“If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.” — Frank Zappa

This is a wake up call to everyone hiding behind college.

I love learning. I’m a huge supporter of constant improvement and development. I’m very curious and interested in how the world works and how things come together. I also enjoy getting wasted with friends. This doesn’t mean that I need to stay in school for all of this to happen. I don’t need to go back to college to drink and learn. I can do that all on my own. I can leave the classroom.

I earned my degree and am done with formal education. I will keep on learning until the day I die. I will keep on learning how to be a better friend, how to workout, how things work, new languages, and so on. I don’t need to spend a fortune on tuition to learn or to drink.

So where am I going with this? I’ve been meeting too many friends that are hiding behind college. The excuses are all similar.

• I can’t launch because all of my time is spent on my research.
• I don’t mind being broke because I’m still in school (despite being almost 30).
• More education will help me.
• There are no jobs in my field.

The excuses all point to one problem. Too many of us are hiding behind college.

So what do you do without college?

I’m actually a huge fan of education. I’m a huge fan of college, learning, and pushing yourself. I just don’t believe that we should all be in college forever! We eventually need to leave and move on with life. We can learn stuff without reading it off a boring Powerpoint presentation.

Without college, there are a million things you could do. We’ve looked at many options for what to do after college. I don’t want to repeat myself, but you can easily get a job, start a business, or do something more productive. Just because you’re not in a classroom it doesn’t mean that you’re not learning. You can be your own professor.

What about finding a job?

If a new education will help you land a better or different job, then go for it!

If expanding on your current education will increase your income, then go for it!

Those aforementioned statements come directly to you from the department of DUH!

Yet so many of our peers are taking random courses and earning degrees for no apparent reason. Why? I’m not sure. They might be afraid of looking for work, they can’t find work, or they just don’t want to leave the comforts of school. I don’t really know.

Don’t stay in school because you can’t find a job or are afraid of looking for one. There are many options if you can’t find work after college. You don’t have to rack up any more debt just to stay in a classroom.

If adding credentials to your resume will directly help you with your income, then you obviously don’t need to listen to the advice in this piece.

Should you follow your passions?

Right now is the best time to make money online. It’s also the best time to learn anything. It’s the best time to do anything.

I don’t have just one answer when it comes to this question. Some of us want to work and make lots of money. Others want to change the world. Some just want to travel and explore. It’s up to you if you want to follow your passions.

I’m constantly looking for answers to this question. A while back I had many of my peers that I respect chime in with their thoughts on life after college. The end result? A bunch of sweet insights that you could use to make the best decisions possible. Don’t say that you didn’t know what to do!

Finally, it’s time to bring everything together now.

So what do you do?

It’s time to destroy your fears. We need to stop being so afraid of everything and just take action. Some action. Any action. Anything beats just sitting around waiting for something to happen. Anything beats staying in school until you’re 30 hoping for something to happen. We can’t just stay in school and think that everything will be okay.

We need to stop hiding behind college. We need to take some responsibility for our lives.

And no I’m not here to push some conspiracy theory documentary on you or anything like that. I just want to open your eyes to the world around you. There’s more to life than just school. The parties are pretty fun outside of college.

You want more updates? You want to know about some exclusive stuff that I’m dropping soon? Add your email to the box below.

Please stop hiding behind college. You owe it to yourself to make something happen. You can’t just throw out YOLO (you only live once) before a shot of tequila. It also applies to other areas in your life.

Do you know where your money is?

It’s important to keep your money where your money is respected. Would you leave thousands of dollars with a friend that you don’t trust? Would you leave your money with an enemy?

Okay, stupid questions. Sorry. But seriously, why leave your money where it’s not respected?

I wrote about a negative experience with a local bank. I’m an impatient man. I work hard because I want fast results. I don’t like to wait. So why would I wait in line just to access my own money or deposit a check that I could just scan with my cell? Why get ripped off with my own money? Why pay just to access my own money that I worked hard for?

Once in a while when there’s nothing else left to talk about, friends will ask me about checking accounts. I’ve heard all sorts of complaints about crappy checking accounts:

• Getting charged to look at last 10 transactions.
• Random system access fees.
• Monthly fees that add up.
• Lame customer service.
• Long lines.
• Fees that can’t really be explained.

The good news is that we live in a world where you can find out about a breakup the second it happens on Facebook and a world where you can transfer thousands of dollars within a few clicks.

The beauty is that companies compete for our business. Online checking accounts are no different. You don’t have to leave your money with the same bank account that you had as a child. You can transfer your cash and take advantage of the perks.

Let’s look at the best checking accounts if you want your money to be treated with respect:

Capital One 360 – free $50.

Recently ING Direct became Capital One 360. I haven’t heard of any complaints yet. In Canada, it’s still ING Direct, so I haven’t noticed any changes at all. You can sign up with Capital One 360 right now and claim your free money. I can’t say enough good things about this checking account. No random fees, no monthly fees, easy to use, easy to create new accounts, and they even give you free money to sign up. What else could you ask for?

Perkstreet — cashback on your purchases.

Join PerkStreet today and start earning up to 2% cash back on your everyday purchases. I checked out their site and was immediately impressed. I wish I could join myself. They offer 24/7 customer service help, mobile banking, mobile check deposits (screw those long lines with old people), and all sorts of cash back offers. You can earn up to 2% cash back when you shop online and up to 1% on everything else. I’m sold.

Those are the best checking accounts that I could find. As always, I’m open to suggestions, insults, and shots.

I still remember the day. I was roaming around campus trying to learn more about where I would be living for the next 4 years. As I walked through the center of campus, I noticed all of these students gathered around, but I couldn’t see what they were looking at. With curiosity getting the best of me, I decided to find out what was going on. Students were gathered around getting free gifts, but only after they signed up for a credit card.

Being a teenager with nothing to lose and everything to gain, I decided to sign up in order to receive the free gift, a sweet branded t-shirt. I didn’t care about the credit card, because I had no desire to use it. Yep, I remember that day. It was the day that I got my first credit card. That day changed my life and ended up costing me dearly.

The Start of My Journey.

I went a whole year without using that credit card. I put it in my wallet, but never pulled it out. I didn’t have anything that I wanted and really never understood the idea of credit. I knew my parents used credit cards, but I never paid attention to how they dealt with it. I guess I should have paid better attention.

My first taste of credit came when I needed some books for class. At my college, we were lucky to have a textbook rental system, so we didn’t have to pay crazy prices for books. That being said, we did have to purchase supplemental books depending on the class requirements. I was a Sophomore and needed quite a few for my business classes. I didn’t have the funds in my checking account, so out came the plastic. I put the whole purchase on the card and went throughout my day.

The first charge on my credit card was for $350 and that was on a card that only had a $800 limit. Though I charged the $350, I realized that the minimum payments were going to come and bite me.

Minimum Payments are Bad.

We have all heard about how paying the minimum payment is just a bad idea. You won’t get anywhere and it will take years to pay off your balance. I wish I would have known that before. I only saw the little amount that I needed to pay. It was easy. Just give them $20 a month and they would allow you to continue the use of the card. Sweet!

It didn’t take long before I had maxed out my first credit card and I decided to move on to another. I figured that I have one and I could probably get another one with a bigger limit. I was right. My next card had a limit of $2,000. This could come in handy for a low paid college student.

As I continued to pay the minimum on my first credit card, I started racking up charged on my second. Fast food purchases, movie rentals, gas, entertainment, travel, and anything else I could swipe that card for. I was in bad shape, but I didn’t realize it. It didn’t take long to max out my second credit card. Oops! The second card allowed me to just pay $30 a month, so in total I was only paying $50 a month for the use of credit.

Why Not Start a Business?

I don’t know what you would do if you were in credit card debt, but you probably wouldn’t do what I did. Instead of working more hours at my part time job, I decided to start a business. Yep, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, so why not?

I started my online electronics business when I was a Senior in college. I had already been through quite a few business and marketing classes and had a little passion for HTML. Since I wanted to start a legitimate business, I needed cash flow. Where else would I get that from?

Instead of trying to find a loan or asking my parents, I just applied for a few more credit cards. I think at this time, I had 6 credit cards in my name. I was now using my credit cards to fund my business. If you take one piece of advice from this post, please DO NOT fund your business with credit cards. There is no good that can come from it.

I ran my business for 4 years before I decided to shut it down. It was profitable, but I was in a lot of debt and the business was affecting my relationships. It just wasn’t worth it to me, but I didn’t have enough time to pay off all of my credit card debt.

Changing My Mentality and Crushing Debt!

After shutting down my business, it was time to get serious about my credit card debt. I had realized that it would take about 30 years to pay off my debt if I continued down my same path. There was no good that could have come from it. I needed a change and I needed it quickly.

I decided then and there that I needed to stop being the victim of my own stupidity and started to learn. I looked deeply into my finances and my purchase behavior. I created a rough budget in order to get my spending on track and put it to work. I stopped eating out, I brought my lunch to work everyday, I learned how to service my car, I cut my cable, and many other things. I didn’t want to pay off debt my whole life.

I saved and I paid off debt each and every month for four years. After it was all said and done, I had racked up over $50,000 worth of credit card debt. It took me four long years to pay it all back off, using the debt avalanche method. It was a great learning experience for me and now I feel confident in my ability to grow my net worth. Yes, I made mistakes, but what person doesn’t? In the end, that lonely free gift from the credit card company cost me over $50,000. I guess they could have given me a free boat and they would have still ended up on top.

Author Bio: Grayson is the owner of Debt Roundup, a personal finance blog dedicated to talking about and working off debt. I was an avid consumer that built up a lot of credit card debt, but then learned the error of his ways. Saving, investing, and making more money are now his passions. You can follow him on Twitter or Google +.

“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing worth knowing can be taught.” — Oscar Wilde

Do you have to enjoy your job in your 20s? Should you follow your passions? Should you go after the job that pays you the best?

These are all interesting questions that have sparked some fun debates with my friends. We all have different viewpoints on what to do in our 20s. Some of us just want to party and live it up. Others want to work as hard as possible to save money for the future. Some have that perfect balance.

I can’t give you a definitive answer here because it’s YOUR life. I personally believe that life is too damn amazing to spend it doing something that you’re not excited about.

With that being said, I also believe in putting in the work to getting the results/savings that you want. You can’t just sit around, read the 4-Hour Workweek and expect something to happen. It doesn’t work like that my friend. We can’t all start making thousands without any effort. You do have to put the work in. This doesn’t mean that you can’t question your job though.

There are two ways to look at your job:

1. It’s your source of income. Shut up and accept it. Go to work, get paid, and enjoy your spare time.
2. You can do something that you enjoy for a living. Something that inspires you. Something that keeps you up until 4am on a Sunday night (I hope I wasn’t the only one).

What side do you fall on? Let’s have some fun with this discussion and continue it on.

How do you avoid getting trapped in a crappy job?

“Everything I have I owe to this job…this stupid, wonderful, boring, amazing job.” — Jim, The Office series finale

It’s so easy to get trapped. It’s easy to stay with the first job that you find in your 20s. One month turns into a year. A year turns into a few years. Next thing you know, there’s a 10-year pin being awarded to you. We all have older friends that wonder where the time went. Some of us are that older friend that’s confused. There’s nothing worse in life than the regret of the unknown. The regret of what we didn’t do. The feeling of thinking that it’s too late can really keep you up at night and torture you.

Is it possible to avoid this? Yes. You just need to create a plan.

What’s your plan?

There’s nothing wrong with hustling in your 20s. It’s also cool to chase after your passions and work that excites you.

All I ask is that you come up with some sort of a plan. What do you want out of life? What’s your plan?

Your plan will depend on what you want and the sort of lifestyle that you want to live. If you want to move up the ranks at your job, then you need to invest in your education and network around. If you want to work for yourself, then you need to make your first buck on your own instead of wishing.

You need a plan. Stop waiting for something to happen because it won’t! Your turn never rolls around. You have to create opportunities.

What if I’m confused?

It’s common to be confused. It’s easy to run away from launching. It’s really easy to just coast through life waiting for something to happen. The reality is that we need to stop assuming that everything will be okay.

Quick question.

When’s the best time to find a new job? When you don’t need one.

We can’t expect everything to be okay forever. Things will change. You will get fired one day. You will get sick of your job.

I believe that taking action is key. You’ll always be afraid of something. You need to conquer your confusion/fear right now before you can move on.

[Check out: How-to destroy your fear finally.]

Keep on working hard, questioning the system, and looking for further answers. Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Don’t blame the world for your problems. You will find new jobs, get fired, feel like crap at work, and feel excited about work. Just keep on searching until you find something that excites you. I don’t want you to be that

What do you think about all of this?

If you want to know more, we have a course launching SOON. Check out our page on how to grab control of your life. This page previews the course and shows you what’s coming up. Check it out now! Stop making excuses.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain

“It’s tangible, it’s solid, it’s beautiful. It’s artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate.” — Donald Trump

Have you been thinking about buying a rental property? Not sure where to start? Keep on reading…

Anyone can buy a rental. Anyone can start a business. Anyone and everyone can do anything and everything. Of course, most people won’t do much. It’s a whole lot easier to just read articles and create excuses while life passes us by. That’s not what this site is all about.

This article is going to look at the idea of buying a rental property in your 20s as a source of passive income/stability for the future…

Can a young punk buy a rental property?

Spoiler alert: yes you can buy a rental property or any other wealth-building asset in your 20s. No, you don’t have to be smart. You might want to try to be as charming as me though (maybe not).

I try not to talk too much about myself when I meet someone new. I want them to remember me based on what they received out of that conversation. I don’t want them to think I’m rich or poor. I never tell anyone about my blogging or my rental property. I don’t mention those types of things unless they come up in conversation.

Where am I going with this? I was sort of annoyed once. A buddy and I were enjoying drinks on a patio when we ran into some girls from school. We were having a blast and then my friend mentioned how the night began at my condo around the corner (I was living in my condo that summer, 2010). The girls asked about it and were intrigued because of the location. Then my friend kindly interjected with:

“He’s lucky. His parents bought it for him.”

That’s what my buddy said. Out of nowhere. These girls were my friends and they thought he came across as bitter. He just wanted to feel better about himself. He wanted to put me down and feel better about himself for not saving money.

Well, I don’t take anything from my parents and I certainly don’t believe in throwing the word luck around. I’m lucky for many things. I’m lucky to have my friends and many amazing experiences. There are other things that I worked for. This is the point of this article.

I really wanted to share with you guys how you can buy your first rental property in your 20s.

How can you buy a rental property (or save for anything else) in your 20s even when you want to party? 

For the remainder of this piece, we will look at how you can buy a rental property in your 20s. We will discuss some theories. strategies, and we will even look at the numbers behind it all.

What’s the theory behind saving up for any major purchase?

Set the goal first.

What’s your goal? As corny as most advice on setting goals is, it’s true. You don’t realize this until you actually try and set some goals for yourself. Without concrete goals or plans you really don’t feel like saving money because it’s tough for us to see the point. Why not buy a new iPad? I struggle with this all of the time personally.

What’s your goal? If you want to own a rental property as your source of passive income, you need to start saving for it right now. That first property isn’t going to be cheap. You’re going to be hit with all sorts of random fees. Get ready for it. The good news is that we have included a rental property calculator at the point of this post. Pretty sweet!

Anyways…

Why idly go through life?

Stop waiting for something to happen. Stop waiting for your turn. Go after it. It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission. If you want to buy a rental home, you need to start planning and saving for it right now.

– But how, Martin?

Work your butt off.

Excuses are great. We all have one or fifty.

Before you make any big purchase or hit that passive income lifestyle, you have to put the work in first. That is just the reality. You have to go through the stage where you work hard first. Then you can reap the benefits. Nobody ever drowned in sweat. As much as I love lifestyle design articles and the idea of taking it easy in life, I also strongly believe in putting in the work. You have to be willing to work hard to catch your first break.

Save money where it counts.

We looked at how we can save up for literally anything. The numbers don’t lie. You have to save money where it counts and when it matters the most. You can start off by paying yourself and then working on your problem areas one at a time. Then you can increase your income.

All that matters is that you save huge money. Your first source of passive income will require either a ton of time or money or both!

Now it’s time to dig a little deeper on this investment home…

What about the actual property?

Now it’s time to find the actual property that you want to use as an investment. This is going to be one of the most important decisions you make in your life (aside from maybe marriage), so please take it seriously.

Your first rental property can make or break you — no pressure of course.

How do you go about finding your first investment property?

Look around.

Well duh! You already know that you have to look around. This is common sense. However, I need to stress that you can’t just invest in the first property that you see. You’ll have huge buyer’s remorse. I don’t want to see you regret going down this path. You need to be strategic about your approach and what you look for in that first rental place.

Once you look around a bit, it’s super important that you answer the following questions as they will determine everything:

1. What sort of investment are you looking for? Do you want something to flip? Are you in it for the long run? Do you want something that’s already setup and ready to rent out?
2. Are you handy at all? Can you handle the reno-related work around the rental? Do you have any skills? I personally do NOT have any skills in this field. Thankfully for me, I have the skill to go to the store, buy some vodka, and bribe my European buddies to come over and help out. I personally couldn’t get anything done on my own.

Decide what kind of investment you want.

This is where things get tricky because we all want something different out of an investment home.

Some of us want to save money and buy the cheapest property possible. Others value their time more and would rather spend the extra money to purchase something that’s ready to rent out right away.

Do you want something brand new? Are you willing to do some work?

I caught the recent UFC at my buddy Roman’s place. It was a pretty interesting experience. We ended up watching the program on a projector that he had installed in the basement. Within six months, he has renovated every square inch of this place. I’m totally jealous and would love to have this ability. I can cut the grass and that’s about it.

With my first rental property I purchased something pre-construction. This meant that I had a few years to save up and that I didn’t have to do any work on the place since it was coming straight from the developer.

Other friends of mine have purchased dumps so that they could get a deal and work on the place. My friend Robert loves this sort of stuff. He grabs a cigar and turns a dump into a freaking palace. I hate renovation.

What sort of investment do you want? Only you can answer this.

The numbers behind your rental property purchase (time for the fun stuff!)

As much theory and psychology as there is involved in money, sometimes you just have to run the numbers.

Does your property have to be cash flow positive? Can it be neutral? What if you have to feed it?

I really think it depends on how long you want to be in it for. I don’t think there’s an issue with something that’s break-even. If you’re in it for the long run, then your goal will likely be to have the tenants pay off the mortgage and create an income generating asset for you.

Either way, I suggest that you play around with the numbers.

What can you do if you want to start saving for a rental home?

Now it’s time to actually do something.

Before you look into finding the right home, you need to have some money! How do you do this?

Setup your banking account.

You need the right checking account to start getting your money together. You want a check account that is FREE and comes with a savings account so that you can move your money around whenever you want to.

This is an important tool because you want your money to be safe as you look around for a place to buy.

[You can sign up with Capital One 360 right now and claim your free money for signing up.]

Work on your credit score.

What’s your credit score like? This is what the bank will look at to determine if you’re even worthy of the loan and the rate that you should pay based on your reliability. With a poor credit score, you might not even be able to buy a rental property. Yikes! You need to work on this right now!

Now that you know why your credit score is important, how do you even figure out what your credit score is?

A cool way to find out your credit score right now is…

Credit Sesame, a tool where you can check your monthly credit score for free.

Why should you sign up with Credit Sesame?

1. You’ll know where your stand with your credit score. If you want to apply for a home mortgage or even finance a car in the near future, you’re going to want to know what your credit is like. You don’t want to be hit with an unpleasant surprise when you find out your credit score sucks and that dream home is nothing but a dream.
2. They email you updates to your credit score. Whenever your score changes you get notified via email in case you totally forget about this site while enjoying your summer.

Keep on looking around.

Look around. This is a huge purchase. There’s no need to rush anything. Find the right property for you.

Do you guys have any questions about buying a rental property? Once you’re done playing around with the numbers and figure out how much you need to save up first, I would love to answer any other questions that you might have! We’re here to help each other out.

Are you into saving money? Are you looking for a quick cheat sheet to help you out?

A while back, I bragged/shared how I was able to save $25,000 in my savings account. I discussed the long-term strategy and all of the deeper-level stuff. Today I wanted to jump into some quick tips on the topic of saving more money.

These are my top 23 quick tips for saving more money!

1. Pay yourself first. Don’t trust yourself with your money. Have it put away by paying yourself first. This will always work. Guaranteed!

2. Watch how much you spend on food. Food can be a killer on your budget (it is for me). You need to find ways to be a little creative to save money on food and stop going broke because of those meals out.

3. Carry a bottle of water around. It always helps to be hydrated and to have water on you. I always have a case in the car. The other day I bought a case of 12 bottles for less than $2. It sure beats stopping for a soda.

4. Leave the car at home. Do you have to drive to work? Can you take the bus or ride your bike? A little exercise never hurt.

5. Buy off-season. While it’s tempting to load up in-season, the real savings come off-season. If you don’t care about brands and trends, you can save some huge money.

On that note…

6. The man makes the clothes. I used to spend so much money on clothes. Not anymore! I buy simple clothing that fits me will and I wear that damn shirt. That shirt doesn’t wear me!

7. You need to make more money to save more money. Have you tried freelancing? You can save more money if you find ways to make more money. Not rocket science, but it works.

8. Everything is negotiable. The answer is always going to be no if you don’t ask. Stop being so afraid. Ask questions  Ask for deals. I always ask for a deal. My friends will laugh sometimes. Other times they smile because we get deals just because I asked. Don’t be afraid to barter.

9. Try the 30-day rule. The rule is simple — wait a month before you buy something. This will help you decide if you really wanted it bad enough.

10. Always go for the bill. All this talk about saving money, it’s time to switch gears quickly. Don’t be cheap. Always go for the bill.

Back to saving…

11. Never shop hungry. Oh boy does this ever screw me over. I walk into the grocery store hungry and I leave with things I never expected to buy. Shopping hungry is a huge mistake. Eat before you shop.

12. Invite friends over for drinks. The bar is a good time, I won’t disagree. However, you can still have a blast at home. You don’t need to leave and spend a ton of money for a classic night.

13. Pre-drink! When you’re going out, you got to embrace the pre-drink. Get some drinks going. Share some laughs. Own the night.

14. Switch bank accounts. Stop spending money on fees that you don’t even understand. Join Capital One 360 and never spend a penny on fees ever again.

15. Delay a purchase. I’ve been doing this with the iPad for years. Every time I’m about to buy it, I delay the purchase. So far, I haven’t felt like I’m missing out or anything like that. Maybe one of these days I’ll grab the damn thing.

16. Spend less on your vices. We all have our vices, for some it is that slab of chocolate every day, for others it might be gambling on sites such as Springbok Casino Online. I love my vodka, but I realize that the expenses add up. If you can, try to save money on your vices. If not, then at least try.

17. Go for a workout when you’re bored. How many times have you spent money only because you were bored? I’ve done this way too many times. The trick is to distract yourself when bored. Go for a workout or do something physical. Do anything. Just avoid the mall! You might walk out with the newest iPad.

18. Sell your crap. I love selling my crap. I’ve hosted a yard sale every single summer the past few years. It’s amazing. People come to my place and pay me to get rid of my stuff. Sure, they might think that they can sell that old sweaty shirt for millions at some auction hunters reality show, but I don’t care. Good for them.

19. Throw your crap out. If you can’t sell everything because it has no value, then you have to throw it out. Stuff takes up space and it ends up owning you. Screw that! Free up your “home office.”

20. Grow your hair. Well, this isn’t really true. My friends say that I’m saving money by not cutting my hair because they think I’m trying to save money. The jokes on them because I could get free haircuts from my brother if I wanted to. I’m just choosing to grow my hair.

21. Consolidate your student loans. It might be time to consolidate your student loans to help you out with the payments.

22. Stop wearing condoms. Just kidding — or am I? The benefit of a steady partner/relationship is that you guys can trust each other and have tons of sex.

23. Use a coin jar. The classic coin jar. This concept is simple enough. Setup a coin jar in your room. Toss your change in there. Let it add up. It beats throwing your change at people.

Those are my top ways for saving money that every saver needs to know. What would you add to this list?

What’s so damn unique about Studenomics? What’s the unique selling proposition here? What’s my elevator pitch?

For all of you marketing nuts out there, let’s start off by answer these questions.

What’s the usp of Studenomics?

More than beer money in your 20s. We help you save tons of money, without missing a damn party.

I don’t want you guys to be barely getting by and barely able to afford a night out on the town. I want you to thrive. Own the night. Save a lot of money. See what the world has to offer.

What’s the elevator pitch for Studenomics?

There’s way too many young people drowning in debt, barely able to survive until the next payday, if they even have a job that pays enough. So many 20-somethings think that money management is confusing and boring. They end up in debt because of college or poor spending habits. They feel like they have nowhere to turn. Studenomics is a no-BS personal finance blog for those of us that want more out of life in our 20s. We will help you get out of debt, start a business, plan your first trip, and even survive a night out on the town without going broke.

Okay cool. Now with the buzzwords out of the way, let’s dig a little deeper.

What’s our journey all about?

Let’s look at this wild ride and what you should expect/demand out of being a loyal reader and member of our crew.

Be debt-free by 30.

“Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt.” — Benjamin Franklin

Did I ever tell you that I hate debt? I loathe debt. I hate to see good people in debt. I hate debt. It’s horrible. You have to spend today’s money on yesterday’s expenses. I can’t stand that concept. The things that you own end up owning you and there’s no way around this.

I want us to all be debt free by the time that we hit 30.

This refers to student loan debt and credit card debt. I know that some of us will have mortgages or business debt. Not to use the term “good debt” — but that’s more acceptable than owing money on your credit card. If you join now, you’ll be out of debt by 30. Guaranteed.

[How-to destroy your debt.]

Do work that you enjoy (making sweet money).

Everyone throws around catchphrases like YOLO. That’s great. It’s time to apply them to more than just drinking.

I want us all to be making good money. This can be through a day job, side business, freelancing, or combination of all of these. I also want us all to do work that we enjoy. None of this hating work and wanting to escape every chance that we get. Life is too damn precious to spend 40 hours a week doing something that we hate.

Now I must admit that I’m not a fan of selling dreams and offering the world. We won’t quit our jobs to follow our passions. However, we have and will continue to look at ways to make money doing work that we enjoy. We will be very practical with how we approach this.

[Start an online business in the next 5 minutes.]

Create a simple system for managing money.

Managing money doesn’t have to be stressful, time-consuming or boring. In fact, it should be pretty damn easy! I don’t want you guys to stress about managing your money. That’s boring. There’s more to life than always thinking about money.

I shared how I saved $25k by 25 with you guys before. It’s not that difficult at all. If I can do it, anyone can. Trust me.

The goal of Studenomics is to create a simple system for managing money. We won’t let our money control us.

[The 3-step formula to saving huge money.]

Grab life by the balls.

“Some people die at 25 and aren’t buried until 75.” — Benjamin Franklin

We don’t feel sorry for ourselves around here. Life’s too amazing to be wasted away. There’s no sense in even wasting one second on feeling sorry for ourselves or being pissed off at the world. Screw that.

At this point I need to share my favorite quote from Fight Club:

We’re consumers. We are the byproducts of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things don’t concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy’s name on my underwear.

We need to stop worrying about crap and start thinking about getting the most out of life/giving back as much as possible.

Time for some quick questions that you guys have asked!

This is sort of like a FAQ, but cooler…

What are the main topics on here?

The answer isn’t everything because that’s not true.

My goal is to making boring and non-boring topics in the finance community as fun and as simple as possible.

We will look at travel. We’ll talk about picking up girls. We will look at buying rental properties. There are no limits. We even talk about retirement and retiring early once in a rare while.

I’m not handicapped by one specific niche. I can write about buying a rental property one day and then talk about planning a trip the next week. Why? Well, because I can. Also, because you guys demand to have these topics covered.

Is this site for students?

Not at all. This is for anyone that’s a student of anything. We’re all students of something.

What’s the target demographic?

18 up until the late-20s. Realistically, it’s mostly dudes. There are some cool chicks that stop by.

Do I have to follow my passions?

Not at all. Do whatever you want as long as you’re not miserable and here to be a pain.

Can debt be used as leverage?

Absolutely. Just not when you owe thousands on your credit card for jeans.

What’s next?

I’m going to keep on experimenting with new ideas and sharing the results here.

We will be launching an exclusive course. You can save your seat right now (no strings attached).

How can I help you?

What would you like to see covered here? What would make this journey better for you as a member?

Oh and sign up below for my exclusive mailing list.

How can you help me?

Hey buddy, I hope you didn’t think you were getting off the hook. Spread the word. Mention this article on Facebook or Twitter. Share it with your friends (even if you only have a few).

Have you been thinking about investing your money? Do you want to get into the stock market?

Most of us just want to have more money. We don’t care if it’s through saving more money with frugality, increasing income, or a mix of a both. We want to see our bank accounts grow.

I’ve always been an ambitious (greedy) guy. I had a job every single summer in high school. I would cut grass in the morning, work at the grocery store a few times per week, and referee soccer games in the evening. I would then try to save as much of this money as possible. Eventually, I became curious with the idea of trading stocks. My father started trading stocks in the mid-90s. He could barely speak English, but he had the ability to watch the stock market channel all damn day.

This was back in the day where you actually had to call your stock trades in. I remember I would get in trouble because I was on ICQ on our 56k dialup while my parents were trying to call a trade in. Sorry!

I eventually got into trading stocks. I sucked at it and never really accomplished much. My stock trading career was short-lived and I pulled my money out of the stock market. I invested my money into a rental property, my education, and my career.

The truth is that I’ve always tried to take risks in life. I’m not afraid of risk nor am I afraid of physical challenges. On the flip side, I’m always nervous with how I invest my money. Some of my friends have made a killing off stock trading. I can’t say that I’ve been so fortunate.

I’ve had no issues with investing in myself in the past. Trading stocks? This is where I’m nervous!

What if you’re too scared to invest real money?

I put together a piece that showed you how to start investing. I’m extremely proud of that article and recommend that you check it out. For today, I wanted to look at a different kind of tool. I wanted to look at the idea of a social investing site that uses virtual currency. This site is Olim Dives.

What is Olim Dives all about?

According to the homepage…

Olim Dives is a virtual stock trading network designed to connect the online investment community through friendly competition.

If you’re too intimidated by the idea of investing real money into the stock market, you should definitely check out a virtual stock trading game. This allows you to buy and sell stocks with virtual money. You can track your trades and your progress to see how you would fare as an investor. It’s an excellent way to find out if you could actually make some money on the stock market.

I remember playing around with a stock trading game many years ago. I would get excited when I made money and then I would avoid the game when I knew I had losses. It was a fun little reality check for me. I also laughed at how now we can buy/sell stocks within a few clicks. We don’t have to wait around on the phone all day like those in the 90s had to. We certainly don’t need to hire a stock broker and pay outrageous fees to make a trade.

Why should you try a stock market game like Olim Dives?

If you haven’t tried out a stock market game, you definitely need to. You can get your friends involved. Who doesn’t enjoy a competition? I love competition, especially against my friends. You can compete to see who would make the most money off trading stocks. On the flip side, you could also see who would lose a fortune if this was real money. There’s definitely some bragging rights in there.

We once looked at the idea of investing in the stock market in your 20s. Is it the best idea? It really depends on your investor profile and your risk tolerance. Some of you guys had awesome stories to share. Others, hmm, didn’t get out of the stock market as fortunate. This is why it makes sense it play around with virtual trades before you spend real money.

Another bonus is that the virtual cash isn’t just there for fun. With Olim Dives, you can win monthly cash prizes and qualify for the annual challenge (with $15,000 in cash and prizes).

At the end of the day, I don’t want you to lose your pants by investing in the stock market. This is why it’s important to start off with virtual currency to see if you have what it takes to make the right decisions when it comes to buying/selling.

I believe that if you’re going to fail, you might as well fail fast. Don’t spend years working on the Titanic. Don’t waste your time reading and theorizing. When it comes to trading stocks, the best way to experience failure is to play around with a virtual game. You’ll see how it feels to make a wise trade. More importantly, you’ll see how it feels to fall flat on your face and fail. Failure in the stock market could result in blowing your life savings (or virtual money in this case).

Play with virtual money first. Risk your savings after if you feel comfortable with how things work.

You can see more about how the stock market works if you’re still interested. Once you’ve mastered virtual currency, you’ll hopefully build up enough confidence for real money. Then there’s no stopping you! You might become the next Warren Buffett — or you might blow your savings. There’s only one way to find out.

Have you played around with any stock trading games before? Any luck?

“Money is not the most important thing in the world. Love is. Fortunately, I love money.” — Jackie Mason

Are you interested in financial literacy and becoming the next best investor out there? Are you curious about how mutual funds work?

Hell no. You just want more money. You want a better life. You want a stress-free life where you’re not always thinking about money. You don’t want to be in debt. You want to crush that debt.

Let’s take a break from our awesomeness and wildness for a day to try something different. I really wanted to look at the idea of financial advice and why so many supposed-experts have it all wrong when it comes to personal finance and young people.

Why do most financial experts have it wrong?

Everyone assumes that education is key. We want to put labels on cigarettes and on junk food. We went to educate the masses. We want everyone to be educated. Do the masses care? I doubt it. We’re not logical people. We all know that smoking is bad. We all know that spending money we don’t have is bad.

Education is not the key.

There’s more than enough education out there on this planet. We’re educated enough as it is. We know what we’re doing is wrong. Why? Because will-power only lasts for so long. Education doesn’t hold true for long. We can’t always be logical.

I’ve personally read tons of blog posts on eating and proper nutrition. And guess what? I still snap once in a while and grab a slice of pizza or poutine. I’m educated on the topic. The reality is that education isn’t everything.

Just because you explain to someone how compound interest works it doesn’t mean that they’re going to start saving every single penny.

There are a few more points that deserve to be mentioned…

We don’t want to be preached to.

Stop preaching to us! Experts like to preach to us about budgets, spreadsheets, and complex financial topics. Yet our generation never seems to care because we don’t want to track every calorie nor do we want to think about boring topics 24/7.

We demand to go out and have fun.

We will make plenty of mistakes. We will go on Facebook and post photos. We will spend money on junk food and over-priced drinks. The second you try to tell us to cut this out forever, well, we won’t take your financial advice seriously.

It’s now time to look at the other side of the coin here…

What can you do if you’re a young person looking for financial advice?

“I was so poor growing up…if I wasn’t a boy…I’d have nothing to play with.” — Rodney Dangerfield

Honestly, information overload or analysis paralysis is dangerous. I know friends that have been doing this for years with regards to starting a business. It’s easy to get caught up with the theory and different theories. Why? Because there’s always something new to read out there. There’s always something to respond to. Anyone can spend all day reading random articles.

Stop reading so much.

Get some results first! Apply a few tips. Try something different. See what works for you and what doesn’t. Then you can look around for more financial tips.

Stick to the basics.

The fitness and finance worlds possess many parallels. I’m a huge fan of both. In both groups, the basics work wonders.

You don’t need to count calories. You don’t need to learn about trading commodities. You just need to save some money. You need to eat better than yesterday. The goal isn’t perfection. The goal is to get better.

If you stick to the basics, you’ll get ahead. Don’t waste time on debating stock picks with delusional friends. Just find ways to save more money or increase your income.

Simple usually don’t sell, so we feel that we need to look at graphs.

How does the stock market work? You don’t need to stress. Check out my piece on how to start investing. If you don’t care, then that’s cool. You can read about planning a trip or something more interesting.

What if you’re a “financial expert?”

“The safest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it in your pocket.” — Kin Hubbard

Get to know your target market.

Just because you’re in your 40s and no longer go out because your wife doesn’t allow you to, it doesn’t give you the right to preach to us. Get to know who your target market is. Who are you trying to work with?

Get to know your market before you start preaching useless information.

Get a life.

Nobody cares about how smart you are. Stop using big words and complex theories. I studied finance in college. This stuff is boring and tricky. Most of my peers were happy just to pass the class and never have to think about finance again. What a horrible way to get started with money management.

The following quote summarizes finance and financial advice the best:

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.” — Albert Einstein

He was a pretty smart dude as you may have heard.

Instead of making things more complex, why not try to simplify everything? Why not bring it back a few steps? You might just gain a few fans. Stay tuned for some sweet content coming your way!

What are your thoughts on financial advice?

Who doesn’t enjoy a delicious meal? Nobody wants to eat tuna out of a can every single day just to save some money.

I love eating out. I also enjoy preparing food sometimes. It’s weird. I just love to eat and I’m always hungry.

I’ve been working on saving money on food for the longest time. I’m pretty transparent about this. I’ve confessed to you guys that I absolutely suck at saving money when it comes to food. The good news is that every problem can fixed — or at least worked on!

Last year I wrote about how you can stop spending all of your money on food. I’ve been working on it. I’m here to share my results and tips with you guys.

What are my top tips for saving money on food?

1. Always stay hydrated. Most of the time you feel hungry because you’re dehydrated and haven’t been taking care of yourself. I chug a bottle of water as soon as I wake up and I drink water throughout the entire day. Keep yourself hydrated and you won’t be running to grab fast food.
2. Keep snacks on you. I now always keep some snacks on me in case I get hungry while driving or running errands. I keep it simple with a bag of almonds. A handful of these and you’re good to do.
3. Shop on a full stomach. Never go shopping hungry. I did this the other day. What happened? I randomly bought a bag of Doritos and ate it on the way home. Very great for that summer body. Never go shopping when you’re hungry. You’ll come home with such random crap.
4. Buy a ton of groceries. When you have good food at home, you won’t be forced to always eat out. This applies even if you live with your parents. If you fill up your fridge/closets with good food, you won’t always feel stuck at lunch time.
5. Plan your meals out. Once again, you know that you need to eat a few times per day. Why not prepare it? Don’t act surprised when you get hungry at noon. What did you think was going to happen?
6. Freeze meats. I try to buy meat in bulk when it’s on sale and then I freeze it. Simple enough.
7. Set a budget for spending on food. I challenge myself by setting a budget for how much I’m allowed to spend on food. I do my best to stick to it. When I run low, I turn to the cans of tuna for a few days.
8. Buy in bulk. Blueberries were on sale the other day and I loaded up. Buying in bulk can be great for always having food on hand. The obvious issue is that you can get the munchies bad after a night of drinking and eat everything in one shot!
9. Drink black coffee in morning. I start my mornings off with black coffee, tunes on full blast, and blogging. The coffee suppresses my appetite and I get to work. I don’t think about food until after my workout.
10. Consume lots of protein. Protein usually fills you up nicely. It’s well-known that 30 grams of protein in the morning will fill you up nicely for the rest of the day. Maybe you can try this?
11. Try a challenge. Have you tried any challenges recently? The week that I typed this article was my vegan week challenge. I told myself that I would try to be a vegan for only one week. This saved me lots of money because I didn’t go out for random barbecue nights. Nuts and berries mmm.
12. Consider intermittent fasting. I’ve become a huge fan of intermittent fasting recently. The basic concept here is that you have an 8-hour feeding window and then you fast for the other 16-hours (sleep included). It’s difficult at first, but works great after a few weeks. As mentioned above, I start my days off by getting lots of work done (this article) and then eat in the afternoon.
13. Don’t eat when you’re not hungry. Simple enough. Yet, for some reason, I find myself eating when I’m not hungry. Why? Not sure? It’s usually social or boredom. Try to avoid both!
14. Grab a drink if you’re not hungry. You could just be thirsty!
15. Stay at home. When you leave home without a purpose, you’re bound to end up eating something. It’s just the way it works. I’ll go to pick someone up and I grab a burrito on the way there. How the hell does that happen?
16. Go for a workout. We often eat because we’re bored. There’s nothing else to do so we open up a bag of chips. I’ve tried to go for a walk or a workout instead. After a few minutes the supposed hunger goes away and you’re feeling great. Oh and you save money!

See, it’s totally possible to save money on food.

How can you start off with this?

You obviously can’t apply all 16 tips at once. So how do you start?

Pick one of them and stick to it. When that works or even if it fails, move on to the next tip. That’s all I can say. Those are 16 tips that have worked for me. Hopefully they work for you.

You ready to start saving money on food? Take it from me, you’re never going to be perfect at it. Don’t feel too guilty if you splurge once in a while.