When I graduated high school, I was eager to start college. I wanted to get to the next phase of my life and the thought of taking a gap year never entered my mind.
While I don’t regret not taking a gap year, now that I’m in my 40s, I don’t think a gap year would’ve been so bad. If you ignore all the different challenges you’d have to overcome to take a gap year (such as how you’d finance the gap year!), just taking a one-year break would’ve provided quite a bit in terms of life experience.
When I was young, I was always in a hurry for the next thing. Now that I’ve gotten a bit older, I can appreciate a slower pace. The next thing will always be there as will the thing after that.
Should Students Take A Gap Year Before College? [The College Investor] – “A “gap year” is a break between high school and college that allows young adults to explore and discover themselves and the world. It’s common in many parts of the world, except the United States.”
I think buying a car sucks. This is more evidence of how much it sucks.
Escape From The Box [The American Prospect] – “Jase put his feet up on the desk, and the sales manager, walking in on him, asked if he was comfortable. This set Jase off. How could the manager be comfortable with jamming a young kid? According to the original sale contract, F&I had added about $7,100 in extras—the warranty, a “door guard,” nitrogen-filled tires, two anti-theft systems, and a guaranteed asset protection (GAP) policy—onto a $24,335 Mazda3. Jase called it a “box close,” where the sales agent works out a monthly payment and sends the customer to F&I—the box—to negotiate the rest, layering on as much junk as possible. Jase even alleged that F&I doubled Mario’s actual income on the paperwork to get the bank to sign off.”
This next one is a 54-minute podcast but the linked post gives a summary of the discussion between Jim Dahle (of White Coat Investor) and Mike Piper (of Oblivious Investor). Mike is one of the most knowledgeable when it comes to Social Security – he created Open Social Security. It’s a free and fantastic open source Social Security calculator.
More Than Enough with Mike Piper [White Coat Investor] – “Jim and Mike talked about Mike’s latest book, “More Than Enough,” which addresses the questions that arise after realizing you have more than you need for retirement. Mike explained his motivation for writing the book, noting that many people eventually find themselves with more assets than they will ever spend despite careful retirement planning. This happens because planning typically involves preparing for the worst-case scenarios—such as bad investment returns, living to an advanced age, or facing high medical costs. Most people don’t experience all these negative outcomes, leading them to accumulate more than they need over time.”