My dad called me today about a story he had read in the paper about senior citizens making loads of cash on Google Adsense. I did a search for the article and found it.
The aptly titled "Gray Googlers strike gold on the Internet" talks about people that have retired only to start websites and end up making loads of money off of Google adsense. Some of the people's websites are mentioned as well. It's a pretty interesting read.
Showing posts with label school and career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school and career. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
College Tuition and Fees Rise 6.6%, ouch!
I saw this headline on Yahoo news.
Apparently the average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose 6.6 percent this year. That means that the tuition and fees were more than the increase in financial aid offered and pushed students into more borrowing.
Not cool. If I could do it over I would only have taken as many classes as my scholarships covered or as I could pay for myself. The problem with most of my scholarships was that they were $2,000 to $4,000 each yearly but were contingent upon me going to school full time. Since I was going to a private school in the beginning of my college career, those scholarships were not a huge help.
Ah, hindsight...
Apparently the average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose 6.6 percent this year. That means that the tuition and fees were more than the increase in financial aid offered and pushed students into more borrowing.
Not cool. If I could do it over I would only have taken as many classes as my scholarships covered or as I could pay for myself. The problem with most of my scholarships was that they were $2,000 to $4,000 each yearly but were contingent upon me going to school full time. Since I was going to a private school in the beginning of my college career, those scholarships were not a huge help.
Ah, hindsight...
Friday, October 5, 2007
If I had a personal finance time machine...
and I could go back and change just ONE thing I know exactly what it would be.
Going to college.
Now, before you jump up and shout to the heavens how college degrees mean more pay and what not, let me explain what I mean for that.
If I could go back and change one personal finance related mess-up it would be paying for college with loans. If I could not get scholarships to cover classes then I wouldn't have gone. Or I would have looked for a job that reimbursed me to go to school. Sure, it would have taken way longer to actually get through school, but I would be in such a better position right now. And I would have valued the education more - you know, with less skipping class and such.
The total student loan debt in my household is currently at $153,809.41.
As the dual degree holder, the majority of that debt is mine. In fact, my portion of that is a whopping $105,315.87. Now, it did not start out that high. As I have mentioned on here before I got suckered into some of those 10% interest private education loans when I was going to UCF in Orlando. And unlike most student loans, those started accruing interest from day one.
Ouch.
The monthly payments for those babies are $685.60. Let's assume that I pay on them for 20 years. If I did not have to pay on the loans but instead were able to invest that exact amount each month for 20 years earning 8% I would end up somewhere around $400,000.
Wow, that really makes me sick to my stomach.
Do you have one thing you would change?
Going to college.
Now, before you jump up and shout to the heavens how college degrees mean more pay and what not, let me explain what I mean for that.
If I could go back and change one personal finance related mess-up it would be paying for college with loans. If I could not get scholarships to cover classes then I wouldn't have gone. Or I would have looked for a job that reimbursed me to go to school. Sure, it would have taken way longer to actually get through school, but I would be in such a better position right now. And I would have valued the education more - you know, with less skipping class and such.
The total student loan debt in my household is currently at $153,809.41.
As the dual degree holder, the majority of that debt is mine. In fact, my portion of that is a whopping $105,315.87. Now, it did not start out that high. As I have mentioned on here before I got suckered into some of those 10% interest private education loans when I was going to UCF in Orlando. And unlike most student loans, those started accruing interest from day one.
Ouch.
The monthly payments for those babies are $685.60. Let's assume that I pay on them for 20 years. If I did not have to pay on the loans but instead were able to invest that exact amount each month for 20 years earning 8% I would end up somewhere around $400,000.
Wow, that really makes me sick to my stomach.
Do you have one thing you would change?
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Suze Orman show
Last night I was channel hopping and ended up in CNBC where the Suze Orman show was on. Oddly enough I do not think I have ever actually watched it until last night. When I turned it on they were talking about student loans and how people are graduating with loads of debt and therefore not able to reach their potential because they spend all of their time worrying about debt or focusing on paying down debt.
There was a woman on the show, and I did not get to hear where she was from as I came into it midway, that had around $120,000 in school loan debt. That was not the most shocking part.
It started out as only $40,000.
And it was for a 12- month culinary school program!
Her monthly student loan payments are around $700.
She was currently working as a pastry chef - making $7.00 per hour!
Whoa. And I thought the student loan debt that we have was bad - at least ours is for a total of 3 degrees. Yikes.
I have to wonder if this woman had any clue how much she would be making as a pastry chef once she finished school? Because $7.00 per hour is less than $15,000 per year - and the schooling was $40,000. It is not hard to see that maybe that is not a great choice.
Now I feel somewhat lucky to be making what seems like a fortune compared to this poor woman.
There was a woman on the show, and I did not get to hear where she was from as I came into it midway, that had around $120,000 in school loan debt. That was not the most shocking part.
It started out as only $40,000.
And it was for a 12- month culinary school program!
Her monthly student loan payments are around $700.
She was currently working as a pastry chef - making $7.00 per hour!
Whoa. And I thought the student loan debt that we have was bad - at least ours is for a total of 3 degrees. Yikes.
I have to wonder if this woman had any clue how much she would be making as a pastry chef once she finished school? Because $7.00 per hour is less than $15,000 per year - and the schooling was $40,000. It is not hard to see that maybe that is not a great choice.
Now I feel somewhat lucky to be making what seems like a fortune compared to this poor woman.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
College worth the debt
I found an interesting article on Yahoo Finance "Is College Worth the Cost." There were some interesting tidbits in the article. Like only 28 percent of jobs in this country require a 4 year college degree. And of the top 10 fastest growing occupations only one requires a 4 year college degree. Of course associate's degrees are what is required by most of them. And I liked the advice of not paying top dollar for a private school that no one has heard of. I think that people get confused though when a local private college is well know in their area. Sometimes people think that it is well known everywhere but really it's just in the local area.
And this was a paragraph I think they should show all high school students about how much to limit their borrowing based on their major:
And this was a paragraph I think they should show all high school students about how much to limit their borrowing based on their major:
The highest-earning BAs are engineering and computer science students, who pulled down starting salaries of around $50,000 in 2006. According to my calculations, applying the affordability benchmarks used by the PIRGs in their study, these lucky ones can afford to borrow up to $45,000 a year in federal student loans. Liberal arts grads, by contrast, earn just over $30,000 in the first year out of school. If that's your bent, it would be prudent to borrow no more than $16,000.
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