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This guy is smart

ATM

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Looks like a pretty good blog.

I'm not sure what to make of this item in his list of things he hates to spend money on: "Shoes that look like regular shoes but cost $200." Could be interpreted several ways.
 

imageWIS

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Originally Posted by ATM
Looks like a pretty good blog. I'm not sure what to make of this item in his list of things he hates to spend money on: "Shoes that look like regular shoes but cost $200." Could be interpreted several ways.
Thank god this guy has no idea what $900 shoes look like! As well, I think the concept of a nice car is lost on him. Jon.
 

mbc

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Best excerpt thus far:
THIS WAS A MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR HEDGE FUND that couldn't validate my parking. It turned out to be $27.00. On that fateful day, I vowed that if I accepted the offer, I would negotiate at least $27 into my signing bonus.
 

oman

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thanks for the link, that guy is probably going to save my life
 

Connemara

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http://www.giveusallyourmoney.com/

tounge.gif
 

Matt

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Originally Posted by oman
thanks for the link, that guy is probably going to save my life
Yeah ive been reading it too. A lot of it quite obvious, but still guilty of not doing it...

I was chatting about finance to a friend last night and she was making less than half of what i make here, and was managing to maintain a pretty similar lifestyle to me despite the fact that she pays more rent.

She is also an expat, which rules out my knee jerk reaction (white ppl get charged more for everything) - that is true, but she gets the same prices I do.

She was saying "where do you spend it all" and i was really stumped at wtf i was doing with my money to have not much more left at the end of the month than she does despite the income difference.

The only difference in our lifestyle - which would make some difference certainly - is that I drink and she doesnt...but that doesnt really amount to the difference.

I blow money on clothes sure, but then so does she. I blow money on motorbikes and she doesnt, thats not a lot of money and not all that often....

Found this quite disturbing, so Im going to take his advice and start looking more closely at where its all going...

Thanks J for posting.
 

Huntsman

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Probably good advice for normal people, but it isn't that easy. Some majors, in which you run 18 credits of, essentially, differential equations, don't allow little luxuries, like having a fairly human existence. I have to work my ponderous posterior off to get B's and the odd A or two. No time for the 'scene,'' no time for enjoying myself, no chance to do what interests me outside my major because the sequence is so proscribed there are too few opportunities, and when they arise they conflict with the requirements so you wind up SOL.

Desperately wanted my Master's before I left, but I've got a decent line on a job, so I'm going to bail because I am getting too old for the allnighters and the lack of a life outside the textbooks. I may be able to get full tuition reimbursement so that's my ride. One class a semester may take awhile, but...

So anyway, I don't know if he knows what he's talking about or not. Sounds nice, but sounds idealized, too.

Regards,
Huntsman
 

Matt

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I do like the attitude of treating savings like an expense, hadnt thought of it like that before....

My thinking (like most ppl Im sure) is that when an expense comes in above expected, dip into savings, make the expense fit in. Quite like the idea of treating savings as a cost, dip into other expenses instead and make the savings fit in.
 

tiger02

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Huntsman, with all the respect due to you as an interesting and contributing member of the forum, I think that's exactly the attitude he's warning against. Four years from the time you graduate, no one's going to care whether you made that odd A or not and almost no one is going to care that you majored in DiffEqs instead of the modern romance novel.

I know that my situation was unique, what with a guaranteed (ie required) job and all, but I don't think my humanities major and ~2.8 gpa are going to make a whit of difference as I enter the normal job market in the next year or so.

Tom
 

dah328

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As a general rule, to the degree that you have not already done what a prospective job will require, your school, major, and grades will be increasingly more important. That's most relevant when you're first starting your career, switching careers, or working in a very competitive industry. There are obviously exceptions to any general rule, but if you can parlay your good school, major, and/or grades into a solid first job, you will put yourself on a career trajectory that, all other things equal, will exceed that of the good-but-not-great graduate.

The blog's article on college presents a lot of oversimplifications and generalizations that only tell part of the story.

dan
 

Matt

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As an employer I can honestly say I have never even looked at a prospects grades. I hire on experience I want and attitudes I like.

And, yes, I am an in-demand employer in an in-demand industry, and in a place where good candidates are really really hard to find (very small pool in a booming economy)
 

Huntsman

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No problems, tiger. I wouldn't be here if I didn't appreciate some other perspectives. I do think choice of major matters, and while I acknowledge that there is a great deal of discipline-swapping that occurs after college, it would be hard for me to parlay most any other degree into an engineering job (maybe applied science).

Four years after I graduate, yeah, no one will care about my grades, but every interviewer asks now. It's hard to see past the present day, and to the stark correlation between GPA and base pay. Especially when I owe my soul to Sallie Mae. (Ok, all this rhyming was unintentional).

Maybe all this works in the Humanities, where the disciplines play better off of one another. Here I don't see the way out except for another semester, unless I decide to excercise some serious individualistic liberalism, but people are going to be depending on me so that is unlikely at this juncture.

BTW, none of the above is to be considered a dig at the Humanities -- my first favorite Prof always told me the humanities were in my soul. I'm in my first humanities elective now after a three-semester hiatus, and I'm loving it!

Luck when you hit the private sector,
Huntsman

ps. Your alma was my dream school. Other factors kept me from applying, but wow...the honor code is awesome. That would never fly here...
 

tiger02

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Originally Posted by Huntsman
(Ok, all this rhyming was unintentional).
Let's hope Vaclav's not watching
lookaround.gif


I think our engineering department may have been structured a bit differently than at other schools. There were still extensive humanities requirements; I was in several language/lit/art/music classes with my two EE roommates. Also, the Dean of the engineering school works projects and teaches classes in conjunction with Paul Muldoon, the Irish poet. I mean, come on, how cool is that?

I did my best to never view undergrad as job training, and possibly my salary did/would have suffered because of it, in the short term. I seem to remember you're a bit older than the average undergrad? If so, you must have life experience much more valuable to an employer than just another A.
 

Huntsman

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Oh, I think Vaclav is always watching. The beer garden has wifi. See, now that does sound pretty cool. I've always felt that the Aristotelian dichotomy, the break between reason and passion, is not as valid as it might have been. The best is born of art in science and science in art, as much as in the extremes alone. Your memory is quite correct; unfortunately my life experiences that created the delay aren't the kind that play well on a resume, and also aren't really valid topics for discussion with an employer. Nothing dishonorable, just too personal for that forum. The best benefit in that sphere is that I come across very well in person, almost too professional for an undergrad, and never (as long as they aren't giving me tests) nervous -- interviews being chump change compared to some things. LOL, I think I just always fall into odd cracks. Both good and bad. Regards, Huntsman
 

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