Overeducated and Underprepared

My New Running Shoes!

2009-06-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

So in December of 2008, when I committed myself to losing weight I bought a pair of New Balance running shoes and got going. Six months and 40lbs later I hit a plateau (both in my weightloss and focus) and my sneakers stunk. So yesterday I went to Finishline and bought a new pair of sneakers. The sales associate was extremly helpful. Not only did he take the time to explain why it was important for me to purchase a "running shoe" he then took me over to the children's section wear my women's size 8.5 ($55.00) fit perfectly into a children's size 7 ($35.00). So not only did I get a great shoe, I saved about $20.00 bucks while doing so. I also ended up picking up some socks (they were on sale...less than $1/pair) as well.

Shopping Tip #1: If you are a woman and have small feet, check to see if you can fit into children's sized shoes. They often have the exact same style for a lower pricepoint.

A New Beginning...2009

2009-06-04T14:27:00.001-07:00

2008 was an ugly year. And when I say ugly, I don't mean it's that time of the month and you're feeling bloated kinda ugly, I mean you were in a car wreck and it might be advisable to consult a plastic surgeon lest you scare small children kind of ugly. *sighs* We have just reached the half way point of 2009 and already it has been a much much better year in all areas of BENs world. Before I recap some of the ugliness of 2008 and begin 2009 I figured it might be a good idea to look back at my 2008 personal and financial goals and updated them as to my progress so far in 2009.

2008 Goal 1) Lose 70lbs. and become more physically fit.
2009 Response 1) CHECK! I lost 45lbs and now fall within the normal weight range for someone my age and height. I became a vegetarian, I eat better, I am more active, I look better, and I feel good.

2008 Goal 2) Eliminate all credit card debt!
2009 Response 2) FAIL! I paid off my Citi Card as well as other all other forms of debt. I was temporarily unemployed at the end of 2008 and I began again only making minimum payments and eventually was unable to make payments at all. I now owe $2,120.93 on my Bank of America Card, but it is the only form of commercial debt I have and it will be paid off by the end of the year.

2008 Goal 3) Become more financially knowledgeable.
2009 Response 3) CHECK! I met with both a financial planner and have a tax preparer. I will blog about both experiences soon.

2008 Goal 4) Graduate with a 3.0+ GPA.
2009 Response 4) FAIL! To be continued...

2008 Goal 5) Become more frugal!
2009 Response 5) FAIL! I still spend WAYYYYYYY too much money eating lunch and dinner around the place that I work.

2008 Goal 6) Organize finances!
2009 Response 6) FAIL! See this post.

2008 Goal 7) Stop procrastinating!
2009 Response 7) Giant FAIL!

2008 Goal 8) Get an entry level job and volley for first promotion!
2009 Response 8) Not applicable.

2009 Goal 9) Repair, Establish & Maintain GOOD credit.
2009 Response) CHECK!/FAIL! After I lost my job my credit scored dropped further as I made two late payments on my Bank of America Card. The card was and remains closed and I am working towards paying off the balance. However, I did get another credit card through HSBC (Orchard Bank) and have made on time payments on all of my debts since I became gainfully employed again.

2008 Goal 10) Find a church and rededicated myself to living a better life.
2009 Response 10) FAIL!

Now, on to my financial goals for 2009...

1) Build/Repair Credit
2) Establish an emergency fund.
3) Eliminate Credit Card debt.

Personal goals...
1) Find a church
2) Continue to focus on one thing at a time: career/education.

I will of course talk about my 2009 goals in greater detail in future post but for right now...

In thought,
BEN

Taking a break...

2008-12-16T16:49:00.000-08:00

Recently my life has been turned upside down by returning to school, figuring out what I am going to do after graduation among other things. I will resume blogging regularly starting this Friday. My blog will take a slight change in focus as I plan for a drastic change in my life...so stay tuned.

Broken eggs...

2008-07-07T02:10:00.000-07:00

Budgeting sucks. I planned for $125.00 in my budget that has not come through and will not be coming through for any foreseeable time period. This, in addition to me quiting my second job, has put me into a bind. Money for July is going to be very very very tight.

Lesson Learned: Only count on money you have in your hand...or in the bank.

Er'body and their mother's cousin's dog toto wants my money.

2008-07-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

This is definitely how I am feeling right now.

The day began well enough...I got up, fairly late in the morning, completed my m.y.s.t.e.r.y shops for the day (this was a very good day and I completed about seven shops, in tow hours, for approximately $125.00) and arrived to work shortly thereafter. I could not have been at work more than five minutes when my cell phone starts ringing. I hear, "Please hold for an important call from AES." I proceed to hold and am finally connected to a gentleman who reminds me that my loans are entering their repayment period. He then ask if I am going to be able to make the payment for this month. I told him that I made a payment last month (it was only interest) and I was aware that the loans were leaving the grace period and I was prepared to make the payment. He wanted to continue talking to me about a reduction in my interest rates (read: .25%) if I decided to enroll in ach. I told him no thank you and hung up the phone (now that I am getting my ish together, I like to be in control of my money). I then proceeded to log in online to my AES account, as I did not believe that they came out of grace until August and didn't know what my payment amount would be. After logging I was shocked to find out that my payment was for $375.00 and was due on the 22nd of July. As in NINETEEN days from now, and the day after I have to pay the federal gub'ment $132.00 for my federal student loans.

I immediately broke out into a cold sweat and began trying to crunch the numbers in my head to see if this was going to be possible. While crunching the numbers I decided to log into my e-mail account and was greeted with a message from the house where I lived this past spring. Apparently, there was a mistake in the bursar billing and the charges were reversed. They wanted to know my current mailing address so they could send me a bill; the bill will be to the tune of $6000.00! I also had notice from my soon to be Alma matter letting me know that my grace period for them had also ended and that I owed them $60.00 ever month beginning on August 1st.

At this point, my head was spinning, I felt faint and I had to sit down.

This lasted for all about five minutes before the wheels began to turn, I got out my calculator and my calendar and started crunching the numbers again.

Since I want to aggressively pay off the student loans anyway, I will (Lord willing) continue to make the payments on all of the student loans, in full, for July and August. In September, when I am registered as a full time student again, I will defer all of my loans, still continuing to pay the $60 I owe my University in full, the $131.00 I owe the gub'ment in full and as much as possible on the AES balance. (There is something that my change this plan of repayment, as my gub'ment loans may be paid off very shortly, however, I will discuss this possibility in a later post.) The AES balance will continue to be paid after the Rank of America balance as paying off my dwindling credit card debt remains my top priority.

2008 New Year's Resolutions

2008-07-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

2008 New Year’s Goals

1) Lose 70lbs. and become more physically fit.
a) Exercise five times a week

2) Eliminate all credit card debt!
a) Pay off Rank of America Card
b) Pay off Shi*ti Card
c) After Shi*ti Card is paid off, use monthly payment towards Rank of America Card

3) Become more financially knowledgeable.
a) Take a seminar on tax preparation.
b) Meet with a financial planner.

4) Graduate with a 3.0+ GPA.
a) Complete work and arrange for any/all grade changes
b) BUST YO ASS!
c) Meet with Dean _____ and figure out what exactly is needed to graduate

5) Become more frugal!

6) Organize finances!
a) Open a High Yield Savings Account.
b) Deposit $50.00 a month until the end of undergrad and $100.00 every month thereafter.
c) Create a spreadsheet to track finances.

7) Stop procrastinating!

8) Get an entry level job and volley for first promotion!

9) Repair, Establish & Maintain GOOD credit.
a) Follow up with collections agency.
b) Get a credit card and begin a good relationship paying of balance in full at the end of the month.

10) Find a church and rededicated myself to living a better life.

____________________________________________________________________

In my next post I will reevaluate my New Year's Resolutions and the progress/changes that have been made toward each goal.

"Well, I prefer to work for white men."

2008-07-03T00:46:00.001-07:00

Recently, while having a conversation with a friend she mentions that she preferred to work for white me. She expressed that she felt that they worked the hardest and were the easiest to get a long with. At first I didn't really say anything except, "Umm...okay." After I changed the conversation to something else she eventually came back to this topic and continued to press the issue. When I finally gave in, I explained why I felt that the development of stereotypes, like the statement she had made, had the potential to be incredibly disadvantageous to women and minorities. That her statement reflected her feelings not just towards white men, but particular groups of white men and how the fragmentation helped to reinforce particular types of work cultures. Her eyes glazed over after the last bit and I again changed the conversation to Eyrka Badu's new album.

In retrospect, I guess what bothered me most about this conversation is that it was coming from a very hard working black woman. My friend bust her ass every day to earn the respect of both her co-works and colleagues and I guess I find it very hard to understand how someone who works so hard to combat stereotypes is so increasingly complicit in their re entrenchment.

In thought,
BEN

"It's okay, you're done." WTF?

2008-07-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

So today, after my first job, I rode my bicycle back to my summer sublet, got in my car and drove to my second job. If you remember from this post, I had recently put in my two weeks notice. During weekdays, my second job starts at five and my first job ends at five; this is something my second employer has been aware of since I was hired. So today when I arrived to work, at around 5:30pm I was walked directly to the time clock and tried to log in. The machine read: employee ID not found. I tried again twice on two different screens. My boss then walks out of his office and the conversation something like this:

Boss Man: Oh. I didn't know whether your were coming in so I got ________ to cover your shift.
BEN: *looking slightly confused* "Oh, okay. I tried logging in and it said my employee ID didn't work."
Boss Man: *looks slightly confused* Oh, well that's strange. Actually...you're good.
BEN: Um, like permanently?
Boss Man: Yeah. You're good.
BEN: Okay. *walks out*

The first thing that I thought about as the door knob hit my narrow ass on the way out was, "Damn, I am gonna miss those last two paychecks." I then became slightly elated because I had began to dread going to work each day. However, somewhere in the twenty minutes it took me to get home I became irrationally angry. Even as I type this I am still confused about where this anger came from. Perhaps it was because I didn't like the fact that my dependability had somehow been put into question. I ALWAYS showed up. And I worked hard, damn it. *shrugs* All I know at this point is that the money that I will make from m.y.s.t.e.r.y s.h.o.p.p.i.n.g this week, which was supposed to be a bonus payment on my Rank of America Card, will now go to my checking account to help cover the cost of my attendance at my Sorority's National Convention.

8:54 PM Update: The money will come from somewhere. Now and between my Sorority's National Convention in three weeks I will make $300.00 in addition to the paycheck from my first job. I don't know where it's going to come from, but I am going to get it. *starts singing the hook to Fidy's I Get Money*

In thought and hustle,
BEN

My Side Hustles...

2008-06-30T23:58:00.000-07:00

I think that everyone that I know that has paid down debt quickly has done so with a side hustle; my side hustle is m.y.s.t.e.r.y s.h.o.p.p.i.n.g. M.y.s.t.e.r.y s.h.o.p.p.i.n.g has allowed me to, every now an then, make significant payments towards my credit card bills, as well as the minimum payments on my student loans, which will be deferred when I return to full time status in the fall.

For anyone who has thought about or is thinking about m.y.s.t.e.r.y s.h.o.p.p.i.n.g, or developing any other side hustle, I will tell you this about my experience:

1) Set up cost should almost be zero. Unless your side hustle is your own business, in which it would make sense to invest, you should not be investing large sums of money in your side hustle. I paid zero out of pocket dollars to begin m.y.s.t.e.r.y s.h.o.p.p.i.n.g and any company that makes your pay to work for them is a SCAM.

2) Figure out what your time is worth. For example, it makes no sense for me to do a shop which would require that I use time that I could otherwise be working at one of my other jobs; the other jobs pay better. Another example, it would make zero sense for me to complete a shop that would require that I drive more than ten miles from my home; the cost of gas prices would offset an profit that I hope to make.

3) You should probably not be turning to your side hustle in desperation; it should be an alternative way to make money. Turing to a side hustle in desperation could very well be a set up to make very poor choices about what you are willing to do and because unless your side hustle is illegal (which I am not knockin'), the turnaround time on payments is usually the same time that it takes for any other job. That is unless your side hustle is on a cash only basis, to which I say, hooray for you.

There are some great articles on the Internet about side hustles including these from Essence magazine.

So what's your side hustle?

What I Won't Do...

2008-06-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, while at my second job, I came to the realization that I think everyone comes to at some point in the life or career: I placed a dollar value on my free time. And I am happy to say that it is NOT $9.00 an hour.

Not too long ago, I blogged about how serious I have become in my decision to pay down all of my revolving credit card debt before I graduate in the fall. To put more money towards my credit card debt I decided that it was imperative that I get a second job. However, despite what I was told when I was hired, which was that some weekends would be required, I have been scheduled for EVERY Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday since I began working. Most nights I go home well after the chefs and the rest of the waitstaff leave...as in hours later. The job is also not just the dishwasher...it is also being the janitor and prep cook when necessary in addition to our actual job. If all of this wasn't irritating enough, my fellow dishwashers don't pull their weight; in fact, one of them is good friends with the chef and is only scheduled for Sunday evenings and weeknights. The other day he had the audacity to say that he should be able to go home early, READ: while most of the work was still left to be done, because he came in earlier. I looked at him like, "Fool, I have worked ever day this weekend and you think YOU should go home early because you sat around tasting food for a couple of hours before I got here?" Okay, I didn't really say that but it's what I wish I had said. Instead I said something like, "I don't think that it's fair that I get left with most of the work just because you came in earlier...you did get paid for that time." He looked sheepish and stayed till the end.

All of this is to say that this past Saturday night when the chef told me that the schedule would stay the same and that I would have to again work every day next weekend, including the forth of July, not getting time and a half for working a "national holiday," I put in my two weeks notice. When I left that evening the General Manager wanted to talk to me but I pretty much told him my mind was made up. I am a VERY hard worker and I know that I can get a job somewhere else where nepotism doesn't play such a large role in the way in which chores get doled out and how staff are scheduled. And if it does, I might be willing to put up with it...but not for $9.00 an hour.

This job has made me increasingly grateful for my main employer who not only pays me well but has paid holidays. His philosophy is, "I've always thought it was easier to pay well for good help, than to pay poorly for poor help."

My decision to leave will not impact my payoff goals that much as I am scheduled to complete my two weeks notice right before my Sorority's National Convention and when I return, I will return to thirty hours a week at my first job.

Posting & Cleanup

2008-06-23T00:15:00.000-07:00

I have been really bad about posting daily or even weekly and the last two post were thrown together as they were what I was thinking/experiencing at the moment that I wrote them. That being said, over the next week, I will begin to clean up my blog, seriously editing previous post and doing a better job of organizing them. After this clean-up, which I have given myself till Wednesday to perform, I will begin posting every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. *waves to anyone that might care*

Till the next time...

BEN

Job Numba 2

2008-06-20T03:21:00.000-07:00

I am very serious about my debt pay down and since I am not taking classes over the summer, I have decided that I need a second job. I now wash dishes on the weekends at a local restaurant for $9.00 an hour. Hey, ya gotta start somewhere. Even though it only nets me an average $127.00 more each week, there is a residual bonus...being busy on weekends means you have less time to spend money. Although, since I seem to have become consumed with this fever to get out of debt, I haven't really been in a money spending mood and have become very stingy with my money.

Of that $127.00, $100 goes to Rank of America and $27.00 goes to my savings account. Although, since I have decided that I would really like to tithe, I may be changing the way that I manage this check as well.

Today I began saving...

2008-06-20T03:13:00.000-07:00

It doesn't have much in it. A little over $60.00...but I can not even begin to describe the immeasurable sense of relief that I felt the moment that I opened it. I walked in with a graduation check, the rest of which are gone, and opened an account across the street from where I work. I have always known that I should have a savings account but never really did anything about it because there was always debt to pay. Most economist would say, if you are earning 1% in savings account and paying an interest rate of 29.24% on a credit card then you should be funneling ALL of you money into paying down your credit card debt. And they would be right. However I have chosen not to for one very important reason:

Emergency Fund. I prescribe to the Dave Ramsey method of dealing with debt, which suggest that I should have a thousand dollar emergency fund so that I am breaking the cycle of debt and not going back into debt if and when an emergency should occur. This article explains it a lot better than I could.

There is also general relief at this idea that should something happen, that there is a little money set aside.

Why I Hate Shi*ti Card! Part 3

2008-06-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

06/03/08--This morning I decided, just for the heck of it, to check my Shi*ti Card account; just to make sure that the balance was still zero dollars as my bill would be due next week. Just as I suspected, my account had been assessed a $3.41 finance charge. When I tried to pay for it online it kept saying that my session had timed out. Finally, incredibly frustrated, I called Shi*ti Card. I was told the problem was that I was trying to pay a finance charge. *blank stare* I was then asked if I wanted to make the payment over the phone. I replied, "NOT if I am going to be charged a $15.00 pay by phone fee." She replied, "No, I will waive the $15.00 fee as a one time courtesy." WTF? I can't pay my bill online via YOUR site because it is ONLY a $3.41 finance charge that YOU charged me and you are doing ME a courtesy? Whateva...neway, she said there should be no additional charges, however, I will continue to check my account regularly.

06/04/08--The CitiCard website has my available credit line at $500.00. Which is incredibly interesting since the account is supposed to be closed. After getting the run around from one of the CSR's, who was otherwise polite, I discovered that the account is still "OPEN." While I hate Shi*ti Card and have no desire to continue on this relationship I am contemplating keeping the account "OPEN" to maintain the length of my credit history.

Why I Hate Shi*ti Card! Part 2

2008-06-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

Edited 05/17/08--I logged back in this morning and made a payment for the remaining $79.11. Now I just need to wait until I get my next statement from them to make sure the balance is $0.00.

Edited 05/20/08--I logged into my Rank of America checking account this morning and saw that the $79.11 had been withdrawn from my checking account. I then logged into my Shi*ti card account and saw that magical $0.00 had appeared. Now, all I have to do is wait for my statement to check for miscellaneous finance charges and I can close the book on this relationship.

Edited 05/21/08--So, as I have recently began to embark on credit repair, I thought it would be a good idea to call all of my creditors (all of them that appear on my credit report) and make sure they have my most recently updated dress. Everything is going fine, I can fix the address for most of them online in two or three minutes. Then I get to the Shi*ti Card website. Unfortunately, they are unable to process my request at this time. I called ALL of the customer service number on their website. On all of them I am immediately greeted with a domineering automated system that keeps repeating, "Please enter your sixteen digit account number now. I'm sorry, that response was not understood." She kept repeating this OVER and OVER again no matter how many times I pressed zero and asked to speak to a representative. Frustrated, I began to give up until a light bulb went off in my head. *PING* Whenever you are more than 30 days late in making a payment this particular credit card company will call you EVERY day, MULTIPLE times a day. Anyone who has this card knows EXACTLY what I am talking about. I went through my phone;s avoided...er...missed calls and found their number. I dialed it. Well wouldn't you know, within two rings I was connected to a real live person. While it did take me an additional ten minutes to explain, to the no doubt underpaid international CSR, that I was saying "four" and not "zero," I was eventually able to change my address. However, when I inquired as to when I would be getting my statement with a "Paid In Full" indicating that the account was closed, he refused to say anything other than, "Yes, we show you have zero balance."

Laying it all out: A Complete List of My Debt

2008-05-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

I did this the other day on a piece of paper and I felt a lot better after seeing it all out there. It was like I didn't have to carry it around with me anymore because it was now on a piece of paper. I would suggest that anyone who feels like they are carrying around the burden of debt but who has never written it all down in one place should do this; you can not even begin to understand the bit of relief and control that comes with doing it.

Creditor
Beginning Balance
Limit
Interest %
Pay Off Date

Revolving Credit Card Debt

Shi*ti Card
$199.01
$500.00
24.29%
05/20/08

Rank of America
$2,697.97
$3,500.00
29.99%

Student Loans

Federal Subsidized

$4,519.00

N/A

6.620%

Federal Unsubsidized

$6,356.00

N/A

6.800%

Alpln Private

$9,124.52

N/A

7.950%

Alpln Private

$3,024.86

N/A

9.200%

Alpln Private

$13,024.11

N/A

9.200%

My Rich Uncle Undergraduate

$15,602.67

N/A

6.125%

Totals:

Revolving Credit Card Subtotal: $2,697.97

Student Loan Subtotal: $51,651.16

I am $54,349.13 in debt. All is not lost. I have a plan. I have a way out. I'm going to get there. I am going to be debt free.

The Rank of America Payoff Plan

2008-05-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has a Rank of America Card should make sure that they pay very close attention to any mail they receive from them and read this article. While I certainly don't fit into that demographic of Rank of America card holders that that the article mentions, I think what they are doing to customers is dead wrong and I hope that their relationships and bottom line suffer.

Having paid off my Shi*ti Card I decided that it was now time that I focus on my only other piece of revolving credit card debt...my Rank of America Platinum VISA Card.

Balance: $2,697.97
Limit: $3,500.00
Interest Rate: 29.99% (Default; happened under the "Universal Default Clause" after I missed making a payment on my Shi*ti card.)
Minimum Payment: $81.00

As you can see, this card is killing my FICO scores as my utilization is horrible and the interest rate is killing me and my bank account.

The Plan: Starting this Friday, I will pay $400.00 towards my Rank of America Credit Card balance and continue to do this until it is paid off. I have two jobs for the summer and as I have previously mentioned, I get paid weekly. Thus, finances permitting, I will make a minimum payment of $400.00 every month until the card is paid off.

I will continue to update this page with my progress towards paying the card off.

Balance Updates
05/29/08--$2,447.79
06/02/08--$2,347.79
06/17/08--$2, 405.44 (Previous Balance & $57.65 Finance Charge)
06/04/09--$2,120.98
BEN

Judgement Day...MyFico.com Scores

2008-05-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

A part of having a "wealthy" financial life is having "healthy" credit scores. With this in mind, I spent about $43.00 to enroll in the MyFico.com score reports. So here they are...in all their ugliness:

TransUnion: 556
Equifax: 598
Experian: 539

You probably made the same sound that I made when I first saw those numbers...OUCH! After looking over the accounts and what was reporting I realized that the Equifax score was so much higher because the collection account, the only one I have, that is reporting on the others is not reporting on this report. I will post more about my efforts at credit repair.

News Brief: If you have not checked out creditboards.com you do not know what you are missing. That ish will change yo' life!

Well, we all gotta start someplace. I guess this is my place.

I will continue to update my scores and blog about what I am doing to improve them. As always...

BEN

Why I Hate Shi*ti Card!

2008-05-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I started a new job this past week; I actually get paid two dollars more than I expected and the extra money in my first paycheck was a welcome surprise. I looked at the list of debt I created, prioritized by rate of interest and necessity. According to my calculations the first card that needs to be payed off is my Shi*ti Card (see debt list). The balance on this account is $199.01. It was 89 days past due and previous to the three $35.00 late fees, and finance charges, the account balance was around $85.00; the default interest rate is 29.240%...YIKES!

After logging into my online bill pay on the Shi*ti Card website I was greeted with a message letting me know that my account was past due and that I needed to select one of the convenient pay options. I selected "Pay" and was taken to a screen where my options were: "Pay Balance," "Pay Minimum Due" or "Pay Another Amount." I selected "Pay Balance." I was then asked to enter all of my banking information, AGAIN, despite the fact that I have had online payments since I opened the card three years ago. After selecting next I was asked a barrage of questions including: "Why is this balance past due?" To which I could answer: death/family problem, unemployment, etc. "When can you begin making regular payments?" I selected today's date and was told that this information was an "error." Really Shi*ti Card? You don't want yo money today...'cause I could hold onto it for a minute. LOL. After answering, what I deemed to be, four more unnecessarily intrusive questions and selecting "Next" I got to a screen that read: ERROR. You can not "Pay Balance" until your banking information is verified. You may select "Pay Minimum Due." After letting out a sigh of frustration I returned to my account summary to begin the process again, this time selecting "Pay Minimum Due." The minimum due on the account was $119.90. I paid the minimum on the account then logged back in to make an additional payment. I subtracted $119.90 from the original $199.01 total and selected "Pay Another Amount" for the remaining balance of $79.11. I was greeted with yet another ERROR message that read: Your account is past due. You are unable to make more than one payment from the same account on the same day. WTF? It was at this time, while at work, that I let out an audible scream. I seriously thought about calling a customer representative to schedule a payment by phone but remembered that there would be an additional fee of $15.00 for this service which would not show up until the next bill...with a finance charge. So instead I will wait till one minute past midnight and make what "should" be my last payment since my due date is not until the May 20th.

Previous to this bill being past due, I previously paid my bill on time and could be described as a lenders favorite type of customer; I would charge, pay a little more than the minimum each month and maintain a small revolving balance. Despite this, I have ALWAYS received poor customer service from Shi*ti Card and I will be ecstatic when I receive a bill from them saying "Account Closed" and those magical words..."Balance Paid In Full."

Who is the brown eyed nerd (BEN)?

2008-05-02T22:12:00.000-07:00

Hello Blogosphere!

Who is the brown eyed nerd (BEN)?

I am a twenty-two year old college senior getting ready to graduate in the fall and frantically trying to prepare for life after college…often unaffectionately described as the “real” world . This blog is dedicated to my quest to build a "wealthy" life; I have come to define wealth not simply by the quantity of one’s material possessions but by the quality of one’s life. In this case, I am that “one.”

Why overeducated and underprepared?

Throughout my life I have been incredibly privileged; thanks to hard work and sacrifices made by my parents. This has included a great secondary education and the opportunity to attend a University where I have been continually challenged by my peers and professors both inside and outside of the classroom. Despite what would appear to be an excellent education, I have come to find that I am horribly underprepared to enter the “real” world. I have a ton of questions about balancing a career, a life, a checkbook...a cookbook...and I plan to blog about every minute of it. If someone else is helped out by my wayward ramblings or experience...BONUS!

DISCLAIMER: I will never be rude or inconsiderate of anyone who decides to read and post on my blog. HOWEVER, I expect the same from you.

Legal garbage: I am in the process of attaining a bachelor’s of arts from one of the best Universities in the country. Any ramblings that one could read about on my blog should not be misconstrued as expertise, advice, or even competence about the subject on which I am writing. I am simply writing about my experiences and if you are in need of expert advice that I would suggest consulting and expert.