Personal Finance King

A Personal Finance Money Blog from a Christian Perspective

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Recommended Sites
You are here: Home / Misc Finance / Something More Valuable Than $113B And Lessons from My Daughter’s Graduation

Something More Valuable Than $113B And Lessons from My Daughter’s Graduation

May 22, 2023 by Barnaby

You know what is more valuable than $113B? That’s how much money 92-year-old Warren Buffett has, give or take a few billion.

Ask yourself: Do I want to trade places with Warren? If you are like most people, you wouldn’t, because time is more valuable than $$$.

My advice to you (and to me): Act like it.

If you find yourself staring at your phone for hours on end and can’t stop, try what some young people are doing – forcing themselves to disengage by transitioning to a dumb flip phone:

Or do what Pippa does – when she feels TikTok taking over her life, she’ll delete it from her phone for days or weeks at a time.

Is My Underwear Crustier Than Normal?

Earlier this month, I went to our church’s men’s retreat. It was a great weekend of learning and developing/deepening relationships. Naturally, frugality and good stewardship came up in casual conversation:

College-Age Friend: I’m trying to save money. What do you do for clothes?
Me: Thrift stores mostly.
Friend: Yeah me too. Except underwear. You don’t buy used underwear do you?
Me: [gulp]

In my defense, it’s not a habit. But when you see a nice pair of Under Armours, you have to carpe boxers.

Stuffing My Pants with Green

Not that I don’t have enough underwear already. I told you last time about the benefits of having a blog. One I forgot to mention: Cool cash boxers from a favorite relative.

I giggled when we opened the box at Christmas and found this package for me inside:

Related: 8 Rules for Successful Gift-Giving on a Budget

College Take-Home Assignment

We are recently back from Pippa’s graduation:

As per usual, I learned a few things.

First, encourage your kid to take the STEM route. We went to an awards ceremony, and whenever a student went to collect their prize, they announced their plans. My wife Nora is a HS school counselor, so she is unusually attuned to school/career choices and their financial consequences.

She and I whooped it up for all of the senior recipients, until she heard these words: “…and she will be pursuing a Masters of Social Work at New York University.” She stopped mid-clap and cast her eyes to the floor.

I asked her about it later. “All of those chemistry and physics and math students will have their tuition paid for, plus a stipend, all the way through a PhD if they want to, but that social work student will pay full freight.”

“Maybe she is independently wealthy?” I replied.

“Yeah, maybe. We need social workers, but our society and economy just don’t value them very much,” she concluded.

Do You Suffer from Detrimental Cheapness?

Second college lesson: Too much thriftiness can be as damaging as too little.

A month before graduation we got this text from Pips:

Granted, there are a lot of bogus awards out there – Who’s Who This and Who’s Who That. But someone of Pippa’s frugal constitution needs to be careful to not miss opportunities just due to penny pinching. To her credit, she was quick to make a U-Turn and sign up.

Make Room Reservations for 2027 Now

If you just made a out-of-town college deposit for your HS grad, now is the time to make a room reservation for graduation. Yes, he could drop out, or take a gap year, or be eaten by a snake, or…

A little over four years ago, Pippa and I stayed at Black Squirrel Inn while visiting College of Wooster.

A month later, she made her decision and we submitted a deposit. Soon after, we looked up her graduation date, and reserved a room at the Inn for the night before.

This past weekend, we stayed at the Black Squirrel again, as planned. It’s two blocks from campus, and we paid 2019 rates – $105.

The best part? A little welcome chalkboard in the foyer said “Congrats to Olivia & Pippa! Woo 2023”. Was that Pippa’s roommate Olivia whose family also had the forethought to plan way ahead? It was. What a pleasant surprise.

The Inn stay was a perfect bookend to a great four years for Pippa. On to the next adventure!

Filed Under: Kids & Finance, Misc Finance Tagged With: college graduation, STEM education, thrift shopping, warren buffett

About Me

About Barnaby King Welcome to the Personal Finance King blog, which explores issues of Money, Faith, Work, and Family. I am Barnaby King. More
Subscribe to Receive New Posts by Email:

Check your inbox or spam folder now to confirm your subscription.

RSS RSS Feed

  • Orioles Tragic? How I Justified Buying Pricey Playoff Tix
  • How to Save for Retirement – And Beyond
  • 5 Things I’ve Done in the Past 60 Days to Save Hundreds of Dollars

Most Popular Posts

1. How Should We Respond to Needy People on the Street?
2. We Ported Our Landline Phone to Google Voice, Saving $46 Per Month
3. What Is the Role of Faith in Personal Finance?
4. 9 Life and Finance Lessons from “Alexander Hamilton” Biography by Ron Chernow
5. Top 8 Free and Offbeat Historic Things to Do in Baltimore
6. Why We Live in Baltimore Despite Its Problems
7. How a Prized Pocket Knife Was Imperiled on a Trip to See the Rockettes
8. Is 16 Too Old for a First Phone?

Categories

  • Earning Money
  • Faith & Finance
  • Kids & Finance
  • Love & Finance
  • Misc Finance
  • Politics & Finance
  • Saving Money
  • Travel & Finance
  • Uncategorized
  • Work & Finance

Archive

  • October 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • May 2023
  • March 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • August 2022
  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in