Consequence Of Changing Major In College

Recently, a good friend and I were chatting and she was telling me about her brother who was a “career student”.  It reminded me of an interview with had with Jeff Morand, founder of JP Morand & Company back in May 2010.

Our discussion was “everything college” which led to the topic of students changing majors mid way through college.  USA Today covered this topic as there is a growing trend of incoming freshman graduating after five to six years instead of four.

According to Jeff, a member of the National Institute Certification College planners, students can spend as much as $15,000 or more on top of their full tuition as a result of changing their majors mid way through their college years.

Here is what Jeff had to say:

“Often students, young people don’t know what they want to do when they grow up.  They don’t know what they ultimately want to become.  Changing majors is certainly okay but yet if we go back to that last piece of the College Planning Wheel, how they pay for it if we know we’re falling into that 5^th year or worse, you have that 6^th year, how expensive that is.

So continuing for a Masters like you have or continuing for other advanced degrees is common but yet, what we’re referring to with these statistics and what USA Today is referring to with these statistics is the plain, old simple not completing that 120 four years worth of study within that four year allotted time.  They change majors, change schools in certain cases and then all of a sudden, you’ve added that extra year or two onto the equation.”

Jeff then shared this advice:

“The best way to plan for college is to start early certainly.  When I say early, ninth-grade, tenth-grade is a great time to start.  But start even earlier from the standpoint of getting a flavor or an idea of who your child is.

Getting an idea of what their likes, dislikes, finding out certainly in the high school grades, whether they’re people persons or things persons, whether they like things or people, and that’s a distinctive difference.”

Click JMorand2010 to hear the interview.  Have you changed your major while in college?  How did you plan for the extra expense? What other ideas might you have to prevent from being that “career student” and spending more on college than already anticipated?   I’d love to hear your story.

Passive Income Ideas

Passive Income

Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing EJ Thornton, publisher and author of Secrets To Creating Passive Income.  I’ve known EJ for a year now and she never ceases to amaze me.  Every time I talk to her I learn more and more about creating passive income.  During the interview, EJ shared some examples of how to create passive income.  So, of course, I want to share one strategy that I thought was brilliant!  Here is an excerpt from the interview:

EJ Thornton:

In [my book] Secrets to Creating Passive Income, the main example that I use is a thing we call Spock Boxes.  That came from a single problem that my husband had, John.  Every time he saw a car top carrier, he would comment that it was aerodynamically mounted backwards.  The sleek end was in the front and the big blunt end is in the back and that aerodynamically is just wrong.  You need the blunt end in the front so that the air streams back down off the point.  It’s much more aerodynamically efficient.  Every time he’s see one, which is several times, every time we’d go out and he would talk about it.  I said finally, “Honey, if I give you a platform, will you be quiet?”  He said, “Okay.”

So, he wrote up about a three-paragraph argument about why he thinks Spock Boxes should be turned around.  He calls them Spock Boxes because they look like the box that Spock was buried in, in Star Trek 2 and was shot out into space.

Inger Johnson:

That’s a great description

EJ Thornton:

So we looked on amazon.com and low and behold they sold them.  We put his article in the middle of this web page and several links into amazon.com to find out more about Spock Boxes.  We called this page Fuel Efficient, How to make your car top carrier more fuel efficient, got a ton of hits right off the bat and, of course, they would read the article there and, whether they believed it was irrelevant or not, they would click on in Amazon.  If they bought a car top carrier, which is a several hundred dollar ticket item, we would make 7 percent commission off of them.

We didn’t have to make that product or even sell that product, we just had to facilitate that customer going into Amazon through our web site.  They came in because they found our article.  All it was, was three-paragraphs! Anybody can write three paragraphs and move forward.

Inger Johnson:

That’s awesome.

EJ Thornton:

Now, when I saw how successful that was, I thought, that’s pretty duplicatable.  Now, we have more than, I think, 90 websites, or so, each dedicated to a specific niche.

I wanted to share this with you because it’s the simplest of ideas that can reap big rewards.  EJ reveals that “Everybody has the raw material to create product with their experience, or dream….it just takes a single idea.  They say ideas are God’s gold coin and just to flush out an idea is really pretty simple.  You need to brainstorm and then, go forward and figure out what you want to actually accomplish with a certain message.”

EJ shared with me a few other ideas, which I will share with you again at another time.  Meanwhile, you can check out her book, Creating Passive Income, here or you can listen to the audio interview Passive Income.

What ideas have you had and acted on to pull in passive income?

A Post Christmas message from Santa

A Post Christmas Message From Santa

Earlier this year I got to sit with Santa and talk about this year’s holiday.  We talked about everything ~ fun things that I never knew about Santa like how he got started, to other things like creating ornaments for the Christmas tree.  As we talked more about the holidays, we dually noted how most families do not fully prepare for Christmas.

Santa gave me a message that I’m about to share with you right now.  And really, when I think about it, it’s really a message we’ve all probably heard before but one that we need to hear a few times over before it starts to sink in.  Santa’s message is to begin thinking ahead for Christmas so that we don’t get ourselves in a bind. He sees the stress that the Christmas holiday causes us adults and to our finances.

So, this prompted me to do a little research and I came across this great article posted on About.com titled “Set Your Holiday Budget Early and Save for Christmas: Start a Christmas savings fund and avoid holiday debt”.  You can read it here.  My favorite is setting up a separate holiday fund.

Click the link to hear Santa’s message, 01 Meaning of Christmas 1.   What other ways have you been able to keep stress down and save for the holidays?

Prepping For A Career Move

Interview Tips & Strategies

This interview is with Aimee Cohen of Cohen Career Consulting and she shared with my listeners some invaluable advice when it comes to making that career move. Listen in as Aimee talks about responding to a job inquiry to nailing the interview.

Prepping For The Career Move

For future shows, visit our Radio Show page.

Inger talks to experts about starting your own business!

E Community for Startup Businesses Listen Now:

A Secret About Job Qualifications

Having The Right Qualifications

So you have your degree – or working on it – and you find yourself looking for a job.  Have you perused job listings and have come across a few openings that appeal to you.  Alas, you notice you’re missing one or two job qualities. Do you still apply?  Well, keep this in mind: Individuals that have landed a job were not always the most qualified candidates for the job.  Yes – I’ll say it again: Individuals that have landed a job were not always the most qualified candidates for that job.

I had the pleasure of talking with Aimee Cohen of Cohen Career Consulting and she shared a valuable tip with me that I want to share with you.  Here is how our conversation went:

Inger Johnson: So, what are [hiring managers] really looking for when they are interviewing candidates?

Aimee Cohen: Well….it’s not always the most qualified candidate that gets the job. It’s the one that delivers the best presentation on paper and in person, and nowadays, online.

Inger Johnson: So some people think “Oh, I don’t have all the qualifications,” and the misconception is that you have to have all the qualifications?

Aimee Cohen: Enormous, I mean people will not apply to positions simply because they lack one credential; they lack one line item on the job description. What’s also really important to know is that managers want to work with people that they like.  It’s important to create that rapport element between you and the interviewer.  Also, if you’re coming from a similar industry or from the competition, that can sometimes be a detriment.  Coming from a c lean slate where that organization can train you for their processes, their philosophies, their methodologies is sometimes what they prefer.  Still the rapport is absolutely critical.

Inger Johnson: Okay.

Aimee Cohen: So it can go like this.  “What if we have to go on a corporate retreat? What if we share an office? Is that going to be fun?” That’s actually what [hiring managers] are thinking, whether it’s conscious or sub-conscious that’s how you are being evaluated.

Coming from someone who has a 100% placement rate with her clients, I want to challenge those that are in the job market to keep Aimee’s advice in mind.

What other helpful tips would you have to share when it comes to landing a job?

What Does It Mean To Be Insured?

WHAT IS INSURANCE?

When you ask this question to different people you’ll get varying responses.  I recently interviewed Holly Mullins, an insurance agent for Farmers Insurance and I asked her this very question.  Here is how she explained it:

“…insurance is something that can get you back to where your life needs to be after some sort of loss.  If you have a house fire, it’s to get your home back up to where it was…it’s getting you back to normal life.  If something happens, you have a car accident and your car’s damaged, it’s about getting your car fixed as soon as possible to get you back to normal life and not having a lot of expenses incurred on your end,”

Holly also mentioned that some people view insurance as a means to “make money” and sometimes quite the opposite, a waste of money. Of course, these are misconceptions.

As a young adult and starting out, it’s important to have insurance.  Consult with an expert such as Holly to help you put together the right package for you.  Having insurance just on your car doesn’t mean that you’re fully covered either.  If you’re renting or have started out as an entrepreneur, you’ll need coverage here too for protection.

You know my motto: the secret to financial security is controlling the things that you can control.  Having the right coverage is in your control.

How do you find a good agent or insurance company to insure you?  I’ll answer this question next so be sure to check back!

What is insurance to you?

A CASE FOR RENTING YOUR STARTER HOME

Earlier this year I interviewed Jennifer Pollock, CRS and a local Realtor, about the first time home buying experience. The show was geared toward young adults and college students wondering about the possibility of owning their first home.  As Jennifer shared some great tips and resources during the interview, our discussion turned toward what to do when you have a starter home and are either ready to upgrade or have found that you have become a victim of the recovering economy.  Here is what was discussed:

Guest Jennifer Pollock: I just met a young man [who] bought a four bedroom, three bath home and his friends are basically paying his mortgage.  He’s paying about $200 a month while his buddies are paying him $600 each.

Host Inger Johnson: And he’s getting equity in the tax rate?

Guest Jennifer Pollock: He’s getting the tax write off and he’s getting the equity and they’re paying for the privilege of living with him and he’s really not even paying the mortgage. So there’s things to think about and yes you could buy a home with a friend and split the cost.

In this case, the young man decided to save on his mortgage payment by renting to friends.  Not that renting rooms is a new idea but for a young adult or college student, it’s an idea that can be overlooked.

In the case of someone looking to upgrade but possibly having trouble selling the home, renting the home is an opportunity to save money by eliminating the cost of paying two mortgages (or a mortgage and a rental).

For those looking to purchase their first home but wonder if they can maintain mortgage payments, renting out a bedroom or two could make all the difference for you.

Do you have other ideas that you’ve implemented or have seen others do to help them save on their mortgage? Share them here.

Why work?

The easy answer to that question, of course, is to “make money”.  But is that really the answer?

What would you do if you won the lottery and never had to worry about money? What would your sister or brother do?  What would your mom or dad do?  What would your best friend do? Everyone will have a different answer to that question. (more…)

What are people really looking for when they are interviewing people?

Most recent graduates really have no idea how to go about finding a job.  I really don’t know any school that teaches careers search 101.  And I think you should – of all the pre-requisites, of all the courses that you have to take by the time you graduate, I think that would be a really important and practical course to take; especially in today’s economy where the job market is more competitive than ever. (more…)