I am a 24 year old male law graduate, and I am currently chambering (i.e. doing legal training) in a law firm. At the same time, I am just beginning (the equivalent of) a recognized Masters degree in Islamic banking and finance, which would end in about 1.5 years, or 2+ years the industry training. By the time I end my postgraduate studies, I would be 25 or so.
I have no idea where life will take me, but I hope to be able to work overseas or in an international bank -- though I am sure that my postgraduate degree, being fully accredited and backed by my country's central bank, will be very helpful. To whatever extent that I can, I would prefer not to practice law, as my father is a lawyer, and I grew up fully appreciating the difficulties of being a practicing lawyer. (i.e. Being a lawyer is my backup plan; if all other plans do not work, I will still be professionally qualified to practice as a lawyer, and I did fairly well so to become a lawyer would not be a problem.)
Regarding my finances: I have no personal liabilities, other than an old loan for a engineering degree which if converted to US dollars amounts to approximately $30,000. (The engineering degree didn't happen, as though I did very well in school and in the sciences, I became disenchanted with engineering when I entered university, and switched to law after my first year mostly because of the flexibility of a law degree). I am blessed as my father could afford to pay for me through university. However, regarding the study loan, I have seeded an investment account with some small capital, and its monthly dividend is enough to automatically pay off the loan's monthly installment until all of it is paid, so the loan is not too worrisome a matter.
I do not have a car, or a house, nor do I plan to get either for now. (The car, maybe in one or two years, but the house, definitely much later.) I have only one bank account, in which there is currently nothing. My siblings and I are currently living with our parents (in my culture, it's considered rude to depart from home, for both males and females, unless you marry or must work in some faraway place) so at least I do not have to worry about rent, bills, car fuel, etc. I also have no plans to marry or have children anytime soon, because I'm prioritizing my career and financial stability first.
As for income: I am currently receiving an allowance from the law firm, which though not a very handsome sum, is more than enough for me, as I do not spend much. (More on my spending habits below.)
My spending habits: I am not so frugal, but I'm not a spendthrift either. I splurge only on the occasional coffee and big meals with friends, but other than that I don't spend much money elsewhere. When I was younger, I used to love gadgets -- e.g. PDAs, phones, iPods, game consoles, etc -- but having grown up a bit I realized that these things usually bring me no joy after the first few months fade away, so these days I make calculated spending decisions and buy only those things that I know I will last and enjoy repeated use from. (E.g. guitars, non-branded clothes, etc. MetaFilter's financial advice really helped me out -- I learned how to save by thinking of a purchases as a matter of cost versus hourly income, and the "$1 per use" value of an item, etc.)
About me: I enjoy the occasional movie, but I don't watch TV. (I haven't sat on the TV sofa for several years.) But I love books, and I read a lot of non-fiction. In my spare time, I also study languages, partly out of passion, and partly because I'd like to use it for work. (I can read Japanese well, and I already qualify for JLPT1, but I will take the test sometime later as I don't have the time. Who knows, maybe with it I can get finance work in Japan?) I've done programming work before, and though I'm no John Carmack, I'm quite alright. I am satisfied with all I personally have at this point (my guitars, my effects pedal, my computer) and there is really nothing else I want.
I am not hungry for money. So when I actually start working, I wouldn't mind starting off with a medium-sized pay, but I'd love to be able to maximize what I can do with that money through investments, savings, or asset acquisitions as soon as I can, and then, as the years fly by, do bigger things with my increased pay.
i.e. I would love to start off life intelligently, and I would like the smart people of MetaFilter to help me out. I'd be pleased to receive any kind of advice -- e.g. arguments like "a house is not an asset" , books to read, possible related job opportunities, investment methods, assets to buy, what bank products to look out for or how to employ my bank account properly, ways to steer my life professionally, etc. Anything goes. I am here to learn, and I will lend an ear to all advice. If I must buy books or do things to read, then I will go out and buy those books and do whatever else I have to do. (But I am not that smart financially, so if your advice is very technical advice, I will try my best to understand but I would also appreciate simple analogies to start off with.)
To sum it up: "If you could start off your life from my position, how would you do it, both professionally and financially?"
I'm also available for followup at .
[Note to Metafilter mods: I'm posting this anonymously, because I'd rather prefer not to attach information regarding my personal life/finances/professional career to my username. If this question is approved, please delete this paragraph.]
Carrying a Water Bottle Around Can Save You Hundreds of Dollars
It's often the little things that add up. Personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly points out that carrying a water bottle around with you can add a few hundred bucks to your pocketbook each year.
Photo by (nutmeg).
Get Rick Slowly is quick to point out that if you, on average, spend only five dollars on water and soda a week, you would save over $250 a year just carrying around a water bottle. Get Rich Slowly reader Austin sums it up quite well:
Every time I'm out shopping for groceries, out with friends for the weekend, or out for the day around town, I bring a water bottle with me. When I'm thirsty, I fill it up in a water fountain or, if I have to, a bathroom sink. [This allows me to avoid] those little two- to five-dollar purchases that really add up when you're thirsty and want a quick drink.
Of course, make sure you choose a safe and reusable water bottle. What are the easiest no-brainer ways you've found to save extra money? Let us know in the comments below.
penis enlargement
In today's economy we all need a little help with our budgeting and our finances. The Catch-22 of that is that we don't have the cash to get the items we need to work on our budget and finances. Well there are currently over a dozen ebooks available right now on Amazon for under $1, if you know where to find them. Since the Kindle can hold so many books at once, its fun to have quite the diverse library in your ebook reader. These are able to be downloaded online and then you can brown other kindle personal finance books you may be interested in that are higher priced, or download pdf ebooks in other categories.
To get these ebooks on to your Kindle, go to the Amazon website and see on the left hand side of the page the section that says Kindle. If you mouse over the Kindle part it will show "books" click on that. This will take you to the Kindle books section of the website where the ebooks are listed for download. Click again, on the left hand side of the page where it says "Business and Investing" and click on that. Now you will get a listing of all the categories that are in the Business and Investing side of the site.
There now should be an option for "Personal Finance". Click on that option while on the Kindle ebooks page of Amazon. As of today it is showing over 500 entries for this section of the site. Before doing anything else, on the right side of the page is a drop down box that says "sort by". You will need to use the drop down box to put in "Low to High" on price sorting. This will go and resort the entire list of personal finance ebooks from lowest price to highest price. As of today there were 20 listings on personal finance ebooks that are under $1.
Two that stick out for me that would work in today's economy are "Mrs. Pinchpenny's Guide to Surviving the Holidays on a Budget" and "Garage Sale Basics: A Guide to Maximizing Your Profits". What will you see that will interest you? Now that you know how to sort any listing of Kindle ebooks in order of cheapest to highest, you can search all the sections to find free ebooks as well as those well under $1 to load into your Kindle ebook reader.
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