karenavila95

What I Have Learned One Year and Five Months After Graduating College

May 13^th, 2017 graduation day. After the last verse of that Good Old Baylor Line everyone in the graduating class throws the last Sic’em of their college career. On that day you take pictures with your family, walk across campus for one last time, and all the nostalgia starts kicking in. It is a very emotional moment, but I don’t think you can fully grasp what it means to have graduated college. I started my professional career at EY Mexico, the pay was good, career mobility was straightforward do your job and you’ll get promoted, plenty of travelling opportunities, and the best part: it was a consulting position. For those who aren’t familiar with it. Basically you work by objectives with clients all the time, so you go from one client’s site to the other. Projects, at least in my service line, aren’t very long, four months tops. It is a very dynamic environment, you have to be able to adapt to the client’s environment in a matter of days, heck! Sometimes a matter of hours. And this is what I have learned so far.

Be humble and listen.

When you’re in school you learn your opinion is important, professors beg for you to participate in class and sometimes even give you credit for it. Discussions and debates are encouraged both inside and outside the classroom. On my very first assignment at EY, I was sent to the client’s site to make a list of minimum requirements the company needed to buy software. I remember on our kickoff meeting the Director of the project, and the manager explained to my peer and me about what we were going to be doing trough the next two months. Two things I remember from the meeting: my notebook was blank by the end of the meeting, which means I didn’t take any notes, and I stayed quiet the whole time making my peers wonder if I even spoke Spanish, since I had just moved back from Texas. I didn’t understand a word of what they were talking about. Honestly, I had no clue about software, basic IT requirements, and the business industry the client was in. I am not going to lie saying I stayed quiet because I realized I had a lot to learn from the Director and the manager who were very experienced in this field, but really because I had no contributions whatsoever as I was inexperienced. As the project went on I got familiarized with IT terms, the company and the industry and was able to contribute to the meetings. It was one of the most humbling experiences I have had in my life. I learned to stay quiet not because I wanted to but because I was playing catch up after every meeting trying to understand what just happened. I learned that although sometimes you want to share a lot, it is okay to stay quiet. I found myself learning more through paying attention to my coworkers and asking the right questions when I had doubts, than trying to voice my opinion every chance I had.

Times does fly

In college I felt most of the time, I was making good use of my time, I was either studying, working out, working or participating on campus events. Coming back from work is different than coming back from school, some days I had to keep working at home and some days you’re just too tired to do anything. When I graduated, I told myself I was going to “rest” for six months, and then I would go back to hit the books, start applying for grad school, and get my CFA. Long story short it has been a year and five months and I am still “resting” from studying. It is kind of embarrassing honestly, because I had only read one book since I graduated college. I am getting back into the habit of reading, and in the past month I have already finished two books. I hope I can continue with that habit for the rest of the year. What I am trying to say is that no matter how much you enjoy your job, or like your coworkers it is so easy to get caught up in a hectic lifestyle. We often times forget our long term goals and things that can enrich us as a person. Call it volunteering, travelling, reading, working on new projects, or starting a business. Don’t let one year and five months pass by to realize you haven’t done much outside your daily job.

Lastly, what people say about us is really not that important

At Baylor I cared a lot about what people around me might think, and where I stood compared to my peers. In college it felt as if, you had a boyfriend you had to get a ring by spring before graduating. Well that was not the case when I came back home to Mexico City. In contrast to most places in the US, Mexicans feel like there is an obligation to voice an opinion whenever we feel someone is not doing things right, we do not mean to be rude, it is just how we are raised. I am 23 years old, and I got engaged with my best friend last year. Mostly everyone I’ve met in the past year has made a comment about my engagement. They misinterpret my engagement ring as a sign that spells: I am too young to get married, I NEED ADVICE. This is how it usually goes. I’ll call this person Jose.

Jose: OMG you’re engaged?!

Karen: Yes!

Jose: When did you get engaged?

Karen: In June, 2017

Jose: Annnnd, how old are you?

By this point I know where the conversation is going, and honestly I stop listening.

Karen: I am 23.

Jose: you’re so young! And what do your parents think about it? But, don’t you want to live more?

Then they proceed to tell me a story about their first divorce, and how they should’ve listened to their parents, or how much fun they had in their twenties because they were single, or make a comment about how they are older than me and don’t want to get married yet, because they want to enjoy life, and it ends with the dreaded: You’re too young to get married, you should wait. Or some variation of this conversation, but you get the point. It got to the point where I hid my ring under my sleeve to avoid this awkward conversation whenever I met a new person. All I did was shake my head in agreement to avoid giving explanations of any kind. It took many of these conversations to understand why people where meddling in my relationship, and in my decisions, for me to come up with the conclusion that we cannot change what people think about us and what they say to us. And that is okay, because it really does not matter. In college you’re not really making life changing decisions, and you have your parents to rely on whenever you screw up, either fail a class or run out of money. Well, not anymore. This is the time when we have to start making our own decisions, because you are the only one who is going to have to deal with the consequences of your actions. Once I embraced this truth and tried to live by it, I realized that you aren’t here to please the world. I have to make my own choices, and think about how these decisions are going to affect me in the long run, if I like the answer then I have to go for it. I am not going to lie it still bothers me when people make comments about my engagement, but I don’t think too much of it.

I hope you find this read enjoyable, and maybe agree with me. I would love to hear about your experiences after graduation, it is so good to know what everyone else is going through!

Next step: save

If you graduated in May just like I did, you have probably been working for 1-2 months now. After one month and a half of working for (insert company name here) you probably already have a routine, and have also developed some habits. If you catch yourself getting coffee 2-3 times a week, buying lunch every day or spending too much money on the weekends, either way it is important that you include it on your budget. Budgeting requires discipline and being honest with yourself so you can hold yourself accountable. I love coffee and get coffee around 4 times a week, so I have to make sure I include those $64/month in my budget. I used to tell myself I was never going to get coffee because it was expensive but I would still ended up getting it 2-3 times a week. That was even worse! Because I wouldn’t budget for it and would end up spending more money than if I had budgeted for it and restricted myself in other things. So I ended up saving a lot less than I wanted. It is a good time to start thinking about what’s next, in terms of financial goals. While I was doing some research, every single article about financial health started with SAVE MONEY. Most of the articles I read are geared towards millenials because I believe we have different financial needs, motivations and lifestyles than older and younger generations do. However, the recipe for success always includes saving. That way you won’t be living paycheck to paycheck or overusing your credit card. It doesn’t matter what your goal is, it could be buying tickets for a concert, to vacation, buying a car, buying clothes, saving for a house, or retire at age 50. If you don’t know where to start don’t worry start by following these simple steps.

1. Make the decision to save only once

You get a paycheck once or twice every month, when you get your payroll deposit you can probably think of at least 5 different better ways to use your money. If you enroll in an automatic money transfer from your checkings to your savings you will only have to make the decision of saving once. That way you won’t let the heat of the moment or your current situation affect your savings account. You will benefit from putting that money in a savings account because savings account charge a fee if you want to withdraw money, and have higher returns, that way you’ll be more motivated to keep your money in it.

2. Consider saving 30% of your income

As a general rule of thumb if you don’t have any debt it is recommended that you save 30% of your yearly salary. If you are paying off student loans it is recommended to pay more to your student loans and save around 20%. You should take these two percentages in consideration whenever you are creating a budget so you cut back on some unnecessary expenses. You can probably think about 2-3 things you shouldn’t be spending money on.

3. Saving doesn’t only come in the form of a savings account

Saving can come in many shapes and sizes, like health savings plans, CDs, 401(k)s, Roth IRAs, etc. Some companies match your monthly savings and/or contributions to retirement accounts (the first is more common in Mexico and the latter in the US). Always save and/or contribute the highest percentage your company is willing to match, if you aren’t you are literally throwing away free money. You don’t have to commit just yet, but this is a good time to start doing some research about saving options.

4. Start saving for retirement

Start by checking out this website it will put everything into perspective. It will show you how the power of compounding works. It does make a difference if you start saving at 22 vs. if you start saving at 26 and even more if you start saving at 30. And even though retirement seems like a long way from now if you want to retire at 50ish you should definitely start planning for it.

http://money.cnn.com/calculator/retirement/retirement-need/

Unfortunately if you are reading this from Mexico, retirement accounts don’t work the same way they do in the US. So before you decide on investing your money on a mutual fund, or whatever it is that you want to buy for the long run, I would recommend opening a savings account specifically for retirement and out of the 30% destined to savings put 10-15% of your monthly salary in your “retirement account”.

I hope you find this helpful and please let me know if there is anything I can do to help!

For more information check out these links:

If you missed my latest blog post on Budgeting go check it out.

Just graduated from college? If so, create a budget.

“Creating a budget sounds like an easy thing to do, I often hear my friends say I know where all my money goes to: gas, rent, utilities, etc. While it is good to know your expenses that does not mean you have budget.”

As a recent college graduate I am really excited about starting my professional career. Now I have to be responsible about my spending habits and start planning for our future (my fiancé and I). Despite being a finance major I have to admit that personal finance didn’t cross my mind until my senior year of college when I took Introduction to Federal Taxation and Investment Analysis. So I decided to invest some time researching about effective financial planning practices for budgeting and saving. After reading a Goldman Sachs article about millennials spending habits, I found out almost 18% of 30 year olds live with their parents, this percentage keeps increasing. Which means that it is harder to save for a house now than it was 30 years ago. I am a millennial and I have two long-term goals, managing my own investments and buying real estate in California. While your goals might be similar or different from mine you might benefit from reading. I decided to write an article with some tips and helpful hints that have helped me create effective budgeting and saving practices.

If you just graduated from college and are starting your first full-time job like I am, and even if you aren’t, one of the first things you need to do is create a budget. Creating a budget sounds like an easy thing to do, I often hear my friends say I know where all my money goes to: gas, rent, utilities, etc. While it is good to know your expenses that does not mean you have budget.

How do you create a budget?

Start by identifying your regular monthly income, this might take a couple of months. If you had a signing bonus that you’ll receive within your first few paychecks but you won’t get every month, or you are still setting up your 401k contributions, or you moved to a different state and are unsure about tax obligations. From previous experience a $50,000 paying job meant that you are only taking home around $40,000. Every month you take home $800 less than you think you do.

Once you’ve identified your monthly net income, identify regular monthly expenses like: gas, utilities, rent, groceries. These expenses are hard to cut back on. Some financial advisors have certain percentages to keep in mind to have a healthy financial life, although I believe that everyone’s situation is different these percentages are a good way to benchmark your spending. 50-30-20 is usually what financial advisors recommend. 50% of your net income should be spent on regular monthly expenses. Gas, utilities, and rent fall under this category. The following 30% goes to debt repayment if you have student loans. Again, these percentages and budget information are meant for recent college graduates. I would not recommend committing 30% of your net income towards a car payment, if you don’t have student loans then debt repayment should be 20%, and savings 30%. The last 20% should be savings. One of the first things you have to do when you graduate from college is to build a safety net of cash. Advisors recommend around 6 months worth of salary, to prepare for life unexpected events. If you have to pay a visit to the ER, your car breaks down it is better to have some cash build up in your savings account, specially when you have just graduated from college and probably do not have a long credit history. Out of the 50% that goes to your regular monthly expenses, monthly rent shouldn’t account for more than 30% of your net income. Using the same analogy from earlier someone making 50k in income and around 40k in net income should spend around $1,000 on rent every month.

Adhering to a budget might be hard for the first couple of months; it is recommended that you make modifications as necessary within the first few months. I hope you find this helpful and use it as a starting point towards a healthy financial life.

For more information on creating a budget check out these articles and websites:

If you are moving to a new city or finally moving out from your parent’s house check out this video on the real cost of living!

Happiness On Top

As I was getting my nails done Monday evening at a salon across the street from my house, the song “Love On Top” by Beyonce played in the back. I surprised myself signing to the lyrics, and my mind travelled to a memory from two years ago. I served at a Residence Hall during my junior year; some of my favorite memories from Baylor are from that year. Some days when I was completely worn out and tired I got to the clubhouse and there would be people singing or talking. One night after staff meeting which would usually run until 11pm Tuesday nights, two of my coworkers (also my friends) were singing to that song. Both of them were part of a choir at Baylor and they sounded absolutely amazing. I recorded them because I am not usually around people who have the confidence to sing in the lobby of a building and sound better than Beyoncé. Suddenly, I was back at the nail salon, and I started thinking about the person I’ve become because of my experiences at Baylor. I get very nostalgic when I think about it.

As a high school student I used to judge people, I never thought I would become the kind of person that would appreciate two 20 year olds singing to Beyoncé in public. I can honestly say those are some of the best memories about my time at Baylor. I am so proud of the person I’ve become. If I can give you a piece of advice is to not wait for happiness, because happiness is not a feeling it is a way of life. We often hear our friends or family say: “when I live here or when I do that I am going to be happy”. Truth is, we have to empower ourselves to be happy at all times. Don’t let an object, place, or career dictate how you live your life. I used to think like that in high school, “when I go to college and I only take interesting classes I will be happy”. Through my college career I struggled with some classes, like a normal college student. It was my decision to let those classes affect how I lived my life.

When I look back at my experiences at Baylor, I think of all those times when I was tired, worn out, or frustrated, and I made the decision to enjoy my friends doing silly things, or Jonathan getting me coffee, or a compliment from one of my residents, coworkers, boss, etc. I hope I can do this for the rest of my life, and I hope you can too.

Find happiness in the Scriptures

Luke 12:15