Start school, behave, get good grades. Hopefully you can get into a good college. Go ahead and start thinking about what you want to be when you grow up, so that you can decide by the ripe old age of 17 or 18. It’s just the thing you are going to do for the rest of your LIFE. No pressure, take your time choosing but don’t take too long… you need to graduate in 4 years, especially if you plan on going to graduate school.
Get student loans. They are a great help with books, living costs, and tuition. Don’t worry about them, they a super low interest and once you are in the real world making the big bucks, you will have them paid off in no time!
Oh what’s this.. a credit card offer…sure! You need to build some credit. Oh cool I only have to pay $25 month! SWEET! Crap, this card is charging me more in interest than my minimum payment. This could get out hand…
Great! You are graduating this spring, YAY! Only took 5 years… Whoa, you need to get a real job. These student loans and credit card balances are crazy. Get an entry level position start building some experience, work your way up. You know, it’s time you drive something nice to celebrate all this success!
Shouldn’t you be getting married soon? Did you get a promotion yet?
Time to buy your first home… it’s an investment. Congratulations! Such a huge step! Well it’s a huge bill each month. Get a better paying job, upgrade the car. Take some vacations. You need to think about starting a family soon. This neighborhood isn’t zoned for the best schools though, something to think about when the kids come along. Better schools are closer to nicer neighborhoods. Time to upgrade to a bigger house. What will that mortgage look like…
Fast Forward a few years:
You know we should really look into finally paying these student loans off. Yeah but the interest is lower than all our other loans… true, all the credit cards should be paid first then the car notes. Well that will be a while… How’d we get to be 30 so fast, we haven’t had any kids yet, we still have student loans, and don’t feel any happier than when we first got out of college making the least amount of our career… what is going on here? When will we be making the big bucks, have more freedom, and actually relax? Oh no, not until we are 65… if we are lucky… and of course not dead by then.
This doesn’t sound like a dream at all. More like a nightmare…
Living Unstuffed 