General Adulthood, Planning for the Future: Business, College, Budgeting, Investments, etc! $$$ - General

I guess you don't have to shave, but you could get a trimmer and cut it really short, like really really short.

Are the honor societies at your colleges complete jokes? The one at my college has been aggressively advertising trying to get people's money. They've even solicited me multiple times by mail and e-mail. It comes off as a scam and probably is. They're called National Society of Leadership and Success if anyone's wondering.

[QUOTE=elevate;51796999]Are the honor societies at your colleges complete jokes? The one at my college has been aggressively advertising trying to get people's money. They've even solicited me multiple times by mail and e-mail. It comes off as a scam and probably is. They're called National Society of Leadership and Success if anyone's wondering.[/QUOTE] YUP I get that shit so often. They're just trying to get members to get more money. My GPA in no way (so far) would label me as an honor student since I'm trying to recover it from two abysmal semesters where I was mentally and physically ill most class days. There's no point to 'em imo.

Pretty much. The only "honor" anything worth something is being in the honors college/program at universities that do it correctly.

Would parenting subjects apply to this thread?

[QUOTE=Qaus;51804431]Would parenting subjects apply to this thread?[/QUOTE] Sure! I'm not sure how many of us are actually parents, of course, but post away.

Well I want to be a parent, but there's so many hurdles in the way I don't think I'll ever get to that point. Some are biological, but it's mostly money (of course). Also I have a lot of self doubt that I could do it, I have a few debilitating mental illnesses that all but prevent me from having stable employment along with pretty severe social impairment. I want a kid but I don't want to bring them into the family business of destitution, both financial and emotional. Not asking for financial advice, strictly parenting anxiety advice.

Most parents have anxiety. I'm not a parent myself but I've been pretty much helping my sister raise her daughter in the absence of the father. But in general, you're not alone. When you deal with mental illness, that also makes it much worse too. But while you have the opportunity to [I]prepare[/I], that's what you should be doing at this point. If there are things you think you need to seek professional help for, now is the opportunity to do it. That being said, have you considered signing up for disability? Do you have a diagnosis? It's kind of a lengthy process but it could provide you the income you'll need in the absence of stable employment. Being a parent is a lot to take on but as long as you're not already pregnant, you have plenty of time to do research, talk to existing parents, go to classes on parenting, join soon-to-be-parent online groups to chat about things you may need, etc. In truth, I would not go for a child if it's only you and you have no other income, because it's incredibly difficult to pay for everything when you're on your own. My sister is a single parent and has a full time job and she still struggles and is also on food stamps or uh... WIC, I think it's called, to help pay for food for my niece. It's a great program, but it only takes care of so much. So what you can do for now is seek some professional help for your mental illness, maybe visit a doctor to see if they have recommendations for medications if that's a route you wanna go do. Ask both doctor and therapist about the possibility of kids in the future and see what sort of advice they have. Read [I]a lot.[/I] The more you know about parenting the better prepared you are and the less anxious you may be. I won't say you'll NEVER be anxious but it'll be a lot less. It's not impossible! But it will be a struggle. I think as long as you properly do your learning and understanding of all the emotional/physical/financial dedication that having a kid entails, then you'll be much better off. [editline]10th February 2017[/editline] Here's a few articles that I found doing a quick little search that might provide some insight: [url]https://psychcentral.com/lib/tips-for-parenting-with-a-mental-illness/[/url] [url]http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/parenting-with-a-mental-health-problem/[/url] [url]http://www.copmi.net.au/parents/parenting-with-a-mental-illness[/url]

[QUOTE=Qaus;51804727]Well I want to be a parent, but there's so many hurdles in the way I don't think I'll ever get to that point. Some are biological, but it's mostly money (of course). Also I have a lot of self doubt that I could do it, I have a few debilitating mental illnesses that all but prevent me from having stable employment along with pretty severe social impairment. I want a kid but I don't want to bring them into the family business of destitution, both financial and emotional. Not asking for financial advice, strictly parenting anxiety advice.[/QUOTE] I can't offer you much in the way of your worries about mental or emotional health, but I can tell you that I definitely feel the same anxiety about my financial situation. Especially in light of losing my job, after working [I]so hard[/I] to do right by my team, I'm feeling that exact same fear. I've been poor for my entire adult life, and each time I feel like I'm about to escape financial hardship for good, something plunges me back in. So, I definitely grapple with that fear and self-doubt you're experiencing. I worry that I'll always be broke, and that when my fiancee and I do decide to have kids I won't be able to provide them with a good life. Even worse, I worry that I'll be damning them to the same struggle. All I can tell you on that particular front is to just keep trying. If you give up and accept your station, you really will be stuck in it. Barring an act of God, your only chance of building a strong financial future is to keep planning and keep trying, no matter how many times you fail.

[QUOTE=Qaus;51804727]Well I want to be a parent, but there's so many hurdles in the way I don't think I'll ever get to that point. Some are biological, but it's mostly money (of course). Also I have a lot of self doubt that I could do it, I have a few debilitating mental illnesses that all but prevent me from having stable employment along with pretty severe social impairment. I want a kid but I don't want to bring them into the family business of destitution, both financial and emotional. Not asking for financial advice, strictly parenting anxiety advice.[/QUOTE] I am going say this. I have awesome people for parents. Best people ever. Honest folks. The trouble is they had come from dysfunctional homes. My mother mostly. So she was dealing with being a tormented soul while raising me and my brother. I inherited that baggage. The result? Despite being told how far I could ve went in life, I kept failing. It wasn't until my late 20s I figured out my dysfunctional emotional patterns I inherited was why I wasn't progressing. Until I figured it out, it felt I was cursed. Its not fun not knowing why everything I attempted to do would turn to ash. If you want children, please please sort your personal self out. You dont want your demons haunt your children and ruin their lives as well. If you can, babu sit other people kids, be a nanny or child care. I was the full time sitter for some relatives to gain experience and figure out if it work for me. [editline]11th February 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Big Dumb American;51805140]I can't offer you much in the way of your worries about mental or emotional health, but I can tell you that I definitely feel the same anxiety about my financial situation. Especially in light of losing my job, after working [I]so hard[/I] to do right by my team, I'm feeling that exact same fear. I've been poor for my entire adult life, and each time I feel like I'm about to escape financial hardship for good, something plunges me back in. So, I definitely grapple with that fear and self-doubt you're experiencing. I worry that I'll always be broke, and that when my fiancee and I do decide to have kids I won't be able to provide them with a good life. Even worse, I worry that I'll be damning them to the same struggle. All I can tell you on that particular front is to just keep trying. If you give up and accept your station, you really will be stuck in it. Barring an act of God, your only chance of building a strong financial future is to keep planning and keep trying, no matter how many times you fail.[/QUOTE] Pick up a spiritual practice. Buddhism or something. See if that will clear it up.

I'm simply not the spiritual type, but I appreciate the sentiment. The setbacks hurt, and it's hard not to let self-doubt invade in moments of hardship, but at the end of the day the only power that's going to change my life for the better will have to come from within. In times like this, I just have to deal with the challenges as they come, learn from my mistakes, adjust my plans, and keep moving forward. Buddhism doesn't offer a solution to my financial woes, and I have no real interest learning how to accept being poor. It's not materialism that drives me, but security and freedom for myself and my family.

So my father is essentially bankrupting himself supporting my brother, who's dragging his ass through Uni without getting a job and making literally no effort to be frugal. I've told him numerous times he has to cut my brother off, as he's already in debt and basically supporting my brother on credit. My brother, who's a depressive asshat, is too much of a coward to try and pay for his own shit and either doesn't realize how much he's hurting my parents' finances or doesn't care. His phone bill alone is insane because he just casually overreaches his data plan, assuming it'll get paid for. I think my father feels if he doesn't support my brother then he'll not want to talk to him, but frankly being financially crippled is doing more harm than good. The guy is 62 and has a heart condition, and can't enjoy a retirement because my fuckstick of a sibling, 6 years my senior, can't grow up. Should I confront my brother about this? He's a cynical, volatile, manipulative person. I don't know what will help but I'm sick of seeing my parents taken advantage of.

[QUOTE=AtomicWaffle;51814814]So my father is essentially bankrupting himself supporting my brother, who's dragging his ass through Uni without getting a job and making literally no effort to be frugal. I've told him numerous times he has to cut my brother off, as he's already in debt and basically supporting my brother on credit. My brother, who's a depressive asshat, is too much of a coward to try and pay for his own shit and either doesn't realize how much he's hurting my parents' finances or doesn't care. His phone bill alone is insane because he just casually overreaches his data plan, assuming it'll get paid for. I think my father feels if he doesn't support my brother then he'll not want to talk to him, but frankly being financially crippled is doing more harm than good. The guy is 62 and has a heart condition, and can't enjoy a retirement because my fuckstick of a sibling, 6 years my senior, can't grow up. Should I confront my brother about this? He's a cynical, volatile, manipulative person. I don't know what will help but I'm sick of seeing my parents taken advantage of.[/QUOTE] Yeah. Speaking about this from a non financial perspective, your dad is getting older, and has health issues. You're probably young. You don't want to lose him as a young person, so help him out here. Your younger brother needs to carry his own weight and that's just life and he'll have to come to terms with that sooner rather than later. I lost my dad at 23, and 2 years later, almost 3, I have so many questions and things I want help with that I no longer have one of my best friends to go to and I would hate for anyone to have to go through that as well.

Hey guys, I have some plans to move to Canada to study music therapy; I am on a music course at the moment (not music therapy, as there is no undergraduate courses for that here), but having looked into it I believe that studying in Canada would be better in the long-run, and I may plan to immigrate later. The big issue I've come up against is funding; I have some savings that I am adding to but it would be really helpful to have access to some sort of loan, just in case. I have found no domestic options for this and the only Canadian ones I have found for international students require a Canadian or American co-signer. I [b]might[/b] have a co-signer lined up, but this is not 100% certain. I was wondering if anyone else has had experience or would know about other sources of funding? I've looked into scholarships etc. but I am working on the assumption that I won't be getting them to be on the safe side.

At the moment, I'm super overwhelmed with everything going on in life and I've been genuinely contemplating dropping out of school for the rest of the semester. This becomes even more prevalent in my head when I think out my current situation: I switched majors and I switched too late so my classes that I'm taking don't apply to my degree anymore but I can't switch my classes. My grades are being hugely impacted by everything going on and I just need a break for a little and I feel like it would help immensely. If any of you are knowledgable on this topic, would this affect me heavily? Right now, I attend a local community college. I want to drop my classes for this semester, have the spring/summer off from school and then start fresh at an actual 4 year college in the Fall. Would dropping my classes affect that? Another idea I had was, since I'm just going to be applying to a totally new school, I could just not go to my classes but at that rate I was worried those Fs would seriously impact me but I'm really unaware how any of this works and I just feel really lost and stressed right now. I've never felt so defeated and unhappy before in my life and I'd really appreciate anything advice or knowledge on this that you guys can offer.

I got my MCAT score back today! I scored in the 96th percentile!!! I am thrilled! [img_thumb]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1439792/score.png[/img_thumb] [editline]21st February 2017[/editline] Juggling MCAT studying and difficult science classes last semester was hard, and being diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder only one month before taking the exam made it worse, so I am beyond pleased with this score.

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this and if a moderator wants to remove it feel free to do so. Anyway, I need to do some research as part of my coursework before building a web app and I would greatly appreciate a few facepunchers answering a few questions on the topic. I don't want to put this in fast threads where I'll probably get a bunch of bullshit spam responses. If you're interested here's the link (it shouldn't take more than a minute to finish this): [url]https://goo.gl/forms/ZAt6Bq4vnfSQbVKF2[/url] If a question doesn't apply to you then just throw in "N/A".

[QUOTE=Mr Kotov;51846266]Hey guys, I have some plans to move to Canada to study music therapy; I am on a music course at the moment (not music therapy, as there is no undergraduate courses for that here), but having looked into it I believe that studying in Canada would be better in the long-run, and I may plan to immigrate later. The big issue I've come up against is funding; I have some savings that I am adding to but it would be really helpful to have access to some sort of loan, just in case. I have found no domestic options for this and the only Canadian ones I have found for international students require a Canadian or American co-signer. I [b]might[/b] have a co-signer lined up, but this is not 100% certain. I was wondering if anyone else has had experience or would know about other sources of funding? I've looked into scholarships etc. but I am working on the assumption that I won't be getting them to be on the safe side.[/QUOTE] Learn a trade, don't waste your money.

Paid off my $650 credit card bill in full today. Feels good, man. And I have over a grand to save for my vacation in September. Tax refunds are great.

Gentlemen, I have purchased a house. 1450 square feet, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, on a 1/4 acre!

Congrats! Good luck in your new home!

I found a listing for a studio apartment that rents out for 115$ [canadian] a week, which includes electricity, water, fridge, stove, heating, WIFI How good of a deal is this for renting this out as a student?

[QUOTE=viper shtf;51856736]Learn a trade, don't waste your money.[/QUOTE] When I am talking about music therapy I am meaning clinical music therapy, ideally specialising in children with autism and learning disabilities. Music therapy is an allied health profession like physiotherapists, radiologists etc. You need to be board certified to practice and stuff like that. The pay is also well within what I would consider to be comfortable, at least personally

[QUOTE=joshuadim;51890494]I found a listing for a studio apartment that rents out for 115$ [canadian] a week, which includes electricity, water, fridge, stove, heating, WIFI How good of a deal is this for renting this out as a student?[/QUOTE] I'm not sure what your market is like but that sounds extremely cheap.

[QUOTE=OvB;51891613]I'm not sure what your market is like but that sounds extremely cheap.[/QUOTE] I converted that to GBP and that is mad cheap. There might be something wrong with the place though, or it might be a bad neighbourhood. But if it's all good I'd jump on that.

[QUOTE=sam6420;51891709]Where?[/QUOTE] Montreal

[url]http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/rent-in-montreal-how-much-are-you-paying-1.3133024[/url] $115 seems to be way below average.

$115 is mad cheap. I live in a similar sized/demanded city in Canada and I pay roughly $500.

[QUOTE=WTF Nuke;51892305]$115 is mad cheap. I live in a similar sized/demanded city in Canada and I pay roughly $500.[/QUOTE] Yeah, that seems suspiciously cheap.

Cheap doesn't necessarily mean bad. There could be tons of reasons why the owner would be renting it for cheap. Those reasons might be something negative, like the property is bad shape or in a terrible neighborhood, yeah. BUT, they could also be something positive (for you), like the owner has had a change in circumstances, and simply needs a tenant in that apartment as soon as possible to cover the base expenses, or that the owner just is just a well-meaning ole gramma who doesn't really understand the true value of the property. I'd definitely check it out, at least! You could have found yourself a pretty amazing deal.