I have a great job here on campus. Since I am not paying for my own tuition, I have been able to save a lot of this money for my future. I have an emergency fund building itself, I have a vacation fund, and various investments that I contribute to. I am thankful to be ahead of the game. I'm taking a class in personal finance through ACES and I'm learning more and more about what I need to be doing for the future.
My brother graduated from Illinois in '08 with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Business. Right now, he is at graduate school at SIUE, near St. Louis. He has a job lined up already after graduate school, and I'm hoping to follow a similar path. I don't think he ever believed he was going to get a job right out of school with his degrees, and I somewhat feel the same way. I do believe, however, that he has managed his situation well. What else could somewhat want then a Masters and a job right out of the gate?
If the career fair is any indication, most employers look bewildered when I tell them I'm in Economics. This indicates to me that I am going to have a tough time finding a job that directly relates to my major when I leave school. I'm okay with this; I've read that college is mostly about showing employers what one's capable of. One's not necessarily expected to take triple derivatives on the first day.
To fully answer the prompt, I would say that my actions now have set me up for a risk of low income. However, my actions now have also set me up well in order to deal with this larger risk. In a perfect world, I'll get a great job and I'll build a stable financial foundation. In a more realistic world, I'll struggle to find a job and be forced to chip into my savings. I'm content with this. I know there are students out there that are in a lot worse situations than I am. I'm just thankful to have a CPA for a mother, even if her work stories have me nodding off in less than a minute.
Most people think of bequests as coming when the person passes away and leaves money or other assets that are allocated in the Will. But, as in your case, my experience is that much of the bequest happens while the kids are in college or even a bit later as they are starting out on their career. If you have such assurance, then you can make other decisions, like starting out in English, that are less immediately about career but may prove very valuable in the long run.
ReplyDeleteYou are the first to acknowledge that Econ majors can have a tough time at the career fair. But note that event is sponsored by the College of Business and the companies that participate are mainly interested in Business students. So you might not be getting a full sampling of the opportunities that are available.
I would add that timing of graduate matters. Your brother graduated at possibly the worst time, since the recession was just beginning then. Going to grad school can be a sensible alternative then, quite apart from what it provides in human capital. It ill be interesting to see if we have something similar happen to the economy now, given the Shenanigans with the debt ceiling that are happening now.
I think you have done a good job in managing your finances for the future. It's not very often that you find college students saving up for vacation or for emergency situations. I actually do the same. My parents have taken on most of my loans so the money I earn at work is used for living expenses, gas, vacations, and unexpected costs in the case of an emergency. I think you will be just fine.
ReplyDeleteI find your post to be quite interesting, you come from a unique situation and also take a different approach to financial budgeting then I typically hear from. I think it's great that you do not take advantage of your lack of school debt and instead seek out a job and save for the future. It shows, especially going into the economics field, that you are thinking wisely about your future and any financial obstacles that could occur.
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