Every time my birthday rolls around I feel like reflecting. I think about the year that just passed. I plan for the future. I think about what I did right and what I did wrong. It’s amazing how quickly the years are flying. I’m now 24, even though I look 19 still. I remember dying to turn 19 so that I could be legal drinking age here. It has now been five years and I still get asked for ID all of the time. The rush is gone though.

I’m now 24 and just getting started. I have so much left to learn. The good news is that I’ve learned enough to write an article about lessons learned.

What are my 24 lessons learned in 24 years?

1. You need to slowly build to your goals.

It doesn’t matter if you have money related goals or fitness plans. It’s all about slowly building towards them. You’re not going to accomplish anything over night. If you do a little bit of work on a consistent basis, you’ll be amazed by what you get done by the end of the year. My goal for the past year has been to write at least a little bit on a daily basis. It’s really eye-opening when you see the end result of daily effort.

2. The best time to start is right now.

Right now is the best time to get started with anything. I wanted to vagabond for the longest time. Instead of making excuses I finally bought a ticket to Poland and learned as I went. I showed up with no clue as to what was going to happen next. I ended up having a blast all by myself in a foreign country. My friends never thought that I would do it. I even thought that I would never do it. Instead of waiting around, I did it.

Right now is the vey best time to start anything. It doesn’t matter what you want to do. Start now. Learn as you go.

3. Debt will ALWAYS bring you down.

Debt puts a stranglehold on you. It limits what you can do with your time and your money. It totally limits your options in life. You can’t travel or start your own business if you need to be making consistent debt payments.

I’m thankful to have never been in any serious debt. Sure, I’ve forgotten to pay off my credit card balance in full or borrowed money for investments to use as leverage. I’ve never been in consumer debt or school debt (because I worked like an animal in school). I’ve seen many of my friends get stuck in debt. It’s not fun. Avoid it at all costs if you can because it will bring you down.

4. You have to get into the habit of saving money. 

It doesn’t matter if you’re earning $50,000 a year or $5,000, you need to get into the habit of saving money. Every little bit that you save today will help you out massively in the future.

Even saving $20 a week can go a long way. Think about. $20 x 52=  $1,040. Not bad. That’s a vacation right there. A few dollars a day can add up to thousands over the years.

If you keep on putting off saving money, you’re never going to get into it. It’s challenging to build a habit out of thin air as you get older. When you get older you’re just going to make more money and want to spend more money. Lifestyle inflation is a common thing. I suggest that you get into the habit of saving right now.

5. There’s so much to do in this world.

If I wanted to actually do everything that I want to do, I would have to live at least three lifetimes. There’s so much to do out there.

I encourage everyone reading this to get out and see what this world has to offer. You don’t have to go all out right off the bat. Pick a place that you really want to see and plan a trip. Start saving right now.

6. Money is an amazing tool.

Money is simply a tool that gives you options for what you want to do in life. Without money, you really limit your options. Money should be treated as a tool and nothing else. When you worship money you lose sight of what’s really important.

7. You need a reason for chasing after money.

Going after money for the sake of money is boring. You need a passion and reason to be chasing the dollars. You need to figure out why you want the money. Do you really want a million dollars or do you want million dollar experiences? Do you want to make money or do you want to help people? I would love to help people. Money is just something that gets exchanged eventually when enough people care about your message.

8. The people in your life make it worth living.

Material possessions are fun to have. It’s the people in your life that make it what it is. This sounds corny, but it’s true. I believe that the quality of your life is determined by those that you surround yourself with. Weed out the toxic people and spend all of your time with the positive people that will bring you up in life.

9. You need to do something that matters.

You don’t have to follow your passions, but it definitely helps to do something that matters. I love to help others with their money. I want you to make more money, save more money, and owe less money. I feel great knowing that I try to do something that matters. When you do something that matters at least a bit of the time, you start to feel pretty damn good about yourself.

10. Working out will make you feel amazing.

I love working out. I always switch up my workouts. I go from kettle bell swigns to kickboxing to heavy weights. I couldn’t imagine a life without training in it. Releasing endorphins, pushing yourself to the max, and pushing iron is a great feeling that I wouldn’t want to miss out on. You don’t have to become a bodybuilder. You can start by just busting out 50 pushups in the morning or a quick walk down the street.

11. You really do regret the things that you didn’t do.

I’m convinced that we regret the things that we don’t do much more than we can ever regret the things that we did. Don’t be afraid.

With that being said…

12. Failure is needed.

You need to fail. Fail often. Fail hard. Don’t be afraid of failing. Be afraid of not trying. I failed many times in the past year. Remember my eBook? That was a failure. If you’re not failing then you’re not trying hard enough.

13. Risk should be mandatory in your 20s.

It should be mandatory in your 20s to take risks. Why are young people so afraid of taking chances? You have absolutely nothing to lose. Throw yourself out there. Take risks in relationships. Take risks with your career. Take risks with your appearance. There are so many risks worth taking that we miss out on because we’re trying to fit in.

14. The best investment is in yourself.

Whenever I hear friends debating investments, I chime in by saying that the best investment is in yourself. Stocks and real estate are great investments (I do both). However, at the end of the day, stocks are imaginary numbers and real estate is four walls. When you invest in yourself, you’re investing into the rest of your life.

You can invest in yourself through courses, upgrades, health, and anything else that can improve your current situation. All of these investments will pay massive dividends in the future.

15. Chasing fads is harmful.

When you’re chasing the next big thing you can get yourself into deep trouble. This can be the next hot investment, new workout strategy, or even clothing. You’re never going to be satisfied. You’re always going to be chasing something.

16. It’s okay to blow money.

It’s totally cool to blow money once in a while. If you work hard and save your money most of the time, you deserve to blow some of it. I blow money in many foolish ways (from going out to random trips). You don’t always have to save every penny.

17. Not everyone is going to understand what you’re all about.

I would like to think that my philosophy is pretty simple: work hard and play harder. If you invite me to a party you should expect me to own the night. You should also expect me to the be first one up working away on my laptop. It really is a simple way of life. I don’t believe in excuses or feeling sorry for yourself. That’s not what my life is about.

Not everyone will understand what you’re all about. That’s cool.

18. There’s a difference between greed and drive.

You can be driven. On the dark side, you can be greedy. I’ve crossed that line many times and I feel stupid about it.

Being driven is what keeps you up late at night and gets you up early in the morning when you’re sleep deprived and feel like complaining.

Greed is what you gets you to miss your friend’s birthday party because you would rather make some money.

It’s critical that you figure out the difference between greed and drive.

19. You’ll never stop learning.

You have two ears and one mouth so that you can listen twice as much.

There’s so much to learn out there. I still need to learn another language on top of the six billion other things I don’t know. The amazing part is that you can learn a little every single day. The Internet is the only resource that you need. Everything is out there. All of the information in the world is easily accessible.

20. Life will always go on.

You think have major problems? How about this? Imagine you had to throw your problems into a pile. Then other people in less-fortunate situations would be allowed to throw their problems into this same pile. You know what would happen? You would take your problems back in a heart beat.

No matter how big you think your problems are right now, the good news is that life will go on. The world will never stop for your problems, nor should you ever let it. Keep on living and pushing forward!

21. There’s no point in fearing death.

Many of us worry about death. We should really be concerned with not living at all. Death is inevitable. We all die. Not all of us can say that we truly lived. I need to focus more on living and think less about death. Since I was a little kid I’ve always been afraid of death. I just hate the unknown. I hate not knowing what’s next. Thinking about death and fearing it is a waste of time. I need to stop this fear.

22. People can be amazing.

You never know when your friends will come through big time. There will also be times where complete strangers come through for you. My favorite example is the one time that a stranger rang on my doorbell while I was having drinks with friends. I go to the door wondering who this random dude was. Then I noticed that he had my wallet  in his hands. I was so excited earlier that I left my wallet behind while eating lunch down the street. This guy found the wallet, saw that it was a local address and brought it to my door. That sure saved me some serious time and money. People can be truly amazing if you let them be.

23. Money comes and goes, but time goes forever.

Time is so precious. Money will always come and go. Time goes and never comes back. Once time is gone you have no chance of getting it back. This is why I respect your time and my time. I don’t like to waste time nor do I like to spend my time on things that don’t matter. Once that time is gone I’m never going to get it back. I want to spend my time with the people that matter, living on my own terms.

24. It’s all good.

Seriously. It’s all good. Everything is going to be alright. At the end of the day, what really matters? There’s no point in stressing out or carrying grudges. There’s no need to feel sorry for yourself or to regret anything. It is all good my friends. Everything is going to be the way it’s meant to be.

Those are my 24 completely random life lessons that I’ve picked up. Please go ahead and share some of your lessons.

How often do you check your bank balance online? How often do you check your bank balance on your laptop?

Why am I asking this? Because I check my bank balance from my cell phone and laptop all of the time. I usually don’t care where I am when I do this. I also use my credit card to buy stuff online fairly often.

Then the other day, it was a Saturday night and I was watching UFC with my younger brother. I got a phone call from the bank thinking it was a typical credit card marketing phone call. I thought it was a bit weird that they were trying to reach me on a Saturday night. I was about to hand up until I got the news.

I was a victim of credit card fraud.

Someone had stolen my credit card number and used it online to buy $400 worth of stuff on some random site from Sweden (I wonder if it’s the same one I go on?).

What’s the point of all of this? I don’t want you guys to make a the same mistake as me. Don’t check your bank balance online if you’re in a wi-fi zone.

The good news is that unlike with cash, there’s protection that comes with a credit card. My credit card company called me right away and then they froze the account as soon as they noticed something unusual was going on.

The investigation is still pending. My account has been returned to normal. I’m still waiting to get my new credit card in the mail. The good news is that the problem was dealt with immediately. Now I have to deal with modifying all of my automated payments since I have a new card now.

Yep you heard that right. Completely Conquer Credit is now available on Kindle.

I know absolutely nothing about the topic. I paid someone off Fiverr to do it for, you guessed it, five bucks. If you’re not a fan of PDF files and you enjoy reading on your kindle you can grab your copy here.

I wanted to point out a few reviews to you guys:

Review & Giveaway @ Credit Karma. Check the site out since they’re also doing a giveaway contest.
Finance Friday: Conquering Credit Before 30 @ 20 and Engaged.
CCC Review @ Afford Anything (I love design of this site!).

I’m also going to extend the offer. You can grab the PDF file for $7 until Monday at noon time. I want to help as many of you as possible.

I wanted to share a few links with you guys:

When Did Young People Become Such Pansies? @ Financial Uproar.
21 Inspirational Business Quotes & Their Impact on You @ PIN.
The Three Best Financial Moves You Can Make for Your Child @ Free From Broke.
Don’t listen to the business media for investment direction @ Money Smarts Blog.
5 Reasons You Should Never Buy a Video Game at Launch @ Canadian Finance Blog.
Switching Credit Cards @ Couple Money.
Stay The Course With Your Investments @ Boomer and Echo.
Looking For A Job? Don’t Forget The Tax Deductions! @ Smart on Money.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STUDENOMICS. It is now officially three years of Studenomics.

I started Studenomics with the hope of helping as many young adults as possible. I didn’t care about the money. I didn’t think that I would make anything from blogging. Now I’m at a crossroads. Do I attempt to go full-time with Studenomics or do I find a real job & manage this site on the side?

Three years ago, I didn’t know anything about text links, Adsense, affiliate marketing, or creating your own products. Now I have experience in all three.

Giving thanks…

I was looking through old emails. I really need to thank the following people. These are people that helped me back in 2008 before I started and when I was first just getting started.

Jeremy of Gen X Finance. Jeremy actually took the time to give me detailed responses to my blogging questions a month before I even bought a domain. Looking back at the emails I can’t believe how extensive his responses were to my standard questions.

When I first discovered personal finance blogs in early-2008 I was hooked. I was working full-time because I had doubled my course load the previous summer/fall so that I could have the winter to work my ass off. In mid-2008 I started writing personal finance articles in MS Word. Then finally in September I started at my new university and I had an entrepreneurship course that really inspired me. Around this time I started to email popular pf bloggers to ask them a few complete rookie questions. Some ignored me. Jeremy took the time to give me responses that I need to print out and analyze.

[Here's a quick tip: Use someone's first name when you email them. It's not that hard to find.]

Dough Roller. On November 7th I finally decided to stop blaming my lack of technical expertise for me not starting a blog. I went to the DR site and followed the VERY easy steps on how to launch a blog. If it wasn’t for this tutorial I would have never launched Studenomics. Now many years later I learned that Bluehost offers a nice affiliate payout. I hope that DR earned some money from me and others because he deserve it.

Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income. Pat started SPI around the same time that I started Studenomics (yes I realize that this is sad to admit). He was and always has been very helpful with me, sending me insanely helpful emails. I appreciate the help over the years.

Phil of PT Money. Phil first introduced me to the idea of guest posting and hosted my first ever piece in December of 2008. On top of that, Phil did an amazing job with hosting the first ever Financial Blogger Conference. Check out his blog and support PT Money!

Kyle of Amateur Asset Allocator. While chugging beers in Chicago last month I totally forgot to thank Kyle for his help early on. Kyle allowed me to guest post when I was first getting started and he introduced me to some basic concepts.

SVB of The Digerati Life. SVB was kind enough to allow me to guest post when I was just getting started and she has chatted with me many times over Gmail and Gchat. When you’re first getting started it helps a lot to have someone so established willing to give you time to chat.

Lazy Man and Money. This was the first big blogger to allow me to guest post, link to me, and to respond to all of my dumb questions. I appreciate it and I never forget things like that. I now do my best to help out all beginners.

There are many others that I didn’t get to thank. These are just the people that helped me get started. Coincidentally I got to meet all of these bloggers in Chicago last month as well.

If you have any questions, shoot your email to md @ studenomics dot com. I respond to all emails (except to those viagra ads).

You can check out the plethora of guest posts that I published over the years. Btw, this is the best way to find new readers. Sadly guest posting has also turned into “free text links” for most advertisers.

Here we are now in late-2011. I’ve published 681 articles, been featured in the Toronto Star, went on Fox Business News, received links from all of the top personal finance bloggers, interacted with lots of cool readers, learned a shit load from my colleagues, and made more money doing this than I could’ve ever imagine.

My gift to you.

Well it’s not much of a gift since it’s not free. I wanted to give you a ridiculous discount on my Completely Conquer Credit guide. I want as many 20-somethings as possible to read this guide. I want you to get out of debt, control credit cards, and live the life that you want. You should be able to travel the world and have a blast in your 20s without having your paychecks going directly to your debt payments.

I wanted to offer you my eBook for $7. No sales pages. No hype. Here’s what you get:

• Both of my premium guides, Completely Conquer Credit & Buying vs Renting Decision.
• Over 15,000 words to help you get out of debt, master your credit, decide if you should buy or rent, and information that would take hours to compile.
• In others words, you can save THOUSANDS  of dollars the next few years.
• Live debt-free and be smart with your cash.
• GRAB YOUR COPY NOW.

Sign up for my newsletter.

I send out exclusive content every single week. You also get a free gift just for trusting me with your email. As soon as you join I send you a case study I conducted with Pat Flynn where he shares his success secrets to making $30,000 a month online, his past failures, how you can get started, and how to take care of your business accounting. It’s all free just for signing up.

The top ten of all time are…

In case you’re new to Studenomics or if you wanted to look back at some gems I wanted to list my favorite ten posts from the last 3 years. The funny thing is that it was difficult to find anything from the first year or so. I couldn’t believe some of the crap that I was putting up when I first started. It really goes to show that us personal finance bloggers are constantly evolving.

1. Vagabonding 101: Everything You Need to Know to Travel the World

2. The Ultimate Home Buying Guide — Buying vs Renting Detailed Comparison

3. Going Full Time With Your Side Business– When is it the Right Time?

4. What is Lifestyle Design & Why is it So Damn Popular?

5. How-to Save Thousands of Dollars– The Power of Automated Savings

6.  WTF To Do After College Guide

7. How-to Choose a Online Banking Account That’s Right For You

8. How My Friend Made $2,100 From Tutoring

9. How To Save Money On Your College Tuition

10. The Ultimate Financial Survival Guide For New College Students

A few extras that didn’t make the top ten:

Do You Want To Ruin Your Financial Life by 30?
A Classic & Proven Way to Save Lots of Money Now
How My Friend Landed a Dream Job on Facebook & How You Can Do it
Case Study On Explosive Blog Growth & Creating a Full-Time Income

These were my favorite posts to write. These weren’t the big money makers or the articles that did well in search engines. These articles took lots of time to write and received great feedback.

I won’t post for the rest of the week. I’ll be working my ass off behind the scenes. You can grab a copy of my premium guide for seven bucks, sign up for my newsletter to get your free case study, or check out my greatest hits.

Thanks for being apart of this!

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

– Steve Jobs, Commencement Speech at Stanford in 2005.

I have this unexplainable and likely unhealthy fear of death. I don’t tell too many people this. The idea of death really freaks me out. By really I mean totally. Hearing of the death of Steve Jobs proves that the grim reaper doesn’t discriminate. We all need to go at same time. Our bank account won’t help us out. If Steve Jobs couldn’t figure out a way to live forever none of us will. Sorry to break it to you.

What really concerns me is how many of us are spending our days like we plan on living forever. If Steve Jobs can’t live forever what makes us think that we can? We put off travel plans. We go weeks or months without seeing family and friends. We buy crap that we don’t need. We get more home than we can afford. We buy expensive cars that will take many years to pay off. We do all this like we plan on never dying.

Whenever I talk to my friends or readers about the idea of doing cool shit in our 20s I notice a common problem. Debt is holding so many of us back. Debt is holding us back from doing remarkable things. That credit card bill that comes in the mail every month limits our options. It limits what we can do and where we can go. It limits where we work and how we work. Credit card debt limits us far more than it should.

I want to help a select group of 20-something improve their current situation. I’ll be releasing my first premium product on here in a few weeks. It won’t be for everyone. It’ll be for a select few readers that are waiting to make real changes.

I might completely fail and leave behind a legacy as a blogger that just couldn’t make it. On the flip side, if I help just one 26 year old dude get out of debt and start building his dream life I’ll consider it a success. I’m not here to help everyone. I can only help a select few.

I really want to hear your honest answers to one of the following questions:

If you had one year to live what would you do? What legacy will you leave behind? What’s holding you back?

Are you just dying to get laid? Alright I don’t expect anyone to admit to this, especially under the blog comments. Also don’t worry this isn’t a post about picking up chicks in college (I seem to get lots of Google searches for that). This piece is all about reaching out for help and improving yourself.

I actually wrote about why you’re not getting any action a few months ago. What were the reasons back then?

• Self-limiting beliefs.
• You don’t believe in self-help.
• Your credentials don’t matter.
• You read a lot and do nothing.

The post as usual received some interesting comments. When I started to write this post right here I realized that I already wrote on the EXACT same topic. Instead of changing the original post up, I wanted to revisit the topic.

Why are you not getting laid?

Is it because you’re not handsome enough?

Is it because you’re not rich enough?

Is it because you’re not cool enough?

NOPE.

Why are you not getting laid then? It’s because you’re afraid to ask for help.

I’ll let you all in on a little secret– we all have problems.

We all have something that we need help with. Some of us are born with the ability to save money. Others are born with the urge to spend every dollar. Some of us are natural charmers (what’s up?). Others are nervous about the idea of approaching a complete stranger.

At the end of the day we all have areas in our unique lives where we can use some help. This is why I signed up for The Hustle Project. This is why I took Ramit Sethi’s course Earn1k. I really want to find ways to help more people with their finances. For me to reach my goal I need to invest my money and time in finding help so that I can market my services to more readers. I’m not afraid to admit that I need help. I actively seek help. I’m also willing to pay for help.

No I’m not suggesting that you pay money to get laid. I’m suggesting that you should always try to find help with anything that you feel you need to improve. What are some examples of reaching out for help?

1. Paying a Personal Trainer to get familiar with the exercise equipment at your new gym.
2. Buying an eBook or physical book on a topic that you want to learn more about (hint: my Real Estate Decision Guide).
3. Asking a friend that’s more experienced in a specific topic for help.
4. Emailing a more established blogger to get their opinion on a new idea.

Readers– What do you need help with? What are you working on improving? You can share here.

I pardon the interruption from our posting schedule. I want to say hello and THANK YOU to all 1,327 of you that read my posts through an RSS reader!

The reason I’m calling attention to the RSS readers is that I wanted to invite you guys to join my exclusive mailing list.

I remember when I first started my blog I was ecstatic to hit the 100 subscriber mark. I was excited because the more people I reach, the more people I can help and share my expertise with on personal finance. Now I’m honored to be in a position where I can help so many intelligent people deal with money management issues that are bothering them.

Now I do understand the hesitation with joining a mailing list. You don’t want to receive any more crap in your mailbox. This is why I want to promise to you guys that I won’t send you crap on a daily basis. I hate spam and I hate frequent updates promoting crap. Below is a screen shot of the emails that I’ve sent to my private list subscribers.

As you can tell from this list, dating all the way back to late-March I’ve sent 10 emails. That’s what some “internet marketers” send out in a week. All of these emails fall under one of the following categories: exclusive content, special offers, or extremely valuable stuff.

Oh and you also get a free eBook for joining! A case study with ultra-successful internet entrepreneur Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income.

This case study with Pat goes into online product creation tactics that would easily sell for consulting services of at least $125/hr. You get the following tips and more for free:

How to leave that full-time job that you hate so much and start working for yourself.

How to price your products.

How you can create your own product.

How to get over excuses and finally get started on those projects.

How you can make a killer living online without losing your mind.

AND TONS MORE!

To summarize, why should I sign up?

Free eBook, exclusive content, and special offers.

You can sign up for all of this goodness below:

The poorest man would not part with health for money, but the richest would gladly part with all their money for health.
- Charles Caleb Colton

Being a personal finance blogger I tend to tie everything into money management. I’m sure you noticed this with my post last week where I connected personal finance and getting laid. Today I wanted to tie in fitness and finance as a result of my newest site, Training Shark, that just went live.

I covered personal fitness on here a few times in the past: How to Save Money on Gym Membership Fees & Personal Finance Meets Personal Fitness. Today I wanted to share the five ways that fitness has impacted my finances and how this can happen to you:

1. You’ll spend more money when you first start training.

I didn’t say that fitness will always impact your finances in a positive way. There will be many times where you spend way too much money on your nutrition/fitness needs. When I first got hardcore about my training I found myself spending tons of money by experimenting with all of the various supplements on the market. I tried everything from NO to creatine, only to realize that none of it really mattered unless you ate properly. Now I don’t even take any supplements at all. When I first started working out I spent more money than I care to admit on supplements. I find that many new fitness enthusiasts will go through a similar phase. Keep your new supplement and quality food in mind as you begin with a new training program.

2. You save money by going out less frequently.

I’ve noticed that when I’m training hard I tend to go out less frequently. This means that I eat out less and drink booze less often. I’m saving money by enjoying activities that don’t cost a lot of money (hanging out with friends). When you don’t go out for food and drinks, you’ll be fairly surprised by how much money you can save.

3. Fitness keeps you focused in all areas of your life.

I’m much more focused in other areas of life when I get my intense training in. I noticed how during exam time there would be less and less people attending the kickboxing classes. Everyone had the same excuse about how they wanted to focus on their exams. The funny thing is that going to the gym is what kept me more focused. That one hour study break really kept me energized. Taking some time to push my body in the middle of mental stimulation really kept me focused. Taking care of your fitness life will allow you to feel more energized and to hopefully be more focused when it comes to watching your money.

4. Your long term health.

If you start taking care of yourself at an earlier age the odds are in your favor that your long term health will benefit greatly. I know that there are things that happen that are simply out of our control, so why not control what we can? All I know is that older dudes at the gym always stress the importance of taking care of your body at an early age to me. I try to listen to advice when it comes to my health any time it’s possible.

5. You’re not as stressed

My stress levels go down when I train my body and eat properly (this means no McDonald’s). What does this have to do with money management? Many people seek “retail therapy” when they’re stressed out. Stress causes us to become vulnerable and to do things that we normally wouldn’t do. Think of the last time you were stressed out. Chances are that you foolishly spent money or your judgment was severely clouded. When you train on a consistent basis I find that you’ll get stressed out less often.

Those are the five ways that my fitness habit has impacted my finances. Check out Training Shark if you want to read more from me and my buddy Bohdan on all fitness related topics. I plan on offering as much free help on fitness and finance on the internet as possible. I hope you guys are ready to work hard with me!

How has your fitness life impacted your wallet?

Hello fellow readers of the personal finance blogosphere! My friend and I have recently started up a site similar to the great one that Studenomics has built here. Both of us have recently graduated (I begin graduate courses in the summer) and are entering the workforce. After reminiscing one day we decided that we would like to share some of the knowledge we had gained over the years pertaining to student financial decisions, and post-secondary issues in general. Hence, My University Money was born. If you like what you read below than by all means visit our site and tell us what you think. We are always open to comments, questions, or topic suggestions.

Sincerely, Teacher Man

A big thanks to Studenomics for allowing us to write a guest post. I thought it might be relevant to discuss some of the recent political developments in Canada that could potentially have a serious affect on today’s and tomorrow’s post-secondary students.

I have to admit to not being a huge fan of Michael Ignatieff in the past. I also don’t think he has much hope of winning the current federal election; however, one recently released part of the Liberal platform did catch my eye. Iggy calls it the grandly named “Canadian Learning Passport.” No, it isn’t used for studies abroad and no, it isn’t actually a passport at all. A very weird ‘marketing campaign’ notwithstanding, the Canadian Learning Passport (CLP) is a program that is essentially a supplement to the existing Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP).

The nuts and bolts of the plan are that the Federal Government would deposit a cool $1000 per year into every Canadian high school students’ account who has an RESP. This means that if mom and dad have opened an RESP account for little Johnny by the time Johnny is in grade nine, they will see at least $1000 put into the account for each of his four years of high school, ready to be withdrawn under the usual RESP guidelines. The Liberal Party was careful to point out that the CLP funding would be $1500 a year for low-income families (low-income as defined in the current RESP program is roughly $78,000 gross income as a family). Unlike the current government contributions to the RESP program (Canada Education Savings Grants), the CLP will not require any monetary contribution from the parents, only that an RESP account be opened.

Ignatieff’s Chosen Sound Clip:

“Investing in learning is essential for preparing Canadians for the jobs of the future, The Learning Passport will be a powerful tool for reducing barriers to attending college and university, increasing the flow of highly skilled workers into the Canadian economy.”

Where Will The Money Come From?

The program is purported to cost roughly 1 Billion dollars annually. One of the key parts of the Passport that the Liberals have not been so quick to make public, is the fact that some of the current federal non-refundable tax credits for students would be collapsed in order to help pay for the CLP. Specifically, the tax credit for being a student and the textbook amount would be cancelled. For the average full-time student studying eight months a year, this would mean a lost of $558 on the tax return. Many students don’t use all of their tax credits when they file their taxes; however, you currently have the option to either allow your parents to use the extra tax credit room, or carry it forward for your own use once you start to increase your income.

The proposal claimed that much like the current Canada Education Savings Grant that goes with the RESP, if a student decides not to go on to post-secondary education the money would be returned penalty-free to the government. The Liberals also envision an extension of the program in some capacity to current post-secondary students, but details were fuzzy.

One immediate criticism of the program would be that it wouldn’t help many of the most underprivileged students in Canada. This is because most low-income earners are notorious for ignoring Registered Savings Plans of all kinds (see the statistics for RRSPs). The vast majority of low-income earners do not currently have RESPs in place for their children. If that trend were to continue they would not be able to make use of the CLP. That being said, I think the solution is not to do away with the CLP, but instead to get an educational strategy in place to make people aware of the great options available when saving for your children’s education. If this program could help out low-income families, while at the same time exposing them to the benefits of planning for the future, I think that is a win-win.

In My Opinion It’s a Great Idea

I am a pretty big fan of the Canadian Learning Passport (if not the name). This stems from my ultra-high opinion of the RESP program. You see, I like the idea of a ‘hand-up’ as opposed to a ‘hand-out;’ therefore, giving even more incentive for people to financially plan for their child’s post-secondary education is a great way to support families. I’m also a huge enthusiast of tax-free growth of your money. If parents invest the money a student receives during their 4 years of high school in basic bonds that get an average return of 4%, the $4,000 the government gave you would be over $4,300 for your first year of post-secondary study. If you don’t take out all the money in your first year it would continue to compound tax free. This is a neat little bonus feature of the plan. As a final advantage to the proposal, I like the simplicity of it. So often government programs are super complicated and need a huge bureaucratic mess to back them up (see our current student loans program). The CLP is easy, just open up an RESP (which everyone should be doing anyway) and the government gives you cash!

Unfortunately…

As nice as this program is, I still don’t believe the Liberals have much chance of forming government. Sadly, I don’t see the Conservatives adopting the plan (that would be too bi-partisan for the current political climate) when they inevitably get elected to either a minority or majority government. I hope the parties put this idea in their back pocket when planning their educational platforms in the future.

I was planning on launching my newsletter for the longest time in the world. For some reason I could just never get it going. Now that I got it going, I want to grow it. The problem is that the first time I decided to launch this was during Christmas time. Not a good time at all. Today I’m going to attempt to promote my exclusive newsletter with you guys one more time and then it’s back to business around here.

Why should you trust me with your email?

First reason for signing up: Free eBook

As an incentive for signing up to my exclusive list, I’ve attached a case study with Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income. I can promote it until I’m blue in the face but I’ll just tell you what’s covered in this free gift:

How-to make over 15 grand a month by selling your own product.

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Using past failures as leverage for future success.

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Figuring out how to manage your finances with an online income.

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I put together a full page on crushing student loans for my mailing list readers only. I will do this from time to time. I will take some time to put together a resource, throw a giveaway, or just do something cool for you just because you trusted me with your email.

Final reason for joining: I won’t bother you.

Honestly I know what it feels like to get inundated with a ridiculous amount of emails from some random mailing list. That’s not what I plan on doing. I will never email you more than once a week and I will often go weeks without even sending anything out. I don’t believe in sending emails just for the sake of it. When I have something valuable to share with you I will email you.