Monthly Archive

I’ve seen quite a few of these in the recent past, but school doesn’t let out until June in my area, so I thought I would wait till now. The following is my address to this year’s High School and College graduating classes.

I’d like to congratulate you all today. You have finished the really hard part, the part where your choices were made for you, where you really had no freedom. I know many people will tell you that you will eventually look back at the last few years as the best days of your life. I think that’s utter crap! The best day of your life is tomorrow.

Tomorrow holds the promise that everything you have ever experienced, through today, has meaning and purpose. Tomorrow is never ending. Tomorrow, the world is yours.

But having the world comes with some conditions. You’ve seen the generations that have come before you destroy what was given to them. You see that there are generations after you who are looking to see how you will handle the responsibility. Here are some tips to make sure that someday, you can give a better place to those waiting in the shadows.

1. Learn something new every day. Once you stop learning, you limit your potential.
2. Say something positive to someone different every day. It’s easy to say nice things to your friends and loved ones. Being a friend is enough for them. For everyone else, you have to make an effort.
3. Every day is a clean slate. Never carry any anger, resentment, hostility, or grudges into the new day. Very few things are really that important, but having a good life certainly is.
4. Only apologize to strangers. Your friends don’t need it, your enemies won’t believe it, but strangers haven’t yet made up their mind.
5. Find the “right thing” to do, and do it. Do it again.
6. Save money when you can. Spend money when you have to.
7. Sleep in late no more than once a week. Enjoy the opportunities to do so.
8. Wake up early whenever you are able to. Enjoy the quiet. Don’t do anything during this time until you have to.
9. Make at least one person laugh every day. Start with the easy ones, but work your way up to the most miserable person you know.
10. Never settle. Never give in. Never give up. Never think that “good enough” is.

One last thing. Don’t repeat the mistakes we have made. In many cases, there is no, one, right answer. Listen to other opinions, and make the decision that is right for you, but don’t assume that your right answer has to be someone else’s.

Congratulations to the class of 2007!

Okay, I’ll admit that the title is for effect, but the other day I was talking to one of my old bosses, and we were chatting about the good old days.  It seems that since I left the place, sales have gone down, productivity has suffered, and people just don’t seem to be having fun like they used to be.  Some of that she attributed to me, but some of it is just because they don’t make good salespeople like they used to.

She told me something that really struck a nerve:  she said that the biggest thing she is missing is the stark naked ambition that I had when I was there.  See, I went, in a very short period of time, from being a part-time teller all the way up to Operations Manager.  I never hid the fact that I wanted to move up in the company, I took stupid chances (luckily most of them paid off!), and I was fiercely dedicated to the company.  She told me that I forced her to be better.  She came in after I had already been there a while, and when she got there, she thought it was going to be a zero stress job.

She was shocked that I took the initiative to do things like automating some management functions, establish a training program and schedule, and establish goals for the rest of the staff.  She had seen similar projects at bigger institutions, but she didn’t believe that these things would work in a smaller setting.  She confided that there were several times when she felt that she was competing for the job, and that she felt the company did better for it. 

I told her about F4Y, and she made me promise to teach young people the importance of working at a job every day as if you were auditioning, or could be let go any day.  I never thought of it that way, I just really wanted to do well, and I really wanted the company to succeed. 

The truth of the matter is, I know that many of you who work do so in jobs that you don’t want to be your career.  You are planning on enjoying life, and putting in the extra effort just doesn’t fit in with your plans.  I get it.  But I will say that you will enjoy much more success at work if you have the ambition to do well.  Even if you don’t like the company, consider that every day at work is an audition for your next employer.  I could talk for days about people who were given incredible opportunities just because they worked hard at the most menial of jobs.

Call it stark naked ambition, call it strong work ethic, or call it bull-goose stupidity, but this is definitely an attribute you need to have if you want to succeed in the workplace.

advice, that is. I figure that’s about the value of the advice I’ve received from people over my lifetime. I’m not just talking about money, jobs, or even finance. My waife and I were having this conversation earlier in the week, and I honestly believe that the people who have influenced me to become who I am today have had such an impact over so many aspects of my life that its about time I pointed them out.

Mom and Dad– Goes without saying. They were so important in the formative years. I remember that we had a set of encyclopedias (anyone still remember those?), and from a very young age, my mom used to make me put them in order. She would move them while cleaning, and have me put them back. This taught me letters at a very early age, and this jump-started my love for reading. My dad taught me many lessons about doing one’s best to be the best. At the time, I thought he was just bragging about how good he was at his job, but when we talk today, he was using my competitive nature to inspire me to to better.

My Eighth Grade English Teacher– She was a miserable, bitter, old woman. She was the first teacher that ever taught me that just knowing the right answer wasn’t enough. She almost failed me because I never wanted to go through the process, instead skipping ahead to the end result. This is a lesson that I’ve had to learn several times.

My High School Physics Teacher– Okay, so some of the things he did weren’t “technically legal”, but he taught me to look for answers no matter how crazy they seemed. He also taught me that it was okay to try and figure out the unfigurable (is that even a word??), as long as I kept trying to expand my horizons.

My High School Drama Teacher– When I wasn’t such a great kid, she and my Physics teacher believed in me. She fought against me being screwed over by a really over-eager pincipal. It cost her her job, and I never got to thank her.

The CEO of that one credit union I worked at– He was a good guy. He showed me ways of looking at work that really stuck with me. I eventually got fired from the place, but he gave me the advice to take the firing like a gentleman, learn from my mistakes, and never repeat them.

The CEO of that other credit union I worked at– He never gave advice that was particularly useful, but he was one of those rare characters who actually believed whole-heartedly everything he said. He used to make it a point to say good morning to me every day, and would go out of his way so we would interact. I left his company because the people under him were incompetent and lacked honor. Too bad they couldn’t learn from his example.

My wife– More than advice (which she also gives), she gave me inspiration to just get off my ass and do it. Whatever it was. She and I differ on a lot of things, but we both share the dedication to do something right.

I’m sure there are a lot more people that have influenced me, but these people shaped me. This brings me to the present. When I talk to young people, I try to think that I might be one of those people who will someday influence them. It is of the utmost importance that I influence people in a positive manner. If I do my job, then there will be a new generation that will be influenced to also do the right thing. I think we got away from that for years as a society. Or maybe we just don’t know how to get from the right idea to the right action. If there is one piece of advice that I can give you that will be worth “$1,000,000.00″, I would say to make sure that whatever you do in life, make sure you do good, and to make sure that you can influence one person in your life to also do good. As the good action spreads, you will see that life is so much more fulfilling than money could ever make it.

I got more than a few emails about yesterday’s post, so I thought it might be a good idea to talk about it.

Some people have, or think they have the entrepreneurial spirit. They feel that the only way for them to succeed in life or in business is to become their own boss. This belief is strengthened by several PF “professionals” who say the same thing in books, blogs, TV appearances, etc. They may do this for several reasons, such as believing they have an idea for the “next great thing”, or they may have difficulty holding down a traditional job and believe the only remedy is for them to work for themselves. There are several other reasons, and each of them is equally valid, but that’s not the point.

Others, don’t like the risk that comes with going into business for one’s self. I fall into that group a lot. I don’t have a mad-on for business, or even my boss. I may disagree with the way they do things, and I quite frequently know about something that has proven to be better than the current way of thinking, and that’s okay. Some people believe that this knowledge makes me the perfect candidate to start my own business, but I personally believe it makes me a better perspective employee for future employers.

That being said, there is nothing wrong with not wanting to be an entrepreneur. Some people thrive as long as they work for someone else. Whatever decision you make on the subject, do yourself a favor and make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. If you choose not to be an entrepreneur, here’s my 10 random tips to help you with that.

1. Do everything to the best of your ability. If you are going to do something, there is no reason to do less than 100%.

2. Learn from everyone! No matter how stupid someone is generally, they can still teach you something– even if its how not to do something.

3. Stay away from office politics. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it many times over. There are people out there who will be better than you at the games.

4. If someone above you asks a question, always answer it, even if it gets someone else in trouble. Whoever gets in trouble should have thought about that before hand.

5. Never show up late. Never leave early.

6. If possible, try and be the first one there, and the last one to leave at the end of your shift. Make sure you are always working, but don’t go into overtime unless your boss asks you.

7. Always act with honor and integrity.

8. Don’t ever show up to work drunk, hung-over, or stoned.

9. Remember that most people will have more experience than you. Show some respect to these people.

10. Don’t be afraid to not know everything. Feel free to ask questions or for help. Never let your ego control your career.

If you have others, you know what to do!

-W

Being a successful entrepreneur takes a lot of work.  Everybody knows that.  Every book on the subject pretty much says the same thing, but they don’t seem to give any specifics.

Over the past few days, I’ve been in contact with several young people who are interested in becoming entrepreneurs.  They’ve asked for some advice, and I think it is important enough to go into some detail here. 

1.  You HAVE TO do something you are interested in.  Not doing so is an invitation to failure.  To give you an example, my wife likes to cook.  She’s really good at it too.  She could easily make a living cooking, but for her, cooking is a way to get hot food into her belly– not a way to get hot money into her account. 

2.  You have to understand that being an entrepreneur takes more than not being able to hold down a job.  Look, I’ve been fired a lot.  I’ve said it before, and I’m not ashamed of it.  Does that make me a good entrepreneur?  No.  It makes me a difficult employee.  There is a difference.

3.  You have to have a plan.  I used to dream about getting a bunch of old cars, fixing them up, and renting them at a premium.  Sounds pretty cool, right?  That was the end of my plan.  Get cars, fix them, rent them.  With that type of plan, all I would end up with is a lot of used cars sitting in my driveway.

4.  You have to do a lot of research.  This kind of dove-tails in with the last one, but its true.  You have to know the ins and outs of whatever business you think you want to start.  You have to understand the trends, what has worked for other companies, and what other companies are missing.  Without that, you are forced to learn by mistake, and that is a pricey way to learn anything.

5.  Become an expert.  When others look to you for advice on something, you have to make sure that the answers you are giving are right, all the time.  It doesn’t cut it for you to say to a paying customer, “oops”.  At the end of the day, whatever you do, your reputation is what you are selling.  Make sure you have a good one.

6.  Learn as much as you can about whatever it is that you want to do.  I like to read books, but that doesn’t mean I can run a bookstore.  I want to someday own a bookstore, so I took a few years to work at some successful bookstores and learned the business from the inside.  Someday, I might get that bookstore, and I can assure you it will be successful, because I took some time to learn how to make certain.

7.  You have to be willing to go hungry.  When you start a business, it won’t be successful right off the bat.  That’s okay.  This is one of those long-term investments.  For this reason, I don’t suggest people go into business for themselves unless one of two things are true:  Either you are financially set, and can afford to live without a paycheck for a while, or you are willing to scale back your efforts temporarily, working full-time at a job while you slowly build up your own business to the point where you can afford to do it full time.  That’s what F4Y is, something I do OUTSIDE my normal day-to-day job.  When I’m ready, I stop doing the day-to-day, and focus 100% on F4Y.

8.  Prepare to go without a lot of sleep.  I spend at least 8 hours a day at work.  I spend 3-5 hours a day working on school.  I have a wife and family that I like to devote as much time as possible to.  Figure out sleeping time, and time where I am doing something else that I have to do (stuff around the house, family I don’t like spending time with, etc.) and that doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for anything else.  So I have to find the time to do the things that are important to me. 

9.  Focus on doing things with integrity and honor.  No matter what it is you choose to do, if you don’t have integrity and honor, you will never derive any real benefit or sense of accomplishment from doing it.

10.  Always understand what you want to accomplish, and why.  I never want to get to the point where I am so successful that I no longer have time to spend with the people I love.  I also never want to be successful at the expense of my own well-being.  When that becomes an issue (and it has), I have to make some hard decisions about what is more important to me– success or happiness.  My wife is there to make sure I never lose sight of that.

I’m sure there are many more things, but 10 seems like a good starting number.  If you have others, let’s discuss:

First, JM Webzine on MySpace

JM Webzine

did an interview about the upcoming books. I’m probably more excited than I should be, but this is the type of thing that I really enjoy. Jon is 16 years old (I think that makes him a Sophomore), and he’s already got the mind-set that for him to do the things he wants, he has to get financially smart. I predict that he will do very well! If you are on MySpace, become his friend, check out the bands he showcases, and have some fun!

Second, at Lulu.com, the publishing house I’m using, one of the “Masters” (also known as group moderators– these guys know the process better than the rest of us newbies) made a great suggestion, and I’m adding it to the prize pot. In addition to all the other cool stuff, the winner(s) get a toothbrush, tube of toothpaste, and some dental floss! You can never be too careful with your teeth.

Third, Monday is Memorial Day. For many of us, this means a day off. This is also a day where alcohol is often coupled with driving and fire (barbecues). If you are going to consume alcohol, don’t drive. From a financial standpoint, getting a ticket or having your license suspended isn’t a smart move. From a life standpoint, being dead really affects your standard of living. There is no good side to drinking and driving. Also, be smart around the barbecue. Keep a fire extinguisher close by, and enjoy the grub.

Last time, I told you about a couple of e-mails I got that made me seriously question my contest idea:  Without boring everyone with another round of transcripts, apparently these two people really don’t like me or my idea.

 The thing is, I don’t really care.  Neither of these guys are teenagers, or even youth.  Both of them are really just pathetic old people with waaaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands, and I’d really rather that they found someone else to mess with.  I’m not going anywhere, and neither is Finance For Youth.  Their e-mails are now blocked, and I hope that they get the hint.

As far as the contest goes, I’m still working out what “gear” I want to give out to the winner(s).  I’m thinking some sort of clothing, some sort of bag, maybe a drinking device, some writing instruments, and of course, some good reading.  If you are the winner (or think you are going to be the winner), let me know what you want.  Maybe I’ll just send a copy of my original idea (in my own drawing) for the cover, just so you have a laugh.

Since I announced Finance For Youth: The Self-serving Contest, I got a couple e-mails that made me laugh a little, scratch my head a little, and think a little. Two of them just had to be posted. I only wish that these were comments and not emails. These are reprinted exactly as received, so any spelling or punctuation errors are there on purpose.

The first one was from reader “L”

“Wil

Why bother writing a book? I’ve been a teacher for more years than you’ve been alive, and kids just don’t care. It’s better just to let them fall on thier faces then to try to do anything about it. The people in your ‘audience’ have better thing to spend their money in. This is just a huge waste of time. Give it up.

L***********”

My response:

L-

I can’t disagree more. These kids are no more a waste of time than you and I are. In fact, I would argue that spending the time on these kids is exactly what you are paid to do. I do it because I think its important– you should be doing it to stay employed. Maybe most of these kids won’t buy my book. But if one does, and learns from it, that’s not bad, now is it? Just like I wouldn’t let a baby just learning to walk fall on their face and hurt themselves, I don’t think it is fair to do so to a young person when their best role-model (you) tells them that they are a waste of time. I sincerely hope you reconsider your vocational choice, since the thought of you influencing my children causes me to cringe.

The second email was from “D” in California:

“Self-Serving is right! Do you have any concept of how much time, effort, and experience goes into making a commercially viable book cover? People train for years, go to school, and work hard comming up the ranks. And you want them to give you a winning cover design for what? A hand-shake and a button? Get real. If you even get any responses, I bet they are just amateurish suck jobs!”

My response: You might be right. Maybe they are all suck jobs, but they suck a lot less than anything I have the talent to put together. You are probably right about the prize. No hand-shake. My best advice to you– don’t enter. I can’t afford someone with your obvious skills and reputation (even though I don’t know who you are). Thanks for the input.

While I haven’t yet received any entries, that’s not the point. Could I just hire someone to do the job? Of course. Finance For Youth is not a source of income for me, I make enough that I’m not dependent on it. I’m having a contest because I think it would be a lot of fun, and because I want the reader to be as much a part of F4Y as I am. If that’s wrong, oh well. Like I said, this isn’t my job.

So, my wife tells me we only have a specific amount of money in our [checking] account to last us the next two weeks.  She gets paid every other Friday, and I get paid on the 1st and 15th.  Sometimes, they coincide well together, other times, it really sucks.  But this got me thinking.

The amount of money that is sitting in my checking account is more money than I used to make in a month as a high schooler or college student.  Of course, I only had myself to worry about, but that’s not the point.  I used to be able to make that amount of money last for an entire month, and now, my response to my wife was, “What the–!!?”.  I actually said the hyphens and punctuation marks (okay, actually, I made a suggestion that a gentleman should never make for his wife). 

 As much as I would like to think that I never make money mistakes, I have to admit that I have been making a huge one for several years now.  I have been operating under the concept of “water seeks its own level”.  What I mean is, that I have been living the lifestyle of someone who makes as much money as I do, albeit a frugal person.  When I was younger, and made considerably less money, I used to live within that salary, and all my bills still got paid.  I’m not apologizing, because I still believe that money has no value unless it is actually being spent, but I bet I could probably go back to spending pretty close to the same amount as I used to without losing out on too much.

Oh, wait, here it comes.  Of course I would lose out.  I would have less fun, my wife wouldn’t like me nearly as much as she does (she would still love me, I think, but she wouldn’t like me much), and I would be working much harder than I was at the time.  I couldn’t just decide that I wanted to leave without considering the repercussions of that decision and how it might affect my marriage and my life.  And all that extra money?  What good would it do me?  I suppose it might pay for my divorce lawyer, but the only lawyer I know that I would trust with a divorce would be my wife’s uncle (I should have rethought that decision…,) and he charges A LOT.

 The point here is, being frugal isn’t sacrificing until you drive yourself nuts.  You need to live within your means, and as far below your means as you feel comfortable doing.  While there are perks to making more money, there are also very good and valid reasons for those perks.  Could I go back and do surveys in a mall?  Or work retail?  Sure, but why would I?  I’d give up a lot of freedom of, say, not working on weekends or being able to get home from work at a decent hour.  Finance For Youth wouldn’t exist, and I wouldn’t be any happier.  Since all the bills have been paid, I don’t see a problem with having a lower balance in my checking account.  Besides, she never said anything about the money she just moved from there INTO one of our SAVINGS accounts!

Periodically over the next few weeks, I will be sweetening the pot for those who enter the contest. The reason I’m doing this periodically and not all at once? I don’t know what I want to give. I will say that there’s going to be some good stuff, but WHAT stuff, I haven’t fully decided. If you have already entered, or if I add stuff after you have entered, no worries, the winner(s) will get all the winning prizes regardless.

So here’s what you get as of now:

1. Name credit inside the actual book(s).
2. Tremendous thanks, kudos, accolades, appreciation from F4Y.
3. Signed copies of the book(s) with an inscription telling you how much you personally mean to me for winning.
4. Some official Finance For Youth merchandise BEFORE it comes out to the public.
5. Probably some other stuff, which won’t be as cool as the F4Y stuff, but will still be pretty cool.

“Finance For Youth: The Book” is still going through some revisions, but it is very close to being ready, as is the companion volume, “Finance For Youth: The Workbook”. In a fit of stubbornness that I will probably appreciate later in life, I made a promise to handle the entire process personally.

Here comes the pitch:

F4Y is having a contest for people who want to design the cover of one or both books. The rules are pretty simple.

1. Any artwork must be yours, and you must have the right to transfer ownership.
2. All submissions become the property of Finance For Youth and William Stanton, regardless of whether they are actually used.
3. The winning submission will receive credit for the submitter but not compensation.

Here it is in a nutshell: Once you make an entry, the cover you enter becomes mine. You get credit for the winning design, but that’s about it. If I use a cover in the future that didn’t win this contest, the creater gets credit at that time.

Here are some guidelines.

-Nothing Obscene. It must be appropriate for everybody.
-Nothing that excludes anybody. For example, some religious icons are not obscene, but they may make people with other beliefs feel excluded. Everybody gets to read!
-No copyrighted material.
-No ripping off someone else’s work. That’s my job (I kid!!).
-Make it fun, make it relevant, make it wacky, make it good. Photos, Drawings, art, whatever, as long as you think it is good enough to display.
-Right now this is for credit only. As the contest progresses, we may decide to add other goodies to the pot. Don’t know what those are yet, but I’ve heard they are pretty “something”.

The process: Right now, I’m looking at just having the F4Y’ers choose the best one. If that becomes too hard, we may open judging to the readers and have you guys (and gals) vote on a winner.

How to enter: If you want to play, send me an email:

(wil[at]finance4youth[dot]com)

let me know you are interested. I will send you a template for the cover. Send it back to me before June 30th, 2007.

Good Luck, and thanks!
-W

During this time of year, I talk to a lot of young people who share the same phobia. Many of them are graduating from High School or College, and aren’t sure what comes next. I understand this fear, and even though its slightly different for each individual, I’ve found that most fears are pretty similar.

1. I’m graduating in a few weeks, and I still don’t know what I want to do (with my life).

2. My family wants me to go into (insert career or educational field), and I don’t want to.

3. I’ve never had this much responsibility. If I screw it up, my family will be disappointed.

4. I’ve never been on my own before.

5. I made a huge mistake, and I don’t think my parents will understand or help me out of the mess I made.

There are others, but these five present themselves more than most. Let’s start by getting things out in the open. Fear of the unknown is not limited to those in high school or college. Young kids have it, adults have it, old people have it. Just because there is more that is unknown to you doesn’t make you bad, stupid, or any less of anything. Understand that if your family acts like they aren’t afraid of the unknown, they are probably just very proud people who think they are shielding you from something if they don’t share their fears with you. They still have fear, they just won’t admit it.

Now, let’s go ahead and answer the five that we have here. If I’m dealing with an individual who has a variation on this, my advice is more direct, but since this is in general, general answers will suffice.

1. Some people know what they want to be when they grow up from a very young age. Others find out in college or the work force. Still others don’t find out until much later in life. I knew what I wanted to be when I was very young. When I was in college, I wasn’t so sure. It wasn’t until I had been working for several years before I made up my mind. There’s nothing wrong with being unsure, as long as you spend the time working towards some goal. Whether its getting a general degree or whether its working, just don’t sit and wait for inspiration. The only wasted time is time spent not doing anything. Other than that, you are building life experiences.

2. My family wanted me to go into the same field as my parents did. I just wasn’t cut out for that life. I was bored by the prospect of doing what they did. For years, as I drifted through the workforce, I was safe in assuming that I was going to hear a lecture about how I should follow my dad in his career since it worked out well for him. That’s just one of the things that we need to get used to. It wasn’t until very recently that my parents accepted my career choice, and understood that I was a success on my own terms, not following my parents and using their names to get there. It was hard to have to go through that all the time with them, but I think I even earned some respect for following my own path. My advice here is to listen to what they have to say, but if you really don’t want to follow their advice, you have to strike out on your own, regardless of any pressure they may try to put on you. Understand that they love you, and they are doing what they think is best for you.

3. Absolutely, they will be disappointed. Disappointment is a temporary condition, however. We all make mistakes. Your parents may even surprise you. Some times, young people believe that its “us” (young people) against “them” (parents). It doesn’t have to be this way. Most mistakes you can make have been made by your parents or other family members in the past. As long as you don’t keep making the same mistake, most parents are more interested in helping you to succeed than they are in being disappointed in you.

4. This is very common. If you’ve paid attention to the life-lessons your parents have taught you while you lived at home, and if you are strong enough to know when you need help and confident enough to ask for that help, you will be surprised at how good living on your own can be. The second thing to remember is that we all flake out once in a while and make poor choices. Don’t let one choice, or even a series of choices, destroy your ability to live your life on your own. If you must drink, make smart choices about when and how much. If you must party (and you probably must), make smart choices about the activities that will go on during the parties. Take care of your responsibilities, stay true to your beliefs, follow the law, and you will enjoy your time, at least until it becomes time to move in with someone else.

5. Re-read my response to #3. Now, don’t compound your original mistake with another by not letting your family help you through tough times. Even if you are 18 and out on your own, their job as people who love and care about you doesn’t end. The biggest mistake you will make is to shut out those who want the best for you.

I could spend hours talking about my own experience with fear of the future, but there’s nothing in my story that is unique to me. Everyone I know has wrestled with the same issues, or variations, and has come out of it. Some have done “better” than others, but that is just another life experience that we cherish, even when the experience is not pleasant.

Overall, for any action, there is a consequence. Your choice is whether or not you are willing to deal with that consequence. If you are, never regret your decision. Learn from it, but never regret. If, down the road, you find that you made the wrong choice, do whatever you can to make sure you don’t make that same choice again. Above all, remember that everybody has someone that cares that they do well, and that they more importantly, do good.

Have you seen the commercial for mastercard where the Pumbaa guy from “Lion King” (I’m pretty sure that’s him) is taking care of all the animals, and catches cold? The elephant then treks over to a store to buy some soup and get some cold medicine for the zookeeper. It’s very touching, because the elephant is caring for the zookeeper like the zookeeper takes care of all the animals.

My wife and I watch that commercial, and I will admit it brings a tear to my eye. It seems that nobody else has a problem with the fact that Mastercard is trying to sell you on the convenience of the product by advertising that it is so easy to steal your identity that an ELEPHANT could do it.

I’m sorry, but it doesn’t make me feel better to know that Mastercard (and Visa, for that matter) do NOT require you to sign a receipt if the transaction is lower than a certain amount ($30.00, or close to it). If you don’t sign, they can’t identify you.

Can you do anything about it? Absolutely. If you are using one of these cards, contact the issuer and let your voice be heard. If enough people complain, the rules will change. Also, either sign your cards, or write “PLEASE ASK FOR ID FOR ALL TRANSACTIONS” in Sharpie on the signature line of your card (make sure you write down the numbers in that box first, you’ll need them later, but that’s another post). Will this require vendors to do it? Not really. But if they don’t, you have the right to bring it to a manager’s attention. There are posts all over the PF blogiverse that will tell you about credit card fraud, debit card fraud, baseball card fraud, playing card fraud, etc. Anything you can do that will hinder the fraud without putting so much effort into it that you can’t enjoy the product as it was designed is a good thing.

We used to call them Tree People when I was in school. They would hang out under a tree. They weren’t the popular kids by any stretch, but everyone knew who they were. The girls talked about how the popular girls were only popular because of what sluts they were (largely an exaggeration of the truth), how shallow and stupid the guys were (largely an understatement of the truth), and the literary merits of Anne Rice’s “Sleeping Beauty” series and Sylvia Plath’s writings. The guys used to talk a lot about which was ‘cooler’: Dragon Lance or Ravenloft, why it was against their Constitutional right to their pursuit of happiness that they had to dress-out for P.E. (their biggest complaint was against the color white, as in t-shirts and socks), and shouting the lyrics to songs from the Violent Femmes, Morrisey, and The Cure songs, all while trying very hard to look smoldering and nonchalant with their hair covering their eyes. I’m not making fun of them, believe me: I would occasionally hang out with them (I was the token jock in the group).

On the other side of campus was the jocks. There was always a sea of Letterman’s Jackets (mostly on the guys) and Cheerleader outfits (mostly on the girls), and the conversations centered around such weighty issues of hair styles, which athletic shoes looked better, and whose parents would be out of town so that the party could be properly planned. Were they shallow? Of course they were.

Of course, the Tree People were equally shallow. But having been both at different periods of school, the Jocks had an advantage when it came to success in the future.

The Tree People had a victim mentality. They weren’t cool? Must be because everybody else (EVERYBODY) didn’t “get” them. They couldn’t run a lap around the track? Running in circles did nothing to prepare them for the future. Besides, playing AD&D taught people to use their brain which was more of a benefit than playing baseball was. This mentality did a couple of things that hurt many of these people in work and life.

First, once a young person gets it in their head that whatever happens in life is somebody else’s fault, then any minor setback or major failure is a lot easier to deal with. Don’t get a promotion? Must be because “they” are out to get you. Get fired for attendance? “They” don’t understand that you have better things to do than follow a schedule. In short, “they” are holding you back from success just falling into your lap.

The second thing that happens is that these people abhor competition. Because of this, they simply don’t try as hard to accomplish anything. Why bother trying hard if all that does is take away from your individuality?

On the other hand, nobody starts off as a really good football or baseball player. Everybody sucks in the beginning. Sadistic coaches who are frustrated that they weren’t good enough to play professionally love that. When I wrestled, they would crank up the heat in a small room, and work us till we dripped with sweat. When I played football, they called it “Hell Week”, but it was a couple of weeks of double sessions of intense training. Many people couldn’t handle it and were washed out (I was, once), but the ones who did learned the value of working as hard as needed to attain a goal. In individual sports, they learned to always try to be the best. In work, these people “hustle” to get things done, and take a huge amount of pride in a job well done.

Does that mean that Jocks are perfect? Absolutely not. Many of them develop a sense of entitlement. They believe that everything should come their way, and if it doesn’t they can be prone to making stupid choices. They also tend to put way to much emphasis on the physical, believing that physical perfection makes a better person.

Now that I am very far removed from the High School Caste system, I don’t care if you choose to be a Tree person, Emo, Punk, Jock, Rebel, or whatever. You should be individual in your style while you can. But when it comes to being successful in work and finance, you need to strive to be the best employee, the best saver, the best budgeter. If you hit a roadblock, YOU need to take responsibility for what you did to contribute to it, as well as what you can do to get out of it. When you fail at something (I originally said “if”, but we all fail at something sometimes), don’t focus on the external. Look at your contribution to that failure, and learn from it. Hopefully you don’t repeat it.

Part of being responsible and being ‘grown-up’ is knowing when you are in too deep and getting out before you drown. My friend in the earlier post took a lot of convincing to understand that she was in a bad place, but she now understands it.

Too often, young people try to “tough it out”, either too embarrassed or too stubborn to admit that they made a bad choice, or need some help to undo something they have done. They believe that by “making the best of a bad situation”, they are showing signs of maturity. This is unfortunate, because in most cases, adults WANT to help the young people around to do well. Further, there is nothing mature about destroying your future in order to “make it”. Consider the maturity of someone who, after falling into quicksand, decides to swim to the bottom in order to get a good boost back to the top.

I don’t want to look stupid either, and I admit that I will try to succeed at something that many people will say is doomed to fail. I usually succeed too. But I know a lost cause, and I have learned to temper my ego by understanding that there is no honor lost by asking someone for help when I need it.

One of the young people I talk to about financial matters made an important decision today.  She quit.

This girl had it pretty tough.  She’s 18, and her parents couldn’t find their heads with a map and a flashlight (that’s not how the phrase goes, but this is family friendly).  Neither of them have any clue about personal finance issues, young people, or what it takes to deal with young adults.  She moved out shortly after her birthday because she felt she could do better on her own.

Like many young people, she made the decision to move in with her boy.  I would say man, but he just doesn’t qualify.  They were sure they loved eachother, but they found out the hard way that love, although pretty good, isn’t enough to sustain a life.  This was not her first bad decision, nor was it her last.  Because of bad decisions and worse advice, she was in a predicament.

Today I found out that she made the choice to get out, leave the state, and take her life into her own hands.  She’s moving in with her grandparents, in the same town I live.  I don’t think she understands how scary what she’s doing really is, but I truly think she can handle it.  She’ll be working, and going to school to make something great of herself.  I truly applaud her for taking the smart way instead of the easy way.  She’ll be fine.  She is a smart girl with a loving family that many people her age just don’t have.  I commit myself to making sure she is fine, because young people deserve the chance to shine.  I hope she is open to hearing some good advice for a change.  I’m sure she’ll make everyone proud of her.

Sometimes, especially for young people, you have to know when to cut your losses and get out.  It’s never easy, and it’s probably harder than it has to be, but if you have the right support network, you don’t have to be alone.

If you are a young person reading this, you don’t have to be alone either.  If things are rough, talk to someone.  There is no shortage of people out there who want nothing better than to be able to help someone like yourself.  Talk to people about your problems, and do it early, when the problems are still probably small enough to deal with.  Talk to your parents, your family, teachers, or anybody else that you can trust to help you get through the hard time and into the easier time.  You’ll be glad you did.

I’m trying to get back into shape. When I was young, I was very athletic, and I think it’s a little unfair to my wife (who never knew me back then) and myself that I’m not anymore. I know what happened (sort of)– After High School, I stopped playing sports and started working in an office, and after 14 years, I woke up fat! Anyways, I started going to the gym with my wife a few months ago. As a reward for actually GOING to the gym, we bought ourselves some pretty cool mp3 players and downloaded a bunch of music to work out with.

I’ve found that when I’m doing the cardio portion of my workouts, listening to military cadence helps to make the workout better. I can go faster, farther, and it makes me feel like I’m a little tougher because I keep up with the cadence of Army Rangers and Navy Seals(in the real world, if I tried to keep up with Army Rangers, my heart would claw its way out of my throat, flip me off, and I would die!). Since I work alone in my office unless I’m with a client, I like to have a little music playing to cut the silence, so I play my player. Every once in a while, one of the running songs came on before I could stop it. That got me thinking.

When we (my brothers and I) were young, there was a lot of us, and not a lot of money to go around. Our parents made decent money, but with kids, decent isn’t always enough. Some of my brothers joined the military right after school. I will say right now that I didn’t. At that period in my life, I wouldn’t have been a good fit for service. One of my brothers did his tour, saw the world, got free housing, and a paycheck. He lives in Germany now, and is pretty happy with life. Another one stayed in for 20 years, got a degree, saw the world, bought a house, got a pretty decent paycheck, lots of awards and medals, gets a healthy retirement check for the rest of his life, and now lives in Southern California and is pretty happy with life. He’s working as a teacher now, and will be collecting a second, very healthy retirement check in about 15 years.

Armed service isn’t for everybody (like me), but for those who are a good fit, it can be a really good way to get a jump on a good life. Right now, it’s a little scary, but every active military person I know now thinks the benefits outweigh the potential drawbacks. If you are getting out of high school soon, or if you are in college, and you want to have the government pay for your continuing education, it is something to consider.

Friends, I’ve been kicking around an idea for a while, and I wanted to see what type of response I would get for it.

Here’s my thing. I was thinking about putting out, in addition to the rest of the Finance For Youth family, a quarterly newsletter. This would be a subscription type thing, where (for a small fee) subscribers would get an email with a PDF of a Newsletter with content that is different than the free stuff.

So, to my fellow PF’ers, what do you think? To any of my readers, if this sounds like something you would be interested in email me:

wil(at)finance4youth(dot)com

There is no obligation at this point, I’m just checking to see which way the wind blows now. As always, anybody who emails me maintains their privacy.

Thanks for reading!
-W

When I was in High School, I really used to look forward to Summer Vacation. I don’t know why– I rarely did anything. I guess I just liked the freedom of not having to go to school. Once I started working, Summer Vacation meant less for me. Who cared if I didn’t have to go to school, I still had to work, didn’t I?

I just went on a vacation with my wife and her family. For them, it was a family vacation. For me, it was a great way to celebrate my fourth anniversary with the person I love most (and my wife, and her family). In the beginning of the planning stages, we were both a little concerned about the cost, and that we were spending too much money. The trip was pretty expensive, and realistically, a luxury that we could have avoided. At the same time, my car was acting up and needed a lot of work. I think we were both expecting the worst.

The reality is, we easily were able to afford both, and I congratulate us both for making the obviously smart choice. The choice I’m referring to is the choice to start saving for things before we even know we need them. We save for emergencies (the car), and we also save for fun (vacation).

I think young people should also take a vacation, if they are at all able to. Financially, there is no reason not to be able to, as long as you plan it out far in advance, and understand that saving for a trip somewhere means less savings for something else. This is where it comes to prioritizing your expenses. Many PF “experts” will tell you that its foolish to make a vacation a high priority. They will try and convince you that its smarter to save for retirement or buying a house.

There’s nothing wrong with saving for these things, in fact I think its smart to do so. The reality of it is, if all you are doing is saving for something that may never happen, with no satisfaction today, you will get bitter, and eventually you will fail to save anything. We just aren’t built to deprive ourselves of all fun. Conversely, if you are able to enjoy the fruits of your saving in moderation, you will be encouraged to save for other things since you now see that it works.

We used to do this as kids. We wanted a new skateboard, so we would save until we had enough to buy it. Sometimes, we would decide we wanted a bike more. We’d keep saving. So, take a vacation, or buy that new toy, as long as you can afford it, and as long as you have the foresight to save well in advance for the fun!