Queercents

Good evening, Queercents readers.

As you will recall from my previous post on building a budget, so this week is of course information on how to implement a budget, plus some ideas on how to keep yourself faithful. Check the video!

I want to thank all of you for enjoying my vlog series but unfortunately my time has come to an end. I have to concentrate on some other projects, but I want you to know how much fun I’ve had doing this. Hopefully you have learned a lot, and I will stick around and visit from time to time! Thanks again to all of you.

Xo,

Clint

If you’re a student or recent college graduate and have been watching Clint’s vlogs over the last couple of months, you might also be interested in the videos and information at DollarsfromSense.com.

They’ve got the basics covered and do so with a well-organized and interactive website. What do I mean by the basics:

Do you need to better understand the risk-vs.-return ratio?
Do you need to better understand the importance of diversifying investments?
Do you need to better understand the importance of saving for retirement?
Do you need to better understand the importance of employer-sponsored retirement plans?

If so, click over and experiment with different financial variables, learn how to compare investment opportunities and manage credit and debt. There is a difference between saving and investing:

Saving: The act of putting money aside for future use.
Investing: The act of making it grow. Read the rest of this entry »

For me, living a financially responsible lifestyle involves being a responsible citizen. But what can happen when a person is not a responsible citizen? I investigated. Consider this story: Once upon a time there was a beautiful looking woman from Mexico who was skinny. To her friends, since her beauty was “sizzling hot” and since she was quite thin they jokingly and lovingly nicknamed her “Jalapeno On A Stick” (jalapenos are hot peppers that grow in Mexico).

“Jalapeno” arranged to be married to an American man. After their ceremony in southern California they lived together and tried to endure a marriage that was established on convenience more than it was positioned on mutual romantic love. Throughout the years Jalapeno got educated and even learned the English language, becoming quite proficient in it. She also became entitled to the many benefits attached to being married to an American: a family visa, work visa, and to be citizen of America, all of which she achieved. When she got all of her green light cards she divorced her husband and began her journey as a single and legitimate working woman in America. Working in the home loan business she made decent money for herself, especially when the economy was in a positive cycle. With her lucrative salary she was able to support herself and even buy a house on her own. She was an amicable person with a growing circle of friends.

Jalapeno, however, had a problem: drinking too much tequila. One evening as she was driving her Mercedes (that she leased with her own money) she was pulled over by the police for speeding. When the officer gave her the infamous breathalyzer test so as to check her blood-alcohol content and when she failed the test he realized she had been drinking under the influence of alcohol. Her blood-alcohol level exceeded the normal level. She was unable to drive and she later needed to appear before a judge in court for her irresponsibility. Along with having to pay more than $10,000 in fees, her license was suspended for 30 days and she needed to attend Alcohol Anonymous classes, which she did, for a while. When the 30 days passed Jalapeno received her license back. As the economy went into a down cycle, Jalapeno sold her house and moved into an apartment she rented in a Newport Beach complex. Read the rest of this entry »

Good evening, Queercents readers.

Have you ever built a budget before? Ben told me he hasn’t, and that’s why I’d like to tell him how. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bigger question to answer than I’d first anticipated. Rather than bore you with all the details today, I’m going to start you on building your budgets now, and when we meet next time, you’ll be able to figure out how to solve problem areas with your budget.

Please leave me questions and comments in the space below.

It’s that time of year here at colleges across the country and students are packing up to move home. Of course, for one reason or another students don’t want to take everything with them and so it gets left behind. Fortunately, colleges have instituted fantastic programs, the one at my school is called “Rescue”, for collecting these items and reselling them at low prices at the start of the academic year. As students are moving out, a collection of volunteers goes from dorm to dorm gathering up abandoned items to put in storage. (The volunteers actually get “paid” in the sense that they have first pick of everything being rescued, which is a pretty fantastic perk). When school starts in the fall, all the items are taken out of storage and find new homes.

What Can You Find?
Just about everything. Most common are electronics like refrigerators, microwaves, coffee makers, electric kettles, tvs, printers and speakers but you can also find couches, chairs, shelves, cleaning supplies and kitchenware. Often these items are more expensive to ship back and forth than they are to replace and things like microwaves and refrigerators have often been passed through the rescue sale for years. Just about anything you could need to furnish a dorm room (or an apartment or house for that matter) can be found at a rescue sale. Read the rest of this entry »

Good evening, Queercents readers.

Are you terrified of credit cards? It’s understandable. Millions of Americans are buried in credit card debt. But you’re different, aren’t you? You’ve decided that credit cards aren’t for you. You’re not ever going to bother. That’s safe, isn’t it?

Well, let me tell you something right now: you can have a credit card, use it responsibly, and build good credit. Start out right! And check this new vlog.

I was born in 1978.  Depending on whose research you’re looking at, the only thing that’s consistent about my generation is that its definition is fluid and constantly in flux.  Sometimes I’m Generation X.  Sometimes I’m Generation Y.  I’ve also been told that I’m part of the MTV Generation, Boomerang Generation, a Millennial or First Digitals. This list can go on and on and Wikipedia can provide a quick overview of the what’s what.

The year I graduated from undergrad – which was 2001 – I was asked to participate in a job fair to speak as a communications student with prospective students and their parents about the department and its program.  High school students didn’t really ask me all that much.  Parents, on the other hand, were keen to know what kind of job a communications degree would help their kids land.

I was quickly shepherded out of the spokesperson role when I responded that you don’t send a kid to university to get a job. If you want a job with a better salary right after graduation, go to college.  University will give you a piece of paper that will open doors in a career further down a road.  A university degree is the new entry level requirement, or rather, has the same relevancy that a high school diploma did 20 years ago only with a cost that usually will leave your kid $24,000 in debt.

Universities aren’t in the business of giving practical, hands-on, skills training. At least in the realm of liberal arts.  They’re in the business of thought.  They can help build the critical thinking capacities that are crucial for a knowledge-based economy.  This won’t translate into a notable salary for most kids until many, many, many years post-graduation, if at all.  If your kid chooses the university route, make sure they volunteer and land part-time jobs that will help them acquire the relevant employable skills. Read the rest of this entry »

Good afternoon, Queercents readers.

This is the final installment in a series on student loan debt. Seemingly the most fundamental part of student lending, making payments is actually the most difficult. Not only are there misconceptions, but there are just plain bad practices a lot of people have when paying down their debts. Join me as we explore these together.

Parts one and two are linked for your viewing pleasure, in case you happened to have missed them.

Leave me questions and concerns in the comments below. If there’s a topic on Gen Y finances you’d like me to cover, please let me know!

Good afternoon, Queercents readers.

Part two of my three-part series exploring student loan debt is now available. In this episode, I discuss consolidating federal and private student loans. It’s not quite time to make payments, but it is time to get your loans all in order to start paying them off. Come learn about a very common misconception that can cost you thousands! Of dollars, even!

This second installment actually contains exciting information that will guaranteed not put you to sleep. Also, you may or may not find out what color underwear I’m wearing. Only watching will uncover these secrets.

Part one can be viewed here incase you missed it the first time.

Good morning, Queercents readers.

Do you have student loans that are currently accruing interest? Maybe you’re paying them off instead. Or perhaps you’re a college student in waiting and you’d like to strategize paying off your debts now rather than later. In any case, this three-part vlog series is for you.

This first installment, Student Lending: Part 1 is solely dedicated to discussing terms and terminology so that the rest of the series makes sense. It’s the most boring, but I still make it entertaining. I may or may not have taken my shirt off somewhere in the video, so you’ll have to watch the whole thing to find out!