How does an avid tea-drinker keep his teeth so white?!! What’s your secret??

You’re fortunate and hopefully humbled by the honor of writing for some of the best blog readers in the blogosphere. As a financial planner, free-lance writer and long-time reader of this blog, I’ll admit that I’d love to have that gig.

My one comment on your post: If you define retirement in non-financial terms, you’re already retired. Don’t wait for 2052. The biggest problem for all humans is that we are stuck in future time. True wealth resides in the present moment. You’ve transformed your hobbies into streams of income; you’ve aligned “who you are” with “what you do.” Your life is already rich. Think (and perhaps write) about that…

“Get Rich Slowly” is not just a blog about getting financially rich, step by step, over a long period of time. After reading more comments from readers, you will learn that one of the most popular books among GRS readers is “Your Money or Your Life.” This book (and GRS) at its core is more about philosophy than finance.

Don’t worry about the “acronyms” or that “money is only for the rich.” Worry that you might miss life while searching for financial success.

“What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.” ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I wish you the best…

Kent @ The Financial Philosopher

I stand by my 1st reaction though.

It sounds like SLC gave you critical thinking skills that many people, old and young, lack today. To all the frugal snobs criticizing him, JD always says you should put your money toward what you’re passionate about. He spends his money on crossfit, Tim spent his money, and his dad’s money, and lots of scholarship money, and loan money, on an education that he clearly values.

Competitions of who’s the poorest are just as obnoxious and entitled as who’s the richest.

Ultimately, personal finance is about the choices we make and how smartly we can make them. Good on Tim for working his butt off for scholarships and paying off student loans.

Person A worked through high school, held down four jobs in college, applied for dozens of scholarships (and had some help from the parents), and applied to several schools and consciously chose the school with the curriculum that appealed most, though the school was expensive. The loans were paid off within a few years of graduating.

Person B had the occasional job in HS and worked less than 15 hours/wk in college, but didn’t save money or use it toward school; received one scholarship based on PSAT test scores (no application req.); and went to a school where acceptance was guaranteed because the top 10% by GPA were automatically admitted. Parents paid 100% and took out a home equity loan to do so, which took years to pay back.

Who’s the spoiled brat? Person A (Tim) who evaluated schools and worked hard because he valued his education, or Person B (me)?

At the time, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. One uncle went to college in my family. I didn’t understand home equity loans or what that might mean for my parents’ retirement, and neither did they. I didn’t look at expensive schools because I thought they were for rich people (not that I didn’t love UT Austin, but I should have looked at other options). The HS counselor never talked to us about visiting schools or the millions of dollars out there for college students — I didn’t even know to look for it.

So the fact that Tim did all of this is pretty impressive to me, and I’d no more judge him for attending an amazing private university than I would someone who went to community college, or didn’t go to college at all.

I’d also like to add that in his first draft, which I edited, Tim didn’t include where he went to school or that he lived in France. I asked for those details because I thought they were interesting.

I’m putting in Tim’s posts until he’s in the system with his own fancy header.

-A

I studied what I was interested in (diaspora studies, psychology, literature) and was accepted to 3 well respected Medical schools (although I didn’t go). I instead followed my passion and have worked in education since graduation. I’m now a financial adviser at a college.

I should add that there were grades on record if you needed them (for people like me who planned on further education after undergrad) but they weren’t forced on you. It was much more helpful to get in-depth written evaluations on your work than a big old A and no comments on a paper.

So now somebody has to attend an approved (read: inexpensive) college before they’re allowed to be a GRS writer?

Besides, if it’s such an incredibly expensive school and he managed to pay off that kind of money in loans in a relatively few years, he definitely has good information to impart.

I couldnt agree with you more. I think that’s one of the reasons I chose Sarah Lawrence. At SLC, we wrote extensively. Throughout the semester, we had many smaller papers which were quickly over shadowed by the daunting “conference paper” which was on a subject of our choosing that loosely related to the class. I was writing 80 page papers by my sophomore year which I’d never have dreamt of in High School.

As far as failing, we met individual with our teacher every other week as well as having only 10 students in each class, it made it hard to fall behind. It wasn’t hand holding, it was simply constant intellectual expatiation.

At the end of the semester, we got written evaluations from each teacher detailing strengths and weaknesses in the work we produced.

Dan, I agree. The higher education system in this country is far from okay. Most Sarah Lawrence grads would be right behind you.

We are all given different starts and opportunities in life, and it’s up to us how/if we decide to use them. I don’t believe that those advantages or disadvantages make any particular person more or less directly qualified to offer advise or insight. Whether or not “mommy and daddy” paid for college, it seems to me that he can offer an alternate perspective on topics in the realms of personal finance and life in general. Whether it’s universally relevant is yet to be determined.

And I must add that I have the utmost respect for folks who have started with “nothing” and worked very hard in order to achieve goals, such as a college education. Many of us have an advantage just by being born into nations that have more advantages universally than others. However, I don’t think it’s fair to discount those who “had it easier” and write them off as irrelevant or belittle their accomplishments. You’d be hard pressed to really find someone who is truly “self-made” even if the only advantage is the country in which you were born. And no one is better than or less than another just by how they start out – there is little choice in that matter. That is determined by what they do with it, IMO.

El Nerdo, I do feel your response could have been more respectful and less aggressive.

It just makes me think of all the recent news articles out about study of more than 2,300 undergraduates found 45 percent of students show no significant improvement in the key measures of critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing by the end of their sophomore years.

I’d love to hear more about working your way through Europe.

Tim seems like a bright young man who balances risks with supporting himself by doing what he loves and working hard at it.

I’m looking forward to knowing more.