As a young soul just bringing a close to my college adventures, this book looks like something to put on the “soon-to-read” list.

I see frugality as a necessity right now, so Please Send Money seems have the mental nourishment I need.

Peace,

+Bryan

I’ll tell you, then: You’re not alone. :) Though I’m not quite a twenty-something yet, I’ve got two days to go yet before I hit twenty! I do think we’re the minority, though.

Personally, I don’t get jealous of any Lexus I see. Sure, they can be nice and shiny, but then I remind myself that the rest of the world doesn’t consider “Lexus” to be high end. Why? Because the rest of the world doesn’t have Lexus. (Though I think there’s one other country that does, can’t remember which. No other country has Acura or Infinity though. Not that we’re better, we’re just more gullible.)

After all: Lexus = Toyota, Infinity = Nissan and Acura = Honda. Next time you find yourself getting a bit green, just imagine telling the person who owns it, “Hey, nice Honda/Toyota/Nissan,” and seeing the look of confusion you’ll get from most people. (That’s what I do, anyways, and it works pretty well for me.) That and knowing what the cars are actually worth as far as Mercedes and BMW go. Most that you see are either leased or not as much as you’d think they are. (I’m certainly not jealous of either lease payments OR car payments, I have neither!)

And for what it’s worth: I did borrow money from my mom and dad to get my laptop, which I needed. I paid them back, all but the last $300, which they decided to count as a present for Christmas and my birthday (they’re pretty close). And I did have to borrow money from my counterpart, to get the first month’s train ticket so I could go to work–and I paid him back as soon as I got paid. I guess what I’m trying to say is that loans don’t have to get ugly. In both cases, they were for things that I really needed and couldn’t afford otherwise (I have issues, to say the least, about putting those kinds of purchases on plastic–if I can’t afford the thing to begin with, what makes me think I can afford the thing plus interest?).

Recritique.com
Restaurant Coupons.

I like the idea Shanel gave – bribe them to read it. Tell them if they read it and can explain the ideas in it back to you, you’ll give them a better gift. I think that’s an excellent idea.

Another think kids need to realize about bankruptcy is that it is a long process. There seems to be a perception that you just file something in court, maybe lose a few assets, and it’s done except for the poor credit rating. Not so — you will spend months to years paying excess income to your creditors until your bankruptcy is discharged. I didn’t know this myself until I looked it up when my brother asked me about it because he had a friend who had bought a really expensive car and was tired of the car payments and wanted to declare bankruptcy to get rid of them. When you hear about the words “declare bankruptcy” it seems like it is a one shot, painful but brief action.

A quick note on the recommendation to read “What Color Is Your Parachute?”, which I know you’ve recommended here before. That book was not what I expected at all. It was so heavy on Jesus and God references that I really couldn’t get through it. I have no idea why such references should have a place in a career book that is supposedly geared toward everyone. Did anyone else have this experience with that book?

Since I had already developed a habit of impulse buying while using my parents’ credit cards, I merely continued with my new credit cards (which were funded by my new student loans). College turned into law school and more student loans. I never felt I was in danger b/c all my friends seemed to be doing the same thing and not at all worried about it. I assumed that becoming a lawyer would result in enough income to pay it all off eventually. Wrong!

If I wanted a young adult to read this book, I’d offer him/her $100 cash to read it and explain to me what the books is about, chapter by chapter, and then tell me what, if anything, they learned from it, and finally if they intend to do anything differently as a result of it. That just might work. It would have worked for me!

The idea came to me b/c I remembered a story about Andrew Carnegie. Apparently he had a sister who was worried to death b/c her two sons who were away at college would never write her back, despite her many desperate pleas in her many letters asking for them to. When she mentioned this to Carnegie, he asked if anyone would wager with him that he could make those boys write him without even asking them to. Someone took that bet and he wrote a letter to each of the boys that never mentioned the problem their mother was having with their not writing back and wishing them the best of luck in their college life. He ended each letter by saying he hoped they would enjoy the cash he included with the letters. But, he didn’t include any cash. Each boy immediately wrote back to thank their “Dear Old Uncle” for his lovely letter and, by the way, he should know that there was no cash enclosed with the letter.

I can totally relate to The Ostrich Syndrome. I would go weeks, sometimes even months, without balancing my checkbook or even peeking into my savings account (probably because I was afraid to see how little was still there!). Much can be said for simply paying attention as the first step in the road to financial recovery.

I am very interested in purchasing this book for my younger brother who has decided to forego college. I would hate to get him this book only for him to feel it’s irrelevent to him because it is only focusing on examples relating to college experiences.