YUPpy Respectability

When one is a Young Urban Professional, recently graduated from college, there are a series of things expected to happen.  The order may vary, but in general the steps are:

1. Build an emergency fund.
2. Save for retirement.
3. Pay off debt
1. Student loans
2. Auto loan (one is usually expected to have a car in order to get to work)
3. any Credit Card debt one has acquired
4. Save for a down payment and buy a house
5. Furnish said house

Every person is different, every situation is different, and so some of these steps may be easier for some people than others.

In addition, the instant one is gainfully employed, the salespeople come out of the woodwork with opportunities.

Homeowners, in particular, are targeted for home security systems, water softener systems.

Follow Friday: Budgets Are Sexy

Another feature that I'm working on is restoring "Follow Friday"s.  I follow enough blogs and news sites now to make this a regular feature, as long as I make time to keep writing & scheduling posts.

Budgets are Sexy is a personal finance blog written by J. Money, that makes personal finance interesting and fun.

Bonus post: 2012 Annual Budget Drive

Since I missed a post last Friday, here's a make-up post.  Life is getting busier, I start the Natural Language Processing course on Coursera this week.  I mentioned last week that I am co-chairing the Annual Budget Drive for my church this year.  As part of the lead-up, we asked people to give testimonials, describing why they attend the church, what it means to them, and why they support it.

In the spirit of leading by example, I gave my testimonial last week.  The theme this year, is GIFT: Growing Into the Future Together.  Here is a lightly edited version of what I said:

College funding

I've written about high school preparation for college. What classes to take, about college entrance exams, and choosing a college.  Today I'd like to talk a little bit about funding college and leaving home.

I'm a second generation college graduate.  My parents both attended Indiana University in Bloomington.  I grew up knowing that they expected us to go to college, and knowing that I would be on my own to pay for it.

Wealth

I've been reading S.M. Stirling's Change series lately, which begins with the book:

The premise is that in 1998, something happens around the world which eliminates all of Earth's high technology, particularly electronics and explosives.  It's alternate "history," with both utopian and distopian elements.

But reading the series has had me thinking about wealth.

See, in the Dying Time that followed the Change, very few people in the cities survived.  All our stockbrokers in New York?  Turned cannibal and/or died.  Wealth did not necessarily mean survival.