“I’m just passing by. This isn’t permanent.”
This is what some guy in his 50s told me recently. He hates the job. Guess what? My biggest fear in life is being stuck in a job that I hate because I screwed myself over. I find that life’s too amazing to be stuck in a crappy situation. Especially in our generation.
You come here to make smart financial moves (have money in your bank!). I take my job here very seriously. I’m always asking questions and performing research.
This is a life after college sort of situation. All this talk about real estate, buying vs renting, and income stability has me thinking about life after college.
Check out this scary information on graduating from college:
“In the past three decades, the cost of attaining a college degree has increased more than 1,000 percent. Two-thirds of students who earn four-year bachelor’s degrees are graduating with an average student loan debt of more than $25,000, and 1 in 10 borrowers now owe more than $54,000 in loans.”
I found this information in the Center for American Progress.
What does this mean?
This means that many young people are in debt and desperate to get out of it. You can’t be as picky with your job prospects or even your romantic life when you’re desperate. You’re likely forced to jump on the first opportunity that comes your way. Then the boredom begins. You might hate your job, but you’ll be forced to stay because you have to make loan payments. Then life gets in the way. It may take you longer to pay off your loans. The bills add up. You continue working. Next thing you know and you’re 30 years old stuck at the same job or worse, you get let go and don’t know what to do.
I’ve covered extensively what to do after college. It’s one of my favorite topics because I happen to be living it right now. I’m done with school and enjoying life. Well, I’m also hustling, but I’m enjoying every second of that as well.
Will your first job out of college be your only job?
“Our parents and grandparents believed you should stay at a job for five years, 10 years or even your whole life. But in a world where companies come and go — where they grow from nothing to the Fortune 500 and then disappear, all in a few years — that’s just not possible.” — Seth Godin
Nope. Highly unlikely.
Times have changed. Our parents or grandparents found a job and kept it for years. They got all sorts of milestone pins for their tenures. Not us.
We’re going to bounce around from jobs, get divorced, travel the world, and be a totally different generation. How many of your friends have already switched jobs? Likely most of them. Things are different for our generation.
This then leads to an important question…
What do you want out of life?
We all have different goals in life. I’m not here to tell you what to do. I just want to help you make it possible. I hate it when I see a reader stuck in debt or a friend pissed off about their job. There are too many tools and opportunities out there right now to ever feel hopeless about your current spot in life.
Before you complain about your current position, I have to throw a few questions out…
How hard are you willing to work? Are you willing to risk failure?
I’ve taken many risks and failed plenty of times. It sucks to fail. It sucks even more to not try. Have you risked anything lately? If not, I really want you to try something new this week. Step outside of your comfort zone and see how far you can push yourself.
Are you saving money?
Saving money is the trick to flexibility. When you pay off your debt and have money saved, you don’t have to stress about making rent or being stuck in a job that you can’t stand with lame co-workers.
There are financial tools that you can use to save tons of money and become independent When you’re financially independent you have more options. You don’t have to stress every waking moment.
When’s the best time to look for a new job? When you have one! If you’re saving money by paying yourself first and having some fun, you can be pretty dangerous.
What can you look forward to?
Some of us think that we need more free time. Others want to fill up every possibly minute with activities because we’re afraid of the alternative to being busy.
According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi:
“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… the best moments usually occur when a person’ boy or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”
What does this suggest? That it’s okay to ruthlessly go after your goals. You won’t drown in sweat. You have nothing to be afraid of.
What’s next?
If you want to stop wasting time and see real results in your 20s, we have a real treat for you. I’m going to be launching a private course very soon. We’ll cover everything from paying off debt, to making money, all the way to planning your first trip in your 20s. If you’re tired of your current situation, I highly urge you to reserve your seat in the course. No strings attached of course.
[ois skin=”aftercollege”]
Luckily I don’t have any loans to repay. At this point in my life, I am largely disecting the idea of college, and keep wondering do I need a degree I obtained at all. After I’ve graduated, I wanted to develop my business online. Locked myself in the house, and I’ve dived into learning something completely unrelated to my banking degree.
3 years later I am still making my living on the web, haven’t done a single day of work in relation to my degree.
At this rate I wonder did I simply loose 4 years for my BA.
That’s funny because I’m in the same boat Bojan. I never formally pursued my business degree either.
I wouldn’t call it a waste of time simply because at 18, college is just seen as the next logical step. We have no idea what’s out there or what the world has to offer.
Maybe it should become more traditional to travel after high school instead of jumping into more studies?
Good job on no student loans! How have you liked starting your own business?
I am so glad my first job out of college wasn’t my last…that would have sucked. That company treated its employees like cheap temp help. I don’t think I’d mind being self-employed until I retire, but we’ll see. My biggest fear is being too lazy to change things I can change for the better, so I try to check myself there regularly.