School Daze

In this day and age, we all know how important it is for our youth to get an education. Starting as early as Kindergarten, we are encouraging kids to stay in school  so you can go to college and get a degree and get a good job.

We need to stop telling our children this.

Screeeeeeech!!! Pump the breaks! What did she just say?

Yes, you read that correctly. We need to stop telling kids that they need to go to college. Yes, I firmly believe that education is a key to success. However, there are many different ways they can accomplish their goals without going to college.

Most educators know, and as parents we must realize, that every child is not cut out for college. By stressing college to these children, we are already setting them up to fail or at best, struggle excessively unnecessarily.

We must and should encourage our children to go for their dreams, but we must realize that every dream may not include a stint at a university obtaining a Bachelor’s degree.

There is nothing wrong with a trade or vocational school. There are many areas that they can be trained in and still have a successful career. Look at a fraction of the different career paths available:

·        Health Care: Medical and Dental Support, Massage Therapy, Nutrition, Optometry

·        Creative: Architecture, Cosmetology, Design, Fashion, Graphic/Computer Design

·        Food: Culinary Arts, Restaurant Management

·        Other: Construction, Electronics, Mortician, Trucking

As you can see from this sampling of careers, they can be successful without going through a five year college plan.

Wait a second. Did she just say five years? I thought college took four.

Surprise! If you haven’t been keeping up, most Bachelor degree programs take a minimum of five years to complete. So keep that in mind when budgeting for those college expenses.

If your child isn’t sure if university life is for them, have them take some courses at the local community college . This can be a great way to get the basics under their belt and also determine if college life is for them.

So parents, encourage your kids to chase their dreams and help them find a path that will help get them there.

Click here to read a transcript for "Is College Right for Everyone?" (from the Diane Rehm Show via NPR)

[I found this link after I had typed this up, but if you google this topic, you will find many articles about this subject and how many experts feel that promotion of college for everyone is not the right road to travel]

Bills, Bills, Bills

"Can you pay my bills? Can you pay my telephone bills? Can you pay my automo-bills?

This was the chorus to a song by Destiny's Child in 1999. Twelve years later, I want to revamp it? The question I ask is, "Can you pay YOUR bills?"

Working in a bank for the past 15 years has opened my eyes to a lot of things and one of them, sadly, is that some people can't (or won't) pay their bills. One might say, "Well it's because they don't have a (good) job...besides times are bad." And I will have to interject and say, "That may be partially true, but for the majority of people, it's because of bad choices."

And what's really sad is that some of these choices were made when they were younger and now that they are older and need to do "grown up" things, their past has come back to haunt them. I have seen many times where folks have called in to get a car loan because they need the car so they can go to work, but they can't get the loan because of outstanding bills on their credit.

That cell phone bill for $200 that you decided to walk away from 2 years ago, has now been sent to a collection agency and is on your credit report. Remember that store credit card you got when you were 20 and you were late making the payments for the stuff that you didn't need in the first place. Well, it's still causing you trouble now that you are 26.

Not paying your bills causes you trouble on so many fronts. It keeps your from getting favorable rates and deals. It requires you to put down higher deposits for utilities and other services. It keeps you from obtaining credit when you really need it - buying a car or renting a house. And nowadays, it can keep you from getting a job!

What does your credit have to do with your ability to work a job you ask? Well, by looking at your credit history, it gives potential employers a story about your character. It tells about your dependability and accountability. Plus, if you can't handle your business, how are you going to handle their business?

So what to do?

If you have not found yourself in financial dire straights, great! Make sure you pay your bills by the due date every time. If you know ahead of time that you will not be able to pay something, call them beforehand and try to make arrangements. Most companies will work with you. Don't spend money you don't have. Take care of your needs first (shelter, food, necessary clothing, transportation to get to work) before you indulge in your wants (high fashion clothes and shoes, eating out, vacations, rims for your car, HDTVs, etc.). Live within your means.

Now if you have found yourself in the position where things aren't looking so good, don't fret. You can work on it. First, face it. It's yours. You did it, so own up to it. If you can't remember who and what you owe, go out to http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ and pull your credit report from all three credit agencies (it's free). See what is being reported for you. Collections and charge offs? Contact the company and see if you can work out a payment plan. Again, most companies will work with you (because they want their money). If you can only pay $25 a month for now, let them know that. At least you are attempting to make it right.

It will take time and sacrifice to get your credit back to life, but it will be worth it.

So pay your bills. It can save you so much heartache and disappointment in the future.

Are You Ready?

The Contemporary Gospel Duo, Mary Mary, has a track on their new CD that is titled “Are You Ready?”. The song talks about two people who have dreams to move out of their current lives into something bigger and better. The question that is presented asks, “But are you ready? Are you ready? You talk about it every day and you’ve got a lot to say. But are you ready? Are you ready? Gonna take a lot of preparation to reach your destination.”

This song really spoke to me when I listened to it one day. At the time, I was talking about how I wanted to get my credit card bills paid off in the next 3 to 5 years. I had a lot to say about it. I could tell you how by paying off debt quicker helps save you money in the long run. I was quoting financial gurus on how I could go about doing it. I would tell my husband all the time what we needed to do to make it happen. I had been talking this talk for the past 3 years, but yet, nothing was happening; progress was not being made.

“You talk about it every day and you’ve got a lot to say, but are you ready?”

That line stopped me in my tracks. I had to do a self assessment. I did talk about it a lot. I was always telling folks that I want to pay my bills down, so I can’t be going out to eat and doing all of this unnecessary shopping. I had to realize that I talked a good talk, but I really wasn’t doing anything to get me there.

I could look at times where I was on track, doing what I was supposed to be doing, but then there would be moments where I would slip up and go on a spending spree. Trying to justify it by saying that I deserved a treat, besides it was only $50. What is that compared to $2500 that I already owe?

Your goal may not be paying off bills. It might be trying to get out of the hood. It might be going to college and obtaining your degree. It might be getting a better job. Whatever your goal may be, at some point, you have to stop talking about it and start being about it.

In this day, we have too many young people who expect to get a lot of something for little to nothing. They want the good life and everything that comes with it, but they don’t want to work for it. Vidal Sassoon said it best: “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary”. 

“It’s gonna take a lot of preparation to reach your destination. So are you ready?”

For my situation, I had to think of things that I needed to do in order for me to get my bills paid off quicker. This included assessing my spending habits. Taking the credit cards out of my wallet and cutting them up. It meant eating at home more often and bringing my lunch to work. It meant using the funds from my extra job to help pay down debt and not use it as fun money. Changes – both major and minor – were involved.

That said, what are you doing to make your goal a reality? Are you networking and following leads? Or are you sitting on your couch watching another episode of reality TV?

Are you reading up on what other successful people have done to be successful in their field? Finding out the steps they took to get where they are today? Or are you reading all the latest gossip and fashion magazines?

Are you placing yourself in environments that are conducive to you reaching your goal? Or are you still hanging out in the same places with the same people doing the same things?

Don’t be fooled by the movies and TV shows you watch.  Instant fame and success only happen to a handful. For the majority of truly successful individuals, when you look at their lives, you are only seeing a snippet of what some of these “famous people” have done to be famous. You don’t see the struggle or the obstacles they had to overcome for years before they were able to make it big.

You may not want to be as big as Oprah, or Bill Gates, or Sean Combs. You may want to be like your supervisor or manager. Or maybe it’s the successful small business owner in your neighborhood. Whatever your goal may be, you have to work for it. Success will not just fall in your lap. Sacrifice and hard work get you where you want to go.

So what’s next? Well Mary Mary says it best:

“Gotta get your mind right”.

Once you decide that you want to pursue your goal, you have to get your mind in the right place. You have to make up in your mind that you will be willing to do whatever it takes to get what you want. This may mean that you have to give up time spent watching TV so that you can study. It may mean that you go without buying new shoes and clothes every month so that you can save to get your business off the ground. It may mean working long days and nights; going without sleep at times.

This also means that you have to get your mind right to face your opposition. Yes, you will have things and people come against you and if you are not set in your mind that you will succeed, you will be swayed and distracted by others’ opinions or the first door that closes in your face. When you have your mind right, you anticipate problems with Plan A and have a Plan B and sometimes Plan C already worked out.

The question has been asked. What are you willing to sacrifice to get what you want?

Are YOU ready?

Why I started this blog

Greetings!

This is a new adventure for me and I am excited. But how did this come about?

I started this blog on advice from my sister. We were talking about life dreams and I was telling her my dream to have my own consulting company that offers help to young people as they make their way through life. This business would offer advice on work related topics, along with financial literacy and other things that young people don't seem to be learning anymore.

She told me that I should go for it. I expressed that I was scared and didn't know where to start and she told me that I could be a contributor to her page by having a monthly post. Then she said, "Or you can start your own blog and link your page to mine". I liked that idea a lot and here I am.

I hope that you will find practical advice that you can use and share with others.

I will cover different topics that will span from personal improvement, to professional improvement, to spiritual improvement. I will also talk about Customer Service issues as I see them in this world. The information probably won't be anything that is new and edgy. It will be practical and useful.

I welcome any constructive critisism and input.

Thanks and welcome! I hope I can help you navigate through life.

Michele