Mine is linked to my student loans with salliemae. every quarter money gets dropped into the account. For me, just by myself, I get about 80 a year back. This is two payments a year. I pay cash for most everything through an envelope system, so if you were to put most everything on the card, you could really rack things up. I don’t like to charge things (long history with it) so I don’t get nearly as much as I would if I put everything on a card.

@19 & 20 I read #17 Troy’s comment as a list of alternative, not one alternative (owning a company) with a list of benefits.

Even *without* starting your own business, there still is a third option–balance your work and time well. I have a skill (analysis and database management) that’s in limited supply in my industry (educational non-profits). I make decent money. I work hard, but efficiently, and thus work reasonable hours. (If I were inefficient and bad at my job, then I would have to work more to make up for it.) I get decent time off and very flexible hours *and* 3 weeks of telecommuting a year. It’s pretty swell. I know not all employers are as awesome as mine, but they (and “the 3rd option”) do exist.

As for the room issue… second all the comments about miserable, relationship-ruining experiences sharing with a sibling (and we only shared until I was about 4/5 and she was 6/7…even being so young, I remember hating every minute of it! Even we we later lived in a smaller house with more siblings, my mom ensured we each had out own room/space, because it just wasn’t possible for us to live together). Despite this, I have happily co-existed with every partner and roommate I’ve had for the past 7 years, including 4 years sharing a tiny room with various ones. It’s not that I don’t know how to share a room, it’s that a) people need space apart (more possible as an adult sharing a room than as a child) and b) some people are just fundamentally incompatible. Even though I didn’t always have *great* roommates, I at least got some say in whether I would be able to handle living with them which is way more input that you get with a sibling.

On the emergency fund, I think 3 to 6 months emergency fund is fine, but if you feel your job is unstable then more is best. Now, maybe everyone feels their job is unstable, don’t know. Could have a 3 to 6 month emergency fund and then 6 month cds, or something that earns a tiny bit more interest.

I also have to say that if you are in a professional field, I don’t recommend grabbing anything right away, as it limits your ability to find a good job. If you are working standard daylight hours, it is hard to schedule job interviews, etc. IF you feel the need a small part-time job should be doable, but definately not a lot of hours. One has to consider finding a job somewhat of a job in itself. But yes, most in a professional field will be getting some kind of severance or unemployment, etc. that will help while you are looking.

Funny, my mother once commented to me that she was a little jealous of me and my sister since she has never in here entire life had her own room. She went from sharing with her sisters, to room-mates in college, to moving in with her husband. She probably never will have her own room.

There is also a fourth option that a lot of people end up in. Work crazy hard for very little money, have no freedom or time.

Personal experience aside, the comment about magically “getting a retail job” overlooks the fact that there are about 4-5 people for every job opening. Good luck with that.

I was the only girl with five brothers. They still complain that I had a room to myself when they had to share. They complain about having hand me down clothes, when I didn’t. They don’t talk much to each other.

It’s not sharing the same room, it’s what the parents teach you about being a family, getting along, supporting each other while you live together and after you go your own way. If you don’t teach your family how to be a family, well, it just doesn’t happen.

I also like playing cards (cribbage, gin rummy, etc.) with my husband better than board games. I have played some of the games that Trent recommends, and these generally require a lot of strategic thinking (which I don’t really enjoy). Some board games also take a lot of time to play (I get antsy if a game lasts over 30 minutes). So my husband found a game group to play board games with, and we only play cards together.

Another game that is fun for 2 to 4 people is mah-jongg. If you can find a set of tiles used and you enjoy this type of game, I would definitely recommend it.

I’ve owned some units in a natural gas MLP (Energy Transfer Partners-symbol:ETP) for a few years. Trent says that the dividend isn’t usually “huge”, but the yield on my MLP has ranged between 7-9% a year (currently 8.55%), which is huge when it comes to dividends or yields on other investments, and most of the MLPs I keep an eye on have dividends in that range.

MLPs do have a tax complication, but it’s not a big deal. You get a K-1 every year, and if you hold the MLP in a tax-deferred account, you have to send that K-1 to the custodian of your account.

Trent is correct that if your MLP kicks out deductions, you won’t get the benefit of them if you hold it in an IRA, but mine reports more income than deductions, so I save on taxes by having it come in through my IRA. (The income and deductions reported for tax purposes don’t track with the dividends at all.) There is an annual limit on how much of certain kinds of income from MLPs can be sheltered in an IRA. I’ve only looked at that to make sure I don’t have to worry about it so I couldn’t tell you the details but your broker could.

If you want to hold MLPs in an IRA without worrying about the tax issues, one option is to buy shares in a mutual fund or ETF that focuses on MLPs. That’s also a good way to diversify across a number of MLPs.

All that being said, MLPs are like any other investment – they carry risks you need to be sure you understand, you shouldn’t invest until you have the basics covered (debt under control, emergency fund in place), and you should not overweight your portfolio with them (mine is well under 10% of my stock portfolio.)

Hope this helps. My MLP, although currently down in unit price from when I purchased it, still gives me a 7.25% annual yield on my investment, so I’ve been very happy with it – so far. One’s happiness with an investment can never be accurately measured until after you’ve sold it.

As a result? I don’t talk to any of my siblings, at all, to this date. We have no relationship, we can’t even stand to be in the same state with each other.

We’re half-sisters though, none of us met until we were about 7 years old, and we were all various ages. Not enjoyable.

Them moving out, me finally getting my own room… best time of my life.

I agree that the dichotomy you mention is a false one, but not everyone wants to own their own business. Some of us like being able to focus on the job we’re doing without having to also be businesspeople in our own right, and some of us also enjoy working with a team in a way that you can’t do starting out as a business owner.

In a time of high unemployment and slow sales, there are people competing for retail and restaurant jobs too. You aren’t a good candidate for such work. You look like someone who has no experience in retail, and as Leslie says, you look like someone who will quit as soon as you find the kind of work you really want.

I have a friend with a master’s degree, fantastic people/networking skills, a hole-free resume prior to the recession, no false pride regarding any type of work, actual retail (coffee barista) experience, a strong work ethic, and (shallow as this sounds, it matters) he’s even good-looking — who applied unsuccessfully for tons of retail jobs in the past year. Seriously, he would have taken *anything* that wasn’t illegal or immoral, and he could not find work.

Thank goodness he did finally find work (in his field!) a month ago, but “plan to get a retail job” is just terrible advice in this economy.