ABOUT THE AUTHOR
So, who the hell am I? I'm a 21 year old pharmacy student residing in sunny Southern California. By the time it's all said and done (2018...so far away!), I will be at least 200k in debt. The funny part is, if you talked to me last year, I would have told you that education is the key to success. I would have said people without education were nothing but failures to me. That they were people who didn't care about their lives and were going to mooch off their rich parents' retirement funds. That's probably because my parents made it known how important education was. Not in a physical, forceful way, but they made it clear that any salary below 100k was simply not enough to be successful. So, I ended up choosing a profession that is respected in terms of education and salary - a pharmacist. Now, don't get me wrong, a pharmacist's job is very important in the community setting, and starting salaries range from 60-70 dollars an hour. So in terms of salary, it's a solid stand point. Count a couple Norcos, sell a couple toilet paper rolls...living the good life. Unfortunately, pharmacy schools have gone wild in terms of tuition prices, which is the case with any professional degree now a days.
But, I've realized recently that I simply can't sell my life for 40 years to some CEO who will never know me, and will only use me to grow his multi-billion dollar brand into more Ferrari's and court-side Los Angeles Lakers tickets for his kids. And that goes for any profession. Even if I was an engineer, I would feel the same way. Let's put it in perspective. The average male's life is about 75 years. Subtract 40 years of working, 7 years of college schooling, and that's 28 years to myself of free time where I can go surf, hike, fish, ski, or play basketball. I've already used 18 of them. So if I worked for 40 years, I would theoretically get 10 final years to enjoy. No thanks. Call me greedy, but many lives do I get?
The truth is, there's more to making money than just sitting around for 40 hours a week. Education is important, to an extent. Being smart doesn't necessarily mean being able to regurgitate what a professor said into my own words on an exam. And that is what I have learned through the past few months. There are stocks, dividends, earnings, businesses, real estate...the list goes on and on, where creativity is key. I would rather work 60 hours a week for my own business, than work 15 hours a week for a CEO who lies to me about the great benefits I will get from his or her company.
Ultimately, my plan isn't exactly to get out of debt as QUICKLY as possible. More of it is to retire at a young age, open a small business, and have enough passive income to start and raise a family. I plan on making the minimum payments in repaying my loans. The reason for that is in a projected year, if my annual stock gains are over 8-9%, that beats the interest that comes with paying off my loans, which are about 4%. As for now, my short term goals are to gain as many assets as possible. I need to grow my own mini-empire in order to achieve my long term goals. I hope to retire from being a pharmacist by 40. And even sooner if possible. Maybe I can open up a burger joint in a college town that would stay open until 3AM every night for those late night snacks. We'll see how it goes. I hope you stick with me through my journey to see if I can reach my goals in the future, or if I fall flat on my face.
But, I've realized recently that I simply can't sell my life for 40 years to some CEO who will never know me, and will only use me to grow his multi-billion dollar brand into more Ferrari's and court-side Los Angeles Lakers tickets for his kids. And that goes for any profession. Even if I was an engineer, I would feel the same way. Let's put it in perspective. The average male's life is about 75 years. Subtract 40 years of working, 7 years of college schooling, and that's 28 years to myself of free time where I can go surf, hike, fish, ski, or play basketball. I've already used 18 of them. So if I worked for 40 years, I would theoretically get 10 final years to enjoy. No thanks. Call me greedy, but many lives do I get?
The truth is, there's more to making money than just sitting around for 40 hours a week. Education is important, to an extent. Being smart doesn't necessarily mean being able to regurgitate what a professor said into my own words on an exam. And that is what I have learned through the past few months. There are stocks, dividends, earnings, businesses, real estate...the list goes on and on, where creativity is key. I would rather work 60 hours a week for my own business, than work 15 hours a week for a CEO who lies to me about the great benefits I will get from his or her company.
Ultimately, my plan isn't exactly to get out of debt as QUICKLY as possible. More of it is to retire at a young age, open a small business, and have enough passive income to start and raise a family. I plan on making the minimum payments in repaying my loans. The reason for that is in a projected year, if my annual stock gains are over 8-9%, that beats the interest that comes with paying off my loans, which are about 4%. As for now, my short term goals are to gain as many assets as possible. I need to grow my own mini-empire in order to achieve my long term goals. I hope to retire from being a pharmacist by 40. And even sooner if possible. Maybe I can open up a burger joint in a college town that would stay open until 3AM every night for those late night snacks. We'll see how it goes. I hope you stick with me through my journey to see if I can reach my goals in the future, or if I fall flat on my face.