2007 despite the recent stock market drop. So I think we’re definitely on track for 40% by the end of the year.

3. Turn blogging into a business – I think with the income my blogging is pulling in I would have to file taxes as a business at the end of the year so I can write off some of the expenses I have incurred.  I would have to pay income taxes anyway so I might as well deduct some of the valid expenses I had such as hosting and software.

So all things considered, 2008 is turning out to be a good year.  I think writing down my goals really helped me in working towards them. Now I just have to stay the course for the second half of the year!

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My husband loves kids. Recently his best man at our wedding had a baby girl and my husband loves to hold her and look at her adoringly. (I’m jealous!) He did this at church and a woman came up to me and said, “your husband is so cute! He is just fascinated by the baby! When are you having one?”

Obviously, the cheapest thing to do is to have no kids at all, but we both agreed that we would like to have at least one kid. Personally, I believe that having kids earlier in life saves money even though I have read advice that said people should wait to have kids. Here are my reasons as to why I think having kids sooner is financially beneficial to a couple.

1. Your income is lower when you’re young – When you are young or just starting out in your career your income is probably not at the peak. So when you have less money to spend, you will probably not spoil the kid as much as parents who have a lot of money. Additionally, if you have to give up some working days to take care of the kid, the amount you lose is small if you don’t earn all that much to begin with.

2. Inflation – Expenses for food and education are increasing at a much higher rate than the base inflation and wage increases. For example, my college tuition doubled in the 4 years I attended, and food prices are rising at a very high clip lately. If we have a kid earlier, we would probably have to spend less on these things.

3. Physical health and limitations – I have read a lot of stories about women who waited to have kids only to find that it is much harder to get pregnant. This results in fertility treatments that produce unwanted multiple births and other complications. It is also a lot easier for younger women to recover from pregnancy and child bearing so I rather get it over with while I am young. Fertility treatments are expensive, and so are unexpected multiple births.

4. Energy – This is related to physical health. While I am still pretty young I have the energy to take care of the kid and handle a job. From what I have seen, young parents seem to handle the sleepless nights a lot better. I think this abundance of energy we have when we are young is helpful in balancing a career and children. I think if you are less phased at work by your kids, then your potential for career advancement is better.

5. Empty nest would come at a younger age – My mother in law pretty much retired early when she was a little bit over 45 and both of her children were done with college. She had them fairly early on and now she travels all over the world with her husband. Knowing that your children are already adults at a young age really brings peace of mind during retirement. Additionally, you no longer have to financially support them so your retirement expenses are lowered.

Anyway, most people decide to have kids later in life to save more money and advance their careers, but I think if you really want kids and you can safely afford having a kid then earlier is better. My husband doesn’t think I am ready to be a mom mentally, but one of my coworkers said to me, “No one is ever ready to be a parent!” I think that is really true, and I think we will be just fine if we have a kid within the next couple years.

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Today I saw a headline in Boston.com that listed 8 reasons why those under 30 belong to the dumbest generation. I read on, and apparently it’s a gallery based on a new book by Emory English professor Mark Bauerlein titled The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future. Here is a blow by blow of his points with my comments.

1. They make excellent “Jaywalking” targets - Here Bauerlein makes an argument that young people do not know anything beyond friends, work, and Facebook. Well, I know many people older than 30 that do not know anything beyond money, cars, and sports. Basically, I don’t think it’s unique to our generation to focus on things that are narrowly important to ourselves. Jaywalking is a TV show segment that picks out the most hilariously dumb people on the streets, and I have seen Jay find dumb people of all sizes and ages.

2. They don’t read books — and don’t want to, either – I don’t think this generalization could be blanketed onto an entire generation. Some people love to read and some don’t. I am one of those people who used to read almost a book a week, but these days I just don’t have the time to dig through the thousands of books that are written everyday. I do read a lot of news, and I don’t believe that young people don’t want to read books. If we didn’t read books then how do giant bookstores like Amazon sell so many books that are interesting and targeted to our generation?

3. They can’t spell – In this point Bauerlein states that young people’s vocabulary and spelling have been defiled by IMs and text messages. Well, I do a considerable amount of instant messaging every day, and I do use shortcuts sometimes because they are easier to type. Bauerlein seems to miss the point that texting and IMing are forms of communication equivalent to speaking. When you talk to your friends it is completely acceptable to use slang and colloquialisms that are not applicable to formal writing. I think most people I know are aware of this fact and are completely capable of spelling correctly in formal papers and reports even though they IM things like “LOL” and “luv u”.

4. They get ridiculed for original thought, good writing - This is one of the dumbest points I have read. Basically the author states that when a young person actually formally composes something original on MySpace they are ridiculed for their spark of intelligence. Well, guess what, MySpace is not a place for literary greatness, and buddies are ALWAYS making fun of each other on sites like that. My husband writes an extremely intelligent blog about games, and I have never seen him ridiculed on his blog. There is a place for everything, and Bauerlein shouldn’t be scouring MySpace for intelligent discourse.

5. Grand Theft Auto IV, etc.- Ah, here is another required bashing of games and other digital entertainment for the dumbing down of my generation. My husband could probably write a ten page rant about this since he is a video game developer and he gets a bit riled up whenever the media blames video games for the downfall of modern society. Whenever I hear people bashing video games, I wonder if they have ever played a great video game. Yes, there are a lot of dumb games, but there are a lot of dumb books and movies, too. Any piece of entertainment reflects the skill and art of its creators, and I’m sure not all of the trashy pieces of entertainment we see are created by 20 somethings. Anyway, I am pretty sure that the author of this book doesn’t have 1/100th the ingenuity and creativity that goes behind creating a great game.

6. They don’t store the information – Here the author’s point is that young people have access to a lot of information at their fingertips so they don’t make an effort to retain the knowledge they obtain. Instead, they look it up and move on. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this. For example, I am a software engineer by trade, and I don’t make an effort to memorize every defined function in a computer language because things are changing all the time. So when I need to write something I am unfamiliar with I search for functions I need and read documentation. I know pretty much all of my colleagues young and old work the same way. Some of the older people may have stored more in their heads just because they have programmed in a language for a longer period of time, but that doesn’t make them smarter. We don’t store information because there is just so much information we need to know these days. Life isn’t as simple as knowing your multiplication table and this behavior of research instead of memorization is not stupidity. I would argue that it’s actually better than memorization because we constantly obtain updated information.

7. Because their teachers don’t tell them so - Well, this point actually says to me that the teachers are dumb. I have had teachers I needed to correct. The last time this happened was in college in Physics class. There were three problems on a midterm and two of them had wrong answers on the answer key. I had to email the professor and tell him he was wrong. I just want to say that just because there are teachers that do not do their jobs well it doesn’t mean that my generation isn’t learning and thinking.

8. Because they’re young – I made a comment on Can I Get Rich on a Salary saying that it is probably unfair to judge the money habits of generation Y right now because when we are in our 20s we are in a grand stage of transition. Life is confusing and abruptly changing for any generation of people at this age range. Anyway, this is an extremely retarded reason to call an entire generation stupid. It is almost as absurd as calling my friends’ children’s generation dumb just because they are all babies that can’t do anything but poop and eat. I really wonder if Bauerlein admitted how stupid he was when he was young in his book to support this point.

Anyway, I personally know more brilliant 20 somethings than smart older people just because most of my friends are about the same age as me. I researched this Mark Bauerlein a bit and it seems that his students think he is a very condescending guy. I am not surprised, and I am pretty sure he wrote this book to stir up controversy, and also make a bit of money so he is a little less angry about dumb twenty-somethings like me being paid more than a highly educated English professor like him.

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