Great Article

http://m.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/11/who-are-you-calling-a-vocational-school-in-defense-of-maine-maritime/281456/

Wow

Great article indeed.

Anyone wishing to contact the Dean of Pomona College can do so at
Miriam Feldblum
Vice President and Dean of Students and Professor of Politics
Alexander Hall 101, (909) 607-2448
Miriam.Feldblum@pomona.edu

Twitter
https://mobile.twitter.com/DeanFeldblum

Why would I want to contact this over educated dummy who thinks going into college debt for a BA degree, only to THEN need to pursue a graduate degree (and more college debt) before ever getting a job is a good thing?

Liberal Arts…what IS that anyway?

Full disclosure - I did click on her twitter link. She seems to be on the defensive. Too funny. Someone with the handle of “Uncle Paddy” let her have it good.

Just as an FYI - This is the original article that preceded the shit storm between the writer and the pompous Dean at Pomona College.

Another equally great article:

[QUOTE=Jetryder223;124417]Why would I want to contact this over educated dummy who thinks going into college debt for a BA degree, only to THEN need to pursue a graduate degree (and more college debt) before ever getting a job is a good thing?

Liberal Arts…what IS that anyway?

Full disclosure - I did click on her twitter link. She seems to be on the defensive. Too funny. Someone with the handle of “Uncle Paddy” let her have it good.[/QUOTE]

HA! I would like to claim responsibility for tear that Dean a new one but I wouldn’t be caught dead with a “Twitter” account. Sounds like there’s someone out there masquerading as the infamous Paddy West!

Your chitin me.

I would have sworn that was you.

Damn instigator you are.

[QUOTE=Jetryder223;124417]Liberal Arts…what IS that anyway?[/QUOTE]

Here is another good article along the same lines: http://sploid.gizmodo.com/journalism-is-the-worst-4-year-college-investment-be-a-512348579

[QUOTE=john;124501]Here is another good article along the same lines: http://sploid.gizmodo.com/journalism-is-the-worst-4-year-college-investment-be-a-512348579[/QUOTE]

I do my best to keep up with Gizmodo, though I have no idea what the “sploid” crap is though, so I’m surprised I missed the article. For academy grads, those numbers seem pretty low for the ROI. $1,450,000 divide by 29 years (pay back any student loans in the first year) = $50,000 a year. That is less than half of what a licensed officer can make even with MSC.

I’m working for MSC, and I’m not usually doing a lot of overtime or anything, but I’m making enough money, barely spending anything, and investing everything that I can, so I should be able to retire within 10 years and then be able to afford house payments, car payments, etc on just the interest of my investments.

Mixed into the academy grads I’m sure there’s those that bring down the averages. Military, non-license, those who don’t ship out etc, the stats for just license grads would be higher.

Retire within ten years? Where do you live, some third world country?

[QUOTE=z-drive;124588]Retire within ten years? Where do you live, some third world country?[/QUOTE]

I live in the U.S. - specifically Texas which has no state income tax.

Using the formula:
Retirement Income = SWR * (after tax income - living costs ) * ( ( (1 + ROR) ^ number of working years ) - 1 ) / ROR
Where:
SWR = Safe Witdraw Rate (ROR - inflation)
ROR = Rate of Return on investments

$52,000 = 0.04 * ($90,000) * ( ( (1 + 0.08) ^ 10 ) - 1 ) / 0.08

That’s only compounded annually. So far with the companies I’m investing in, this year (my first year investing), my ROR is several times higher than the historical 8%.


My philosophy about money and material things are a little different than most people’s. I have no desire to take on debt, nor do I have any desire to have the latest or shiniest car or gadget. I still spend money on experiences (not things) including traveling, and gifts for others. I’m not pinching every penny to the point that I’m miserable, I’m just conscientious about my spending habits and realize things do add up. To me, it’s a little sad that too many people are living paycheck to paycheck because they’re spending money on frivolous stuff. I realize that the U.S.'s economy is growing and runs the way it does because of this, but it would be nice to see less people sacrificing financial stability for stuff they’re not going to make full use of, or discard in a month or year.

When looking to the future, I don’t stop at my next paycheck, I make an outline for the next several decades. Of course it will never go according to plan, but at least I have an idea and can prepare myself financially for whatever does happen down the road.