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

Is it recommended to live on nothing but loan money when moving away for school? I want to pursue a program that's across Ontario (Ivey/Queen's commerce) - My parents won't be able to pay for my rent or tuition, so that means I'll have to take the government program for tuition loans, and then a bank loan of some sorts to cover living expenses. I don't intend to have a part-time job during the school year either.

[QUOTE=loopoo;52269920]I absolutely hate being forced to rent a place. Uni student means that renting is my only means of accommodation (since I'm no longer a first year). It sucks that I can't dedicate this summer to household jobs that improve my QOL, cause ain't no way I'm sinking my own time and money into something that in 3 years, I will no longer "own". My parents were contemplating getting a small house / apartment and letting me live in it whilst I just pay mortgage on it. I wish that worked out, cause then I'd be paying half the money on a bigger place that I could call my own. I hate the disparity between rent + mortgage. £475 for an apartment, yet my parents are paying nowhere near that on our big house. Another thing that rubs salt in the wound is I could then sell the house / rent it out once I graduate from uni, meaning I'd get some money back (and maybe a little extra).[/QUOTE] Dat entitlement. [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Shitpost / Why Reply?" - Big Dumb American))[/highlight]

[QUOTE=Boss;52273593]Dat entitlement.[/QUOTE] It's entitlement to want to pour my own money every month into something I actually physically own, rather than forking out expensive rent that landlords charge for places that aren't even that good, which is basically the same as me pissing my money away down the sink? Or were you referring to the bit about my parents potentially getting a place on mortgage for me to pay off? Cause the way I see it, having my parents come up with the idea and offer to do it to help me out doesn't seem very entitled. It didn't pan out in the end, but if it did, it'd be a win / win. My parents and I would have a shared house that I'd be paying off bit by bit every month. Funnily enough, a friend of mine has been offered the same by his parents. His mum and dad are visiting over the summer to scout out a place and are getting it on mortgage, and he's invited a few of his close friends to share with him next year and we'll all chip in. I took him up on the offer, cause rent is cheaper, the quality of the place is better, and compared to most student houses, it'll be an overall better living experience. Plus, his parents don't have to help him out every month by putting money towards extortionate rent on apartments / student houses near university. I've seen places going for £1,100 a month for a 5 bed house that is utter shite quality, with everything falling apart, but the landlords get away with it because it's 15 minutes away from university. It's kinda disgusting the environments they force students to put up with just because they can, and the price they charge for it to boot. My first ever place I moved into by myself ended up falling apart within the first month, with mould growing out of every possible place, and the letting agency refused to cancel my contract and let me move out, and claimed the boiler worked fine despite the fact it only put out hot water 10% of the time and regularly broke down (to the point where the plumber that got sent out straight up told me I was fucked because he'd been dealing with issues the previous year with the old tenants and told me to just leave cause nothing would change). I had to get the council and health & safety department involved to show them how bad the mould and condition of the place was, and they forcefully ordered my landlord to cancel the contract and let me move out.

[QUOTE=polarbear.;52270346]Is it recommended to live on nothing but loan money when moving away for school? I want to pursue a program that's across Ontario (Ivey/Queen's commerce) - My parents won't be able to pay for my rent or tuition, so that means I'll have to take the government program for tuition loans, and then a bank loan of some sorts to cover living expenses. I don't intend to have a part-time job during the school year either.[/QUOTE] I suggest hedge funds and Pell grants. also apply for every scholarahip you can find and do everything you can to get a manufacturing job. you'll be set for atleast the next 10 years or so with a decent QOL. Loans are generally a nono unless your looking to start a business.

[QUOTE=loopoo;52282812]It's entitlement to want to pour my own money every month into something I actually physically own, rather than forking out expensive rent that landlords charge for places that aren't even that good, which is basically the same as me pissing my money away down the sink? Or were you referring to the bit about my parents potentially getting a place on mortgage for me to pay off? Cause the way I see it, having my parents come up with the idea and offer to do it to help me out doesn't seem very entitled. It didn't pan out in the end, but if it did, it'd be a win / win. My parents and I would have a shared house that I'd be paying off bit by bit every month. Funnily enough, a friend of mine has been offered the same by his parents. His mum and dad are visiting over the summer to scout out a place and are getting it on mortgage, and he's invited a few of his close friends to share with him next year and we'll all chip in. I took him up on the offer, cause rent is cheaper, the quality of the place is better, and compared to most student houses, it'll be an overall better living experience. Plus, his parents don't have to help him out every month by putting money towards extortionate rent on apartments / student houses near university. I've seen places going for £1,100 a month for a 5 bed house that is utter shite quality, with everything falling apart, but the landlords get away with it because it's 15 minutes away from university. It's kinda disgusting the environments they force students to put up with just because they can, and the price they charge for it to boot. My first ever place I moved into by myself ended up falling apart within the first month, with mould growing out of every possible place, and the letting agency refused to cancel my contract and let me move out, and claimed the boiler worked fine despite the fact it only put out hot water 10% of the time and regularly broke down (to the point where the plumber that got sent out straight up told me I was fucked because he'd been dealing with issues the previous year with the old tenants and told me to just leave cause nothing would change). I had to get the council and health & safety department involved to show them how bad the mould and condition of the place was, and they forcefully ordered my landlord to cancel the contract and let me move out.[/QUOTE] I think you might be looking at it as too dichotomous. Rent isn't entirely pissing money away at nothing and the opposite isn't exactly true for ownership. When you own a house or apartment you do still piss away a lot of money, utilities are worse, HOAs cost money, your mobility is hurt which can cost you a lot through opportunity cost, value can crash due to factors completely out of your control, etc.. Although I am in the same situation and my parents do do real estate and have mentioned the possibility of an arrangement like that. If it actually does pan out to where I'm not paying rent to some random stranger that would be incredible. Because there is still a big draw to the idea of actually having a sort of ownership/attachment to something.

[QUOTE=thelurker1234;52284334]I think you might be looking at it as too dichotomous. Rent isn't entirely pissing money away at nothing and the opposite isn't exactly true for ownership. When you own a house or apartment you do still piss away a lot of money, utilities are worse, HOAs cost money, your mobility is hurt which can cost you a lot through opportunity cost, value can crash due to factors completely out of your control, etc.. Although I am in the same situation and my parents do do real estate and have mentioned the possibility of an arrangement like that. If it actually does pan out to where I'm not paying rent to some random stranger that would be incredible. Because there is still a big draw to the idea of actually having a sort of ownership/attachment to something.[/QUOTE] Just wanted to address a few point: 1) Utilities aren't worse unless your rent doesn't include utility payments, or if your house is subtantially larger than your rental unit was. As to whether utilities are included or not will depend on the location, the type of property, and the landlord. 2) Not all neighborhoods have HOAs. Again, that's going to depend largely on location. They're pretty uncommon in lower income areas where most first time homebuyers are likely to be shopping (at least in the US). 3) You're right on mobility. If you want to move around from place to place, homeownership may not be right for you. 4) Short term losses in property value may happen occasionally for factors outside of your control, but long term you almost always come out ahead. On average, over almost any given 10+ year period, including real estate market downturns, average property value appreciation (growth) is about 3% per year. Basically, rent [I]is[/I] pissing money away on nothing. In a home, you build equity, and appreciation of real estate expands that equity. In rent, you're only building the landlord's equity. Furthermore, mortgage fees tend to be substantially lower than rental rates for like properties (for obvious reasons -- investors gotta profit), so it will almost always be cheaper on a month to month basis to own than it will be to rent. That's not to say that owning a home is always the right decision, of course. Different real estate markets will have vastly different circumstances, and buying into some markets may not be sustainable or wise. Additionally, as you mentioned, if you aren't planning to stay in one place for [I]at least[/I] five years, then homeownership isn't likely to be your best option unless you've planned specifically for a quick turnaround and equity growth through forced appreciation, such as an owner-occupied "fix and flip." As a side note, owner-occupied fix and flips can be a pretty sweet way for newbie investors to build up some initial capital.

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So, I'm out job hunting and it's been less than a week, but I'm wondering if I've missed anything vital. I'm looking for an entry-level financial or investment analyst position (and not that 2-6 years experience absolutely required~ (✿◕‿◕) bullshit some postings have.) I'm already set-up on Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, and a host of local/government/city websites as well as the obvious LinkedIn. I've been trying to manually check out some companies too, but one of the major ones here - Anadarko - only brings in interns/new blood at specific times. Don't really know what to do from here other than spam applications. I'm not really sure looking at a headhunter would be worth it at the moment.

[QUOTE=Doom14;52295665]So, I'm out job hunting and it's been less than a week, but I'm wondering if I've missed anything vital. I'm looking for an entry-level financial or investment analyst position (and not that 2-6 years experience absolutely required~ (✿◕‿◕) bullshit some postings have.) I'm already set-up on Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, and a host of local/government/city websites as well as the obvious LinkedIn. I've been trying to manually check out some companies too, but one of the major ones here - Anadarko - only brings in interns/new blood at specific times. Don't really know what to do from here other than spam applications. I'm not really sure looking at a headhunter would be worth it at the moment.[/QUOTE] i'd check if you can apply through your school's career services. my school lets alumni access their job board and career fairs for a few years after graduating.

So my corporate boss called me to the offer me a job doing technical work in my company. I'm a insurance broker, I'm quite passionate about technology and such, and this has become well known in the company. Because of this, they're creating a job for me, if I want it, to help with technical work. IT support, other internal issues that need to be managed. I'm quite literally dumbfounded right now. I'm thinking I'm going to take the job, everyone I've talked to that knows me at work thinks it's a great idea and they'll be sad to see me leave the office but are happy for me. To be honest, I'm having a self esteem issue where I'm not even sure I deserve this I'm just fucking dumbfounded.

I started working again. Transferred to a rural area health clinic 1600km from home. The good thing is that the workload is light. But the pay increased quite nicely. Coworker and subordinates seems to be stress-free, a marked improvement compared to previous places. The facilities are not the best, but it's actually a blessing in disguise, because that means we don't have to perform extravagant procedures here. It's almost feels like God's mercy that I was sent here. I just hope that I don't fuck things up :vs:

[QUOTE=Jaehead;52297556]i'd check if you can apply through your school's career services. my school lets alumni access their job board and career fairs for a few years after graduating.[/QUOTE] It took about a week, but I'm getting a few interviews rolling in now. And yeah, my school did have a board I was using, which helped.

Somebody stole my open house signage. It was up for less than two hours, and somebody fuckin' swiped it. I'm not even mad, just sad and disappointed. What really hurts is how senseless it is. My signs aren't worth anything to anybody else, but they cost me hundreds of dollars to have made. Whoever stole my signage fucked me over for nothing. Now I have to find a way to re-buy what I already had to purchase on credit.

Finally finishing uni in September which means I have to get a real job and I'm still worried I still dont know enough :v: [editline]6th June 2017[/editline] not that I have anything yet, I just know I should be looking now

I'm going into university this August, and I have no idea what to expect. My scholarship is full-ride, meaning I don't have to work, but I do have to maintain a 3.5 GPA and take 15 credit hours. Is there any telling how much time I'll have to spend a day studying/working on homework, and how much will be free? I don't want or need it to be easy, but it'd be reassuring to know I'll have at least a couple hours a day to relax before sleep.

all depends on your major tbh. make friends with upperclassmen in your major and ask them about class load, what profs to avoid/take, and for old exams.

15 hours isn't too bad as long as they're not all labs. Then you end up like me and thinking "I'll take an easy 8 credit hour semester while I'm working 60 hours a week" then get stuck with 17 hours of labs a week on top of that.

[QUOTE=Complifusedv2;52320164]Finally finishing uni in September which means I have to get a real job and I'm still worried I still dont know enough :v: [editline]6th June 2017[/editline] not that I have anything yet, I just know I should be looking now[/QUOTE] Don't worry, I've got six years in and I still don't feel like I know enough to do my job. :v: Welcome to the wonderful world of "impostor syndrome". I would strongly suggest networking now as a student, attending seminars/events where you know professionals in the field are likely to hang out and use it to get a foot in the door. Networking goes a long way for students with a lot to prove and a slim CV to show for it.

[QUOTE=snookypookums;52322392]Don't worry, I've got six years in and I still don't feel like I know enough to do my job. :v: Welcome to the wonderful world of "impostor syndrome". I would strongly suggest networking now as a student, attending seminars/events where you know professionals in the field are likely to hang out and use it to get a foot in the door. Networking goes a long way for students with a lot to prove and a slim CV to show for it.[/QUOTE] My main stuggle is I don't know what I actually want to do with my degree and masters, of course a job in that subject but theres just lots to look at :excited:

[QUOTE=Complifusedv2;52322892]My main stuggle is I don't know what I actually want to do with my degree and masters, of course a job in that subject but theres just lots to look at :excited:[/QUOTE] Try a little bit of everything and focus on a specific aspect you like, really - you just gotta keep being open to trying new stuff to find out if you like it or not. Problem is, being open to new experiences and trying hard to [I]fight[/I] a fear of failure is damn near excruciating because you'll fail a lot, but you'll also learn a lot in the process. Not nearly enough people fail enough to learn cool shit because they failed.

First thing i did when i got a job and moved out was open up a spreadsheet, calculate my monthly net income, subtract all the bill shit and play around with the rest of the numbers for food, fun, savings, and emergency funds If you bulk buy dry stuff like rice, pasta, beans, etc you can eat pretty cheap. Having a good variety of spices helps with not getting tired of it too

[QUOTE=Kiwi;52340166]Anyone got any pro tips for some student who's getting a student allowance from the government and a part time job in terms of financing? Just realized how much I spend in eating out but that's because I almost never have time to make anything(I really do I'm just super lazy and I should really stop being lazy). Right now I could of had cash to get my passport renewed and made some critical life changes for me that would make me a bit happier. But nope. Thinking of using a spreadsheet + calculator just to keep track of my spending and what I've spent it on but also cutting out all the crap I eat(both health and money thing).[/QUOTE] Buy some cheap jars or whatever they are called in English and make lots of food at the same time. I make yellow pea soup on 1 kg of peas and fill up 10 jars i keep in the fridge and freezer. That's like 30 cents per portion. Buy large packages of minced meat and keep what you don't use in a plastic bag in the freezer for future use. Also, eat oatmeal porridge everyday. Put 2 DL of oatmeal in a bowl, cover with water and microwave for 2 - 3 minutes. You can put som milk on it if you think it's to tasteless.

[QUOTE=Kiwi;52340214]The unfortunate part is that I am just one woman with no car nor any real way of bring back bulk stuff. Might be able to order online but fuck I certainly can't carry that shit back as much as I want to :v:.[/QUOTE] I don't know what country you are in, but I imagine most countries major supermarkets have home delivery options. I typically bulk order all the stuff that I can't be fucked to carry every other month or so - big bag of rice, toilet paper, laundry powder and such, as the minimum spend is £40 or so. Then I just have to worry about the little day to day things, and don't need to carry as much when I walk out.

Man, there's nothing worse than the feeling of absolutely bombing a interview - but it also being a 5 on 1 you weren't warned about. I mean, I learned some valuables lessons throughout it and the guy outright paused and noted my honesty when I refused to BS him on a question I blanked on, but I can't shake off the [highlight]shame.[/highlight]

[QUOTE=Kiwi;52340166] Just realized how much I spend in eating out but that's because I almost never have time to make anything(I really do I'm just super lazy and I should really stop being lazy). Right now I could of had cash to get my passport renewed and made some critical life changes for me that would make me a bit happier. [/QUOTE] Regarding eating you need to make it a habit. Go a month or two strictly without eating out unless it's for a social occasion, don't cut yourself a deal saying you'll only eat out once a week or whatever comes to mind. You'll start learning how to cook quick meals and you'll be better off in the long run, plus the money you spend eating out once can instead be stretched into a few days of at home meals.

I submitted my medical school primary applications a week ago, and now secondary application invites are rolling in. I swear, I never thought I'd make it this far.

[QUOTE=Kiwi;52352513]New Zealand. Yeah Countdown does delivery but it's pretty pricey unless the total is high(talking hundreds). I've got a bit of dosh this week so I'll see how reasonable it is for me to do that + scheduling.[/QUOTE] This is what I do at the moment and it could help you too - [B]Compartmentalize your income[/B]. Part of this relies on budgeting your finances for a given month, learning how much you have left for utilities and then breaking it down into your overheads. Here's an example: Let's say you earn a nice round figure like $400. However, all your utilities and key monthly payments are $50. Pay those off immediately, take out $100 and store that into a separate savings account to stew. Preferably, it should inconvenience you a little bit to prevent you using that money. You're left with $250 to yourself. Prep a list of up to six different items you'd like to eat and create a food timetable. If you're on a fitness regime, even better. Plan out your meals, on a weekly basis for the next four weeks. You're allowed one cheat day a week that restricts your "eat outs" to 4 times a month, which isn't too bad. In your food choices, keep about 1 or two meals that are more or less "instant" - stuff like noodles, for example, that are easy to prepare (while unfortunately not being particularly nutritive). Even if this doesn't get used the first month, they last a few months in the pantry and buying them can be useful in the long-term (provided you have the storage). While you're at it, also do an inventory check of all items you're running low on and add that to the supermarket list as well. Look up the prices online, see what the cost is for the ingredients to prep those meals. Collect as many coupons as you can (like seriously, coupon the everloving shit out of it, no shame, no holds barred), go buy that stuff and accept the hit on transportation to and from as a necessary expense - if possible ride-share going and book a cab on the way out. Now, you'll be pleasantly surprised that because of the shared ingredients of most of your meals in your weekly plans, you're actually making some decent savings on vegetables and meat, get to eat what you like and with different meals for each day, you're also not running the risk of keeping things monotonous. You're likely eating healthier and building the discipline to cook for the week on Sundays (seriously, meal prep takes about an hour or two on Sunday, that's it). Ultimately, your vegetables only ended up costing you (along with other grocery items) around $125. You now have $125 left to yourself to do with as you please. By immediately cutting off that money at the start, I reduced my temptation to use it and ended up saving a fuck ton of money in the process, which I proceeded to invest and grow it as a rainy day fund that's easily liquidated. I also monitor my expenses like a hawk and found that the best, most effective way to do it still remains the technique my parent taught me - a small A5 notebook and a pen which I carry with me in my bag everywhere. My experience with apps and spreadsheets has proven to be somewhat terrible, in that if the effort required to do it properly is more, I'm less inclined to do it and fails to become a habit. Because I'm a compulsive note-taker, the process of writing expenses down as well made sense to me, so it stuck. However as a weekly task, I input the week's finances on a spreadsheet to do a final tabulation and see if there are any patterns emerging from the data and make adjustments accordingly for the next month's expenses.

[QUOTE=OrkO;52356484]I submitted my medical school primary applications a week ago, and now secondary application invites are rolling in. I swear, I never thought I'd make it this far.[/QUOTE] How and why is it having multiple stages?

[QUOTE=hakimhakim;52362532]How and why is it having multiple stages?[/QUOTE] I dunno how it works in the US but in Scotland medical schools often have various stages as the places are very limited. Also due to the nature of the career you are going into it is very important that you have the right kind of person for the course. Also bear in mind that in Scotland most people who enter medical school do so directly after high school, so there is a higher pool of applicants to work through. Source: I was a medical student but I dropped out

[QUOTE=hakimhakim;52362532]How and why is it having multiple stages?[/QUOTE] The reason why is because, for medical schools, it's a buyer's market. Tons and tons of applicants, limited positions; they can make you jump through as many hoops as they want. Not that that's a bad thing, as you'd want to be sure that the people who wind up getting selected are qualified. Anyway, the way it works is that one submits a primary application that contains all basic personal info including undergraduate grades and standardized test scores, and that gets sent to all the schools a person wants to apply to. If they like your stats, they invite you to complete a secondary application, and if they like your secondary application responses, they invite you for an interview. THEN if your interview goes well, they extend an invitation and you can choose to accept or decline. That's how it works in the US anyway.