Ok, so I've decided to bare all to get myself out of the financial rut I'm in. I have way too much student loan debt, some credit card debt, no assets whatsoever, and pretty much no income. I grew up poor, and I'm doing a good job keeping up the status quo.
The thing is, I'm kinda tired of the status quo. I wanna be RICH. And by that I mean stably wealthy: more assets than liabilities, debt-free, able to pay the bills and then some, enough savings to get through any crises, sufficient retirement savings, and a good investment portfolio. I have to be honest though. Even phrases like "good investment portfolio" sound like a foreign language on my tongue.
With that, let me introduce myself. This is me:
The thing is, I'm kinda tired of the status quo. I wanna be RICH. And by that I mean stably wealthy: more assets than liabilities, debt-free, able to pay the bills and then some, enough savings to get through any crises, sufficient retirement savings, and a good investment portfolio. I have to be honest though. Even phrases like "good investment portfolio" sound like a foreign language on my tongue.
With that, let me introduce myself. This is me:
and I'm a college student here:
...in Hawaii.
Now before you get all judgmental and say, "You live in Hawaii? I'm not going to feel ONE BIT sorry for you and your financial situation!" just hold on a sec and give me a chance to 'splain, ok?
First off, I'm not living the high life, ok? According to savingforcollege.com average tuition for four years at a public institution as of 2010 was $33,300 ($119,400 for private) for just tuition and fees. This number does NOT include things like room and board, books, food or personal and transportation expenses. My total tuition costs for four years at the current tuition rate is only $18,520. And it's a private school. And I'm only attending for three years! (But before you get impressed that I'm getting my degree after only 3 years, I should confess that I already came with an Associate's degree from a community college, so technically it's 5 years. Also, I'm 26.)
Secondly, I'm also working. I'm not the take 20-credits and work two jobs full-time type, so I work part time as a Resident Assistant at a dormitory (called a "hale" /ha-leh/ from the Hawaiian word for "house") AND it's one of the best jobs on campus financially-speaking because I save more from free rent and meals at the cafeteria than I would earn from a regular on-campus wage-paying job. So I should get smart points for that, right?
Thirdly, I'm here because I really like this school and what it stands for, and I love the program here for my major. You'll probably hear more about these things in later posts.
So I hope you enjoy my blog and can learn from it. I'll be posting more and adding new features as I can, like book reviews of financial books, entrepreneur spotlights (especially from college.) Feel free to comment and give ideas/feedback for post ideas or my financial decisions.
Thirdly, I'm here because I really like this school and what it stands for, and I love the program here for my major. You'll probably hear more about these things in later posts.
So I hope you enjoy my blog and can learn from it. I'll be posting more and adding new features as I can, like book reviews of financial books, entrepreneur spotlights (especially from college.) Feel free to comment and give ideas/feedback for post ideas or my financial decisions.
No comments:
Post a Comment