School for getting into the real world. It surprises me that with so much college education and how much students pour into funding their tuition many never get out with as many useful skills as we think they should. Sure they can do certain core functions of whatever they graduated with.. but many come out with total blindness to basics of survival.. financial management, people skills, negotiation, persuasion , the ability to take failure and learn from it versus running to mommy.
I have an unusually close perspective to this vs. most.. I run an network marketing business where I work with many college kids.. and most of the time they prove to fit into the above category. Even multiple years out of school that percentile only drops to about 98%.. most still being fairly inadequate to face any real world challenges. I don’t believe this is the students or “kids” fault.. its our lack of building into them. Here is my list of what all people need to learn before venturing out into the world.
1. FINANCIAL EDUCATION.
- For the love… stop spending what you don’t have.
- Not all debt is bad debt. If you can get someone else to pay your debt, that’s good debt.. (rental properties etc.)
- Saving is broken. Don’t save to save, save to invest. The dollar has been devalued.. it is going to burst in our lifetime. It might take $100,000 to buy a loaf of bread.. if you spend all your time and money investing in your 401k and have $2million in it when you’re done… well that’s not many loaves of bread. Invest in assets that won’t devalue.
- Give. This is #1. Whatever your beliefs you probably believe in sowing and reaping or karma or something of the sort. What you give, you get back.. pressed down, shaken together and overflowing. If you don’t give, you get nothing back. Plus nothing feels quite as good as this.
2. NOBODY OWES YOU JACK – SO STOP PRETENDING THEY DO. NOT THE GOVERNMENT, NOT MOMMY, NOT YOUR BOSS.. NOBODY – AS LONG AS YOU THINK SOMEONE WILL CATCH YOU, YOU WONT MAKE ANYTHING EXTRAORDINARY HAPPEN.
3. NOT ALL CREDIT IS BAD. BY THE WAY IF YOU “KNEW” IT WAS BAD.. WHY DID YOU USE IT TO BUY ANYTHING? YOU NEED LOTS OF CREDIT WITH A LOW BALANCE TO HAVE A GOOD CREDIT SCORE… YOU MAY NEED IT SOMEDAY. EXAMPLE: LOTS OF CREDIT CARDS WITH BIG LIMITS WITH $10 ON EACH ONE. USE ONE PER MONTH TO BUY GAS OR GROCERIES AND THEN PAY IT DOWN TO $10 AND USE THE NEXT ONE. WATCH YOUR CREDIT SCORE SKYROCKET.
4. READ. LEADERS ARE READERS. YEA I KNOW IT SUCKS, BUT SO DOES BEING BROKE. 77% OF POOR PEOPLE READ LESS THAN 1 BOOK A YEAR. WHILE 90% OF ALL TOP CEO’S OF FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES READ AROUND 100 BOOKS PER YEAR
5. COOK. YOU’LL SPEND AT LEAST 4X ON FOOD IF YOU ALWAYS EAT OUT. EVEN IF ITS JUST FAST FOOD. YOU’LL FEEL WORSE AND SO WILL YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. MAKE A MEAL PLAN AND BUDGET, PREP YOUR MEALS FOR THE WEEK. EVERY MEAL AND SNACK. YOU’LL FEEL GREAT AND HAVE TONS OF CASH LEFTOVER.. NOT TO MENTION, LEARNING TO COOK REALLY ATTRACTS YOUR LOVE INTERESTS.
6. MOVE OUT. C’MON.. ITS ONLY SO COOL FOR SO LONG. I CAN HEAR IT NOW.. “BUT I’M SAVING TO DO __________.” JUST STOP. YOU’RE MAKING EXCUSES AND YOU KNOW IT. I KNOW YOU DON’T MAKE ENOUGH BUT YOU’LL ALWAYS NEVER MAKE ENOUGH BECAUSE YOU’RE BLINDING YOURSELF TO OPPORTUNITIES BECAUSE YOU HAVEN’T TRAINED YOURSELF TO BE SELF-SUFFICIENT. I KNOW, THIS WAS A HARD ONE FOR ME.. I DIDN’T MOVE OUT UNTIL 23. MY PARENTS ARE AMAZING PEOPLE AND LET ME STAY AS LONG AS I WANTED… BUT IF I COULD DO THAT AGAIN.. I’D MOVE OUT SOONER, YOU LEARN SO MUCH MORE. YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY NOT ACCOMPLISH MUCH IF MOMMY IS STILL PICKING UP AFTER YOU, MAKING YOUR LUNCH AND LETTING YOU STAY FOR CHEAP. (MOM, I STILL WANT TO COME OVER AND HAVE DINNER WITH YOU ☺ )
7. BUILD A PASSIVE INCOME. MORE ON THIS LATER. PASSIVE INCOME MEANS MONEY THAT KEEPS FLOWING WITHOUT YOU DOING ANYTHING FOR IT. IF YOU ALWAYS MAKE ACTIVE MONEY.. MEANING TRADING TIME FOR DOLLARS. YOU WILL BE BROKE.. I PROMISE. I HAVE PLENTY OF FRIENDS THAT MAKE $20-$40K / MONTH+ AND THEY KNOW IF THEY DON’T INVEST IN A LONG TERM BUSINESS.. THEY’RE SCREWED TOO.
8. USE YOUR YOUTH TO BUILD YOUR FUTURE. IF YOU LEARNED FROM STEP 7 YOU CAN USE YOUR YOUTH TO SET UP YOUR ENTIRE FUTURE AND BE FREE BY 28-35. (IF YOU’RE OLDER YOU CAN STILL DO THIS IN 3-7 YEARS) MOST PEOPLE PARTY THEIR 20’S AWAY BECAUSE THEY THINK THAT’S WHERE THE FUN IS AND WHEN THEY HIT MID 30’S ITS TIME TO SETTLE DOWN BECAUSE THEY’RE HAVING KIDS, FAMILY, LITTLE PICKET FENCE ETC. I SAY.. SETTLE DOWN IN YOUR 20’S.. HAVE YOUR FUTURE SET BY 30… AND PARTY FROM 30 – ???. THIS TAKES MORE DISCIPLINE THAT MOST ARE USED TO.. BUT ITS WELL WORTH IT.. YOU’RE ONLY YOUNG ONCE AND YOU HAVE LESS DISTRACTIONS NOW THAN YOU WILL NEXT YEAR. LIFE ALWAYS ADDS DISTRACTIONS.. THEY DON’T GO AWAY, THEY JUST CHANGE AND MULTIPLY. USE THESE MOST SIMPLE TIMES TO BUILD YOUR PARTY.
Of course there’s more.. feel free to add. I feel these are the most common things we come across. I hope to see you on the beaches of the world!