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Hello BFC. This is going to be a multi-faceted mess of a thread, combining things from SAL and E/N so i’ll try to keep the most concise information at the top: Me: -I’m a 25 year old with a B.A in Physical Anthropology. Graduated last May with 28k in student loan debt.. I work full time in a food industry lab tech position, which pays 35k a year with health & benefits. No 401k. Currently have no assets, aside from 1.3k I put in a Roth IRA just to get my feet wet. No parter, no children. crappy car but dirt cheap to own. I don't feel that im currently in any financial danger, and I feel that with my salary I could move out and survive on my own. I certainly did it before when I was making only 600 a month. I just get the feeling I'm starting life late and things are passing me by. I want to invest more in myself and get somewhere. Where I want to be at when im 30: -Carrying a Ph.D/MA. Have gone to school outside of the country, or otherwise left my insulated bubble of California. That MA/PhD could be in anthropology, but plenty of my old advisors mention that I don't have to stick with anthropology. There's options like geology or forensics. -Making much more money annually. I’m scared of listing a number here because I might get laughed out of the thread with my B.A in Anthro. But man, goons here are talking about their 70-100k salary jobs. I want a place in the sun too. -Have a job I loved as much as going to college. During college, I was constantly stimulated with new people and experiences. Things were challenging and sometimes boring and sometimes incredibly stressful, but I thrived in it. This is probably the E/N side of this thread where the only answer is "youll figure it out on your own~". But I'd love advice on finding a stimulating and enjoyable job. Since I left school I feel like I stagnated. No new faces, same work each day, only learning new things because I scour audible for nonfiction/history audiobooks and binge those. Ask me about the history of china (actually dont). My short term goals (2018-2019): -Destroy student loan debt. As of today i’m at 20.5k. Because i’m living at home, I’ve been able to throw 2k a month towards my student loans. Doesn’t leave much room in my budget, but I’ve been treating myself here and there so I stick to the program. Would be cool to get rid of this by Feb ‘19. -Increase safety net. Currently have 2k as a sort of “buffer”. Maybe I can increase it to 3k by the end of the year? -Start looking at graduate programs now that my academic burnout has begun to taper off. My long term goals: -Get into a graduate program and get a PhD/Masters. My professors and advisors only suggest grad school if I get it 90%-100% funded. I still need to ge totallyt over my academic burnout phase, which I still feel like i’m in. It would be cool to go to school out of the country. Two of my buddies went to Germany and got their schooling paid for. That sounds awesome. -Increase salary. I feel like im behind the curve here. Plus I’d like to start investing towards the future. I hear the fields of academia are good for those who love the school environment (like me), but “academia” and “pay” are supposedly oxymorons. -Find a job that I enjoy. I still have no idea what I want to do with my life. Going into a work environment geared towards lab work with human/paleo remains sounds fascinating. Oddly, I think full time lab work would be boring to me. I wear a lot of hats at my current job and I can freely work on something else when I choose. I love the freedom of that. Maybe my dream job won't be anywhere at all related to anthropology. That’s fine. But it needs to be something that involves me not dreading each day. What im asking from you, BFC: -Criticism, questions, tangibly related advice. If you have some experience that you think might help me figure out my future, I'd like to hear it. e: less insane formatting buglord fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Apr 25, 2018 |
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Apr 25, 2018 20:26
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Don't get a PhD. - a PhD haver.
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Apr 25, 2018 22:08
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Honestly, I think you have more good than bad in your situation, and a lot of it seems to be because of smart decisions and financial restraint. I have some financial advice even though you seem to mostly be looking for career advice: For example, it's really impressive that you have managed to pay down your debt as quickly as you have. I'd keep on with that plan and wouldn't move out of your parents' house until it's gone. I don't know what the cost of living in your area is, but your ability to continue paying off the debt would likely be hurt badly by taking on rent+utils. If you feel down on yourself for living at home, just use that as motivation to hit the Feb'19 target to have them paid off and also remind yourself that you're in relatively great shape financially and your time will come to be able to have your own place and whatnot (and probably fairly soon). That said, you didn't mention what your family situation is like, but if you're living somewhere dysfunctional that is affecting your mental health, obviously this calculation changes and you would prioritize getting yourself free. It's not clear what your take home pay is, but am I right in thinking you're using a huge portion of it (almost all of it) to pay off your loans? If that's the case, and you think you can continue to rely on having such low living expenses in case you ever lost your job, you can probably get away with just the 2k safety net for now. What is your student loan interest rate? If they are really low, you might consider extending your student loan payoff timeline in order to max your Roth IRA. It's about 460/month to hit the max, and I believe you're at the age where retirement saving is most critical due to compound interest. Regarding career: My very general advice here is to move very slowly, and don't make any moves until you have a very clear and well thought out and specific vision of what your goal is. In other words, don't go to graduate school just because you feel like you have to or just for the sake of going to graduate school. Don't go until you have really decided (after considering every angle) why you want to be there or need to be there. Maybe just as a mental exercise, you should consider how you might accomplish your goals without going to graduate school. What would that look like, and is there a path forward to a great career without going back to school? I'm not trying to dissuade you... I just think it's easy in our culture to assume you need to go to grad school but without a well defined understanding why (the same way people in our generation often go to college on auto-pilot). It's possible if you ask yourself those questions and generally consider your future unfettered by an iron-clad assumption that it involves graduate school you might end up with some insight into what you really want, which will help you pick the right grad program when the time comes to make a move. You're really young still... Life definitely has not passed you by. I'm excited for you.
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Apr 25, 2018 22:43
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I just recently read the career guide over at 80000hours.org and it seems like it might be useful as a framework for you to consider what you want to do moving forward. Maybe that Paul Graham essay on how to do what you love. As far as finances go, if you're worrying about things now, you're already in the top five percent of people. Chances are you'll be fine if you even make half of what you say you want. I started out as a teacher making like 45k a year, and ended up making a lot more with my side business. So just keep your eyes open for opportunities and jump on then when they come up. Always be learning new skills and networking with interesting people.
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Apr 25, 2018 23:22
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fake-edit: this post is huge, im so sorry. BUG JUG posted:Don't get a PhD. - a PhD haver.  moana posted:I just recently read the career guide over at 80000hours.org and it seems like it might be useful as a framework for you to consider what you want to do moving forward. Maybe that Paul Graham essay on how to do what you love. Side businesses, and just owning a business in general, sounds terrifying to me and I totally know that's a psychological hurdle I have to get over. I live with my dad and his girlfriend; his girlfriend became her own boss and ran a business successfully. The two of them were eating beans and tortillas with how poor they were getting it off the ground, but it became a huge financial success for them after about 3-4 years of maximum effort. Im a worry wart, anxious, and piss-poor bad at socializing with older adults, and I know businesses involve a lot of networking and connections. That's why the whole business thing sounds intimidating. But only lately have I started to try picking apart the mental hurdles I placed. It sounds repulsive to me now, but I think I'd to myself a big disservice if I didn't try to start a business/independent side-hustle at least once in my life. qmark posted:Honestly, I think you have more good than bad in your situation, and a lot of it seems to be because of smart decisions and financial restraint. qmark posted:It's not clear what your take home pay is, but am I right in thinking you're using a huge portion of it (almost all of it) to pay off your loans? If that's the case, and you think you can continue to rely on having such low living expenses in case you ever lost your job, you can probably get away with just the 2k safety net for now. qmark posted:Regarding career: But I see what you're saying. Admittedly, the many times Ive done the thought experiment without grad school, I didn't get very far with it because I shot that possibility down so quickly. I'm going to think about this tonight and see if I can piece together an answer. I'm 100% certain I could find a career path without grad school and live a fulfilling life. A few people from my graduating class didn't go to college, started their own business they loved, and made a ton of money. e: decimals are important with APR buglord fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Apr 26, 2018 |
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Apr 26, 2018 04:13
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Thoughts: 1) Paul Graham is one of the heads of YCombinator, one of the biggest Silicon Valley startup accelerators. He’s huge in the scene. If his wordiness or choice of words seems weird, it’s probably because that’s his default target audience. 2) I’m assuming you mean 4.1%, not 41%. At that rate, I’d consider at least running the numbers on maxing your IRA as over the long term a good diversified portfolio will climb more than that. I don’t know the exact tax implications involved as I’m not in the US, but 4.1% is relatively cheap money (though paying it back is a guaranteed return at that rate). I’ll let some US goons debate the details. 3) If you’re happy at home, up your e-fund to 3 months living-out-of-home expenses including the initial expenses like rental bond, some essential furniture, etc. That way you have all of that covered if it ever changes and then you can not even worry about it. Remember to cover 1/4 of your occasional bills too - car registration, etc. 4) Consider what life experiences you may want to obtain in your 20s. poo poo gets much more difficult to do once you own a house, have a family, etc. so consider investing in yourself whilst you have disposable income. Overseas travel, etc. fall into this category. It may radically evolve your future plans, too.
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Apr 26, 2018 12:01
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It looks like you are making very sensible decisions and doing well in planning what you are getting into; I would echo that getting a PhD is a lot of work and only useful if you are going into academia or limited other career options. What would you be studying at grad school? You need to make sure it will be useful and get you into your chosen career. I don't see a lot of fun going on and I do see words like "burnout". You are still pretty young (even though it doesn't feel like it) and I would really recommend taking a few months out while you don't have many responsibilities, and doing a bit of backpacking round SE Asia or wherever people go at the moment. It's not like you will have a massive epiphany but becomes a lot harder when you have a full on career. Do a Masters when you get back.
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Apr 26, 2018 14:53
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Nam Taf posted:3) If you’re happy at home, up your e-fund to 3 months living-out-of-home expenses including the initial expenses like rental bond, some essential furniture, etc. That way you have all of that covered if it ever changes and then you can not even worry about it. Remember to cover 1/4 of your occasional bills too - car registration, etc. Nam Taf posted:4) Consider what life experiences you may want to obtain in your 20s. poo poo gets much more difficult to do once you own a house, have a family, etc. so consider investing in yourself whilst you have disposable income. Overseas travel, etc. fall into this category. It may radically evolve your future plans, too. knox_harrington posted:It looks like you are making very sensible decisions and doing well in planning what you are getting into; I would echo that getting a PhD is a lot of work and only useful if you are going into academia or limited other career options. What would you be studying at grad school? You need to make sure it will be useful and get you into your chosen career. knox_harrington posted:I don't see a lot of fun going on and I do see words like "burnout". You are still pretty young (even though it doesn't feel like it) and I would really recommend taking a few months out while you don't have many responsibilities, and doing a bit of backpacking round SE Asia or wherever people go at the moment. It's not like you will have a massive epiphany but becomes a lot harder when you have a full on career. Do a Masters when you get back.
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Apr 26, 2018 17:42
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buglord posted:I'll take a look at those two. This Paul Graham dude is awfully wordy in his other essays. Seems like less of an asshat than Dave Ramsey. quote:Side businesses, and just owning a business in general, sounds terrifying to me and I totally know that's a psychological hurdle I have to get over. I live with my dad and his girlfriend; his girlfriend became her own boss and ran a business successfully. The two of them were eating beans and tortillas with how poor they were getting it off the ground, but it became a huge financial success for them after about 3-4 years of maximum effort. Im a worry wart, anxious, and piss-poor bad at socializing with older adults, and I know businesses involve a lot of networking and connections. That's why the whole business thing sounds intimidating. Oh, and I agree with the person who said go do some traveling before you get too old for it. There's no time like when you're young and single to go explore the world. That's another part of the reason internet businesses are nice when you're young, you can throw time and energy into it during your downtime, from anywhere in the world. I know there's a lot of people doing similar things (what's it called, nomadic something or other?) so maybe see if there's anything you're interested in that can support you for a little while as you go do the young person thing.
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Apr 26, 2018 19:10
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I feel like Dave Ramsey’s plan is for the financial equivalent of alcoholics. Physically destroy your credit cards, get out of debt, stop getting loans on anything ever so you don’t sink back into spending beyond your means. How is he a sleazeball? I haven’t really heard about his personal life at all. Just standard evangelical Christian Republican sleaze? Is the Paul Graham you’re talking about the computer scientist Paul Graham? 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Apr 26, 2018 |
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Apr 26, 2018 19:28
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22 Eargesplitten posted:I feel like Dave Ramsey’s plan is for the financial equivalent of alcoholics. Physically destroy your credit cards, get out of debt, stop getting loans on anything ever so you don’t sink back into spending beyond your means. quote:Is the Paul Graham you’re talking about the computer scientist Paul Graham?
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Apr 26, 2018 20:04
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Cicero posted:IIRC he treats his employees lovely and he pushes bad actively managed funds (that he gets money from
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Apr 26, 2018 22:00
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moana posted:I mean, you don't necessarily have to socialize with a business. Some examples of people I know in real life that are doing side business stuff to make money: pro poker players, video game streamers, etsy artists and jewelers, self publishing writers, dog walkers, mobile game developers, photographers. There's definitely a spectrum of socialization required: if you're a wedding photographer, you have to be extremely social and networky. If you do stuff like real estate drone photography or product photography, you don't need nearly as much socialization as you do talent. For me, I did self publishing and I did not NEED to socialize except on internet forums for marketing. I never had to go network or anything like that, and it had nothing to do with my college degree. My friend who sells her jewelry on etsy would probably cry if she had to talk to any of her clients to make sales. Thanks to the internet, you can be as antisocial as you want and still make money! 22 Eargesplitten posted:How is he a sleazeball? I haven't really heard about his personal life at all. I don't listen to any of his advice on credit cards (which is to never ever use them), because I use mine with 80% of my purchases so I can rack up Amazon.com points. I pay it off the second it gets posted to my account, so im effectively getting paid to use a credit card like a debit card. e: I still got a few nuggets of good info from him. He does say things that do make sense and drills home the importance of "acting your wage". But I wont hesitate to skip to another vid if he goes off the rails. buglord fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Apr 26, 2018 |
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Apr 26, 2018 23:28
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He's not for everyone for sure, but I think he provides an important wake up call for many people and in general his advice is reasonable. I think he believes that people stay poor because they don't take action and change their behaviors, which is not quite the same thing as saying that people stay poor because they want to.buglord posted:(ex: dont buy a new car because you're trying to impress people, but move out of your parents' house and pay your loans more slowly because being a man is more important) I don't think these are contradictory stances.
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Apr 27, 2018 13:42
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:He's not for everyone for sure, but I think he provides an important wake up call for many people and in general his advice is reasonable. I think he believes that people stay poor because they don't take action and change their behaviors, which is not quite the same thing as saying that people stay poor because they want to. Yeah, it seems like he focuses a lot on the psychological effects of money, which is why he gives advice that isn't mathematically optimal. Getting some independence can have a pretty big psychological impact. I feel like the "be a man" thing is a remnant of being an old man from the South. I've heard him quickly add "Or a woman" when he catches himself doing that sometimes. I'll come clean, I've been listening to his podcasts on the way to work, I just try to ignore his politics. I also use his budgeting app since nYNAB is a steaming heap of poo poo. It does seem like a lot of his advice for poor people or people in an otherwise lovely situation isn't so much "you're poor because you want to be poor" (that's the law of attraction people, who I hate) as much as it is "nobody is going to fix this for you." I started listening to him in hopes that it would help my wife and I get on the same page since she focuses much more on the psychological aspect of money than I do. I have actually found that I spend less money when using cash like he says, but if I trusted myself with a credit card I would be using it for online stuff. He insists that debit cards have the same fraud protection (which is true), but he doesn't realize/accept that banks drag their feet on putting the money back in your checking account while they will cancel credit transactions almost immediately because they can't charge you interest on fraudulent purchases and want you to keep buying stuff to make them more money. I hadn't heard about the prosperity gospel stuff, that is really gross. I was raised Mennonite, which is pretty much the opposite of prosperity gospel. My grandfather was also extremely debt-averse, so that might color my opinion of him. I don't think he ever took out a loan for anything except maybe building his house, although that was obviously at least partially privilege of growing up with an upper-middle class family that could help with his engineering degree. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Apr 27, 2018 |
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Apr 27, 2018 14:20
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I gave 80000hours a shot this weekend and it's pretty good so far. I also think I need to hand out links to Paul Graham's do what you love article to my buddies in a similar boat. It's pretty exciting to think that I could find a job that wouldn't just tolerate, but actively enjoy. My current job is the best job I've had so far for a number of reasons. I'm given projects to work on over a period of time, I can start my own pet projects, and I'm given generous levels of leeway on how I tackle them. I don't really have to follow a schedule or explain myself. It's a pretty big contrast to my old retail job which had none of those luxuries and all the horrible things that comes with working for the general public. But even though this job is magnitudes better, I see myself doing something far different in the future. I think im far from hitting that "dream job" still. I wonder what that feels like? I think I know what it looks like. When I worked in archaeology alongside forest service and geology specialists, I at least got to see people that really loved their job. There was an older botanist dude I bonded with, and he'd often say that it felt strange he was getting paid for doing something he considered a hobby. Archaeology, while fun, wasn't something I'd want to do long term. But I think the best thing I got out of the experience was seeing what people looked like when they were working their own dream jobs.
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Apr 30, 2018 18:41
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Note too that you may not ever end up in a "dream job" and that's fine too. Lots of people have jobs that they are content with and their main passion is a hobby that their job allows them to enjoy. A lot of the time, if you make your passion become your job, it turns into you not loving your passion as much anymore. I was a novelist for four years- for lots of people that would be a dream job. But by the end of it I was sooooo ready to be done.
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Apr 30, 2018 21:34
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moana posted:Note too that you may not ever end up in a "dream job" and that's fine too. Lots of people have jobs that they are content with and their main passion is a hobby that their job allows them to enjoy. A lot of the time, if you make your passion become your job, it turns into you not loving your passion as much anymore. Bit of an update today: I've been putting a lot of time into 80,000 hours. Im purposely slowing down on it just so I can digest each portion of the ebook. I've also decided to get an audibook called How To Win Friends and Influence People which has actually been a lot of fun to listen to. If you didn't assume already, by me being a goon, I'm a pretty big introvert. I have been for all my life, but the past 5 years or so have been spent working on being more sociable. I think it's been a big success since I can make friends and go on dates much easier today. At the same time, I never allowed myself to grow much in terms of leadership in the work place. I mentally resigned myself to being "bad with people" so the thought of leadership roles like manager, supervisor, etc has never really planted itself in my head. That book by Dale Carnegie has shown me so far that people skills are not entirely innate, nor are they insurmountable if you're born introverted. So going back to the question, which resources can I find (ideally something I can listen to while driving/working/etc) that can help me flesh out that underdeveloped side of me? This isn't something I really considered before so its all new to me.
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May 10, 2018 19:45
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buglord posted:I emailed my old professor/advisor, mentioning things I brought up in this thread, and she told me not to miss the forest for the trees and to be more process oriented. I dunno how creepy it would be to call her office even though I havent' been her student for a year. You could likely e-mail her and see if she'd be willing to meet with you for coffee to give you a bit of advice instead of just dropping by her office like a weirdo 
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Aug 5, 2018 15:02
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