Go to school “they” said, get a higher education “they” said. Well, I would really like to know who “they” are and ask them a few questions like before I rack up thousands of dollars in debt will I be guaranteed a job?
My story begins on a sunny day in May of 2005, geesh ELEVEN years ago,
when I officially entered into what I thought was “adulthood” and graduated from high school. I was equipped with a 4.0 GPA, a red Chevy Cavalier (that I was working to pay for), less than $100 bucks in my account and a Hollywood version of what I should major in- Finance (you know, to become a trader on Wall Street, make a bunch of money, and retire at like, I don’t know, 36!).
I spent all summer working to save money just to turn around and spend it all at Bed Bath & Beyond on all the cute dorm room “necessitates”. Then I packed up my car and headed off to school. Thousands of dollars and miles later, I went on to pack up my car a second and third time (after attending 3 different universities, I finally made the 3rd one my home- GO BULLS). Once I finally got the hang of this “college” thing, I graduated with my B.S. in finance and entered into what I called the next phase of adulthood- “real life”.
Real life quickly became a real pain when the reality of my poor financial decisions set in and rent became due. I just figured that my fancy degree would pay off in no time and I’d be living the high life in some far off city on the 20th floor of some luxury high-rise condo.
Well – I was wrong , I quickly realized my fancy degree didn’t teach me much about this phase of adulthood- the hard, tough, not so nice phase of “real life” – reality also known as “Adulting”. School taught me the theory and concept of things but not the reality of things or situations one might find themselves in when they graduate during one of the worst market crashes in the history of the US. Don’t get me wrong theories are great but they don’t put food on the table or a roof over your head unless you’re an actual professor or philosopher. My finance degree did not teach me how to manage my personal finances, how to actually trade a stock, how to budget, or how to plan for my future (wills, trust, tax, how to build wealth).
What I did learn was how to calculate beta by hand using pen and paper. Not to mention I also learned how to manually work through the black scholes pricing model (impressive, I know), how to calculate alpha, the difference between a call and a put option, and plenty of other useless things I can’t remember at the moment. For the record, I did not graduate at the top of my class, I didn’t have much help (single parent home), I wasn’t on a scholarship, I worked all throughout college struggling to pay rent, I took out student loans, and I sucked when it came to money.
I absolutely bought the lie sold to may of us, I ate every spoon full of “student debt is normal,” “you need a degree to advance in life,” “it doesn’t matter what it costs” that was fed to me. I wish I had the insight to inquire more about my own financial well-being in college.
Through many seasons of trial and error, I have learned more about personal finance than I ever could have learned in a classroom. All this knowledge was gained from poor decisions in my past, my experience in the industry, and my desire to right my wrongs (that I didn’t know were “wrong” until after they occurred and I had graduated).
Life is definitely the best teacher and I am proud to say that I have now become a tentative student, about life, success, and personal finance. I want to make sure that I share my knowledge in order to help people that were in my same shoes by showing them that they’re not alone and providing the tools/lessons that can turn their situation around!
I’m here to help, make sure you subscribe for the lessons to come!
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