You have a choice: pay me $10,000 right now or pay me $10,000 in one year.
This is not meant to be a trick question.
For all that is good in the world, I hope you will choose to pay in one year. You would be getting a 0% interest rate!
If you wavered in your response, you’re not alone. Society has made people believe that debt is bad and needs to be eliminated as fast as possible. But that’s wrong!
Debt is not inherently bad. It’s only as bad as the daily interest is high. That means the goal…
Legal pads. If someone were to ask me, “what random thing do you remember most from your childhood?”, my answer would be legal pads.
The sight will forever be etched into my mind of those triple-folded canary-yellow extra-long pages with blue lines and a red margin. These pages, along with a sharpened red pencil, were my mother’s tool of choice for figuring out how to make ends meet every month. And her purse always had at least a few folded pages filled with numbers that were either circled or underlined a few too many times.
Technically speaking, my immigrant parents’…
2020 was…. enter any of the countless descriptors that have been thrown around: dumpster fire, horrible, a nightmare, not cool, a test by our simulators, etc..
It was the type of thing that would make my Eastern European grandmother cover her face, shake her head, and let out a sigh of “ohhfffff, ohhhfffff, ohhfffff.” Yes, it sounds like she’s saying “off” three times but with a slightly longer “oh” and definitely longer “fffffff”.
That’s probably what we all wanted to do to 2020. Turn it offfff!
But then the clock struck midnight on December 31st and….
The only thing that…
This article originally appeared on the eightfold.ai blog
Why do we get an education?
When I ask people this question, I receive a variety of answers like, “that’s just what we do!” or “so young adults can find out what interests them.”
While these answers are true in a sense, they’re too superficial. The ultimate purpose of education is to make a living, and there is a measurable correlation between an education and an income. Unfortunately, simply getting an education is not enough — where you graduate from carries significant influence. …
This article originally appeared on the eightfold.ai blog
It took me 28 years to find my reason for being — my ikigai — which the Japanese say is found at the intersection of what a person is good at, what a person loves, what the world needs, and what a person can be paid for. I have been reflecting on what it took to reach that point and the hurdles other employees like me are facing as we try to overcome legacy perspectives, adapt to the present environment, and prepare for the future.
The Story
Follow the Allocation Crossing Point & Step-Down Method instead
Editorial Note: This content is not provided or commissioned by any financial institution. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article do not represent financial advice.
I have spent a good amount of time browsing through student loan boards and accounts on Quora, Reddit, Instagram and Twitter, and was surprised by how many people are asking: how do I pay down my loans as fast as possible?
That is the wrong question.
Instead, all borrowers with student debt should ask: “how do I optimally *minimize* my interest payable?”
It doesn’t roll off the tongue as beautifully, I know…
Perception dictates action. It is human nature and it will often influence us regardless of our awareness. So what can we do about it?
Let’s start with these three questions:
- Can you remember the last time you tried to do something that you didn’t know much about or are not very good at?
- How about the last time you did something that was second nature?
- How did you react in both cases if you hit a hurdle?
For most people:
- If we are knowledgeable about a task or topic and a problem arises, we assume it is due to an…
And What You Can Learn From It
The student loan refinancing market is flooded with companies that claim to help student loan borrowers get a hold of their finances and become debt free. Just to name a few: SoFi, CommonBond, Earnest, Laurel Road, LendKey, First Republic, Citizens Bank. As a student loan borrower, I’m not naïve enough to think they have my best interest at heart. But the critical problem is that these poorly regulated for-profit businesses with inefficient processes likely are benefiting handsomely while costing student borrowers money.
In the investment space, non-accredited investors are held to a higher standard of care because there is an…
Editorial Note: This content is not provided or commissioned by any financial institution. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article do not represent financial advice.
“Student debt” should be renamed “school debt”, just like how “global warming” changed to “climate change”. The current naming convention places a disproportionate focus on the role “students” play in the debt crisis. This is a problem because several factors that determine whether a child will need to consider taking on debt are completely out of the student’s control, such as the parents’ income, spending habits, and education outlook.
The Challenge of Encouraging Random Connections
There’s a cycle that I’m trying to break, but I don’t know how to — at least not alone. I need some help answering the question:
Why is it so hard to encourage connection among strangers as we go about our daily routines?
I assumed the problem was that we don’t have an easy way to break the ice and it’s still socially frowned upon to talk to strangers.
What if people had something that made it easier to spark conversation, like a SMILE card?
That was my motivation for starting GoingForSmiles and designing SMILE cards that are whimsical and encourage connection through a shared smile.
The mission sounded sensible and most people respond with enthusiasm when I hand then a SMILE card. What’s the problem, then?
Few people pass along the card.
…
Andrea Constantine, CAIA
Emotional Health | Student Debt | Career Advice. Repaying my student loans w/ a proprietary method & helping others save tens of thousands too. Let’s talk debt!
