Grant Baldwin's Blog » Students

BrokePiggy LIVE in Perry, Oklahoma

Grant — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:48:51 +0000

Yesterday, I had the honor of hanging out with some great students in Perry, OK to discuss entrepreneurship and personal finance.

We discussed investing, savings, banking, spending, credit cards, career choices, taxes, and a plethora of other things related to the world of money. It was a great event, and I know the students got a lot out of it.

If you’re looking for someone to teach your students about personal finance or entrepreneurship, let me know (grant@brokepiggy.com). Get more information about our money program here and be sure to check out our student money site, BrokePiggy.com.

Why Having The President Speak To Students Is A Good Thing (And I Didn’t Even Vote For Him)

Grant — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:48:35 +0000

As most of you already know, President Obama plans to address students in schools across America next Tuesday, September 8. Naturally, there is plenty of controversy surrounding this move, but personally, I like the idea.

As a youth speaker, I meet with tens of thousands of teenagers each year and I can tell you what most students are thinking about politics, government, and their role in society.

It doesn’t apply to them. Why should they care? Their vote doesn’t matter. The list goes on and on.

When was the last time a President specifically addressed students? As far as I know…never. Despite what your political views of Obama may be, I think we’d all agree that part of sending students is to school is for education but part of it is preparing them to become contributing citizens to society.

He’s not going on TV asking for teenagers to vote for him in another three years for re-election. He’s not trying to sway them to a particular political persuasion. He’s trying to help students connect with the bigger picture of being involved in this country.

Truth be told, I think the parents are more upset by this than students are. This generation of students is passionate and they’re looking for something to rally behind. A student’s involvement in their country, in their community, and in their school is one of the best things that could come from this.

I would challenge students and parents to do the same thing. Have an open mind. Allow this moment to encourage thought, debate, discussion, and healthy conversation. None of these things will happen if either parents or students approach it with their mind made up.

Oh and in case you think I’m some Obama-maniac…I actually voted for the other guy. But I still think having the President speak to our students is a good thing.

What do you think about President Obama speaking to schools/students?

Are Students More Or Less Literate Than Their Parents?

Grant — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:00:08 +0000

Over the weekend, I read a great article in the new issue of Wired Magazine called “The New Literacy” by Clive Thompson. It began with the argument from a college professor that students today were losing the ability to write and over time, could become borderline illiterate.

Wow.

But the case was made that students today not only write more but may be more literate than their parents. Teens’ parents basically did their writing in school and unless they had a career that required that they write, they never had to pick up a No. 2 pencil again.

But think about the number of opportunities that students today have to write. Facebook. Blogs. Twitter. MySpace. Texting. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that students today do more writing than any other group of students in history.

Why? Because there are so many opportunities and platforms to use.

Sure you may see some random shorthand and smiley faces in their online writing, but they are developing the ability to think and write creatively.

The article ends with this great statement: “We think of writing as either good or bad. What today’s young people know is that knowing who you’re writing for and why you’re writing might be the most crucial factor of all.”

New FREE E-Book: “How To Go To College For FREE!”

Grant — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:00:52 +0000

Really excited about a project I’ve recently completed that I wanted to share with you. It is a new e-book called “How To Go To College For FREE!”

It is a 21-page e-book with 15 different tips for not only finding extra money to help pay for college, but also tips to decrease the cost of your education.

It’s extremely practical with “now what” steps included with each tip. In addition, there are several websites and valuable links to help with the process.

Here are a few of the items covered in “How To Go To College For FREE!”:

Why submitting the FAFSA early gets you more money (page 5)

How to earn $50 per hour through scholarships (page 7)

3 websites you can use to get family and friends help pay for your education (page 11)

How to save $20k+ per year by starting at a community college (page 15)

The story of how one student earned 72 college credits through AP & CLEP tests…while still in high school! (page 16)

How one student earned an additional $10,000 in scholarships with a few simple phone calls (page 19)

You can read the entire e-book online or download a FREE copy at http://www.brokepiggy.com/resources-tools/how-to-go-to-college-for-free/.

10 Time Management Tips For Teens

Grant — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:55:37 +0000

First of all, just try saying that title as fast you can repeatedly.

If you are doing that right now, then you really need this post to help you with your time!

Yesterday, I was interviewed by a writer who was working on an article for a national magazine about helping students better manage their time. We talked about a lot of different thoughts and ideas, but I thought I would share with you 10 tips to get you going with time management…

Learn To Say No – Most of us are people pleasers who hate disappointing others. So we say “yes” more than we should and end up taking on more than we can handle. What’s one thing you need to say ‘NO’ to this week
You Can’t Be Liked By Everybody – If you start saying “no” to invites, requests, or opportunities, people may initially be offended. Realize in your mind you’re going to let others down (this guy is not very motivational!). Is it more important to be liked or respected?
Have An Outlet – In your car, you’ve got a gauge that goes from an ‘F’ to an ‘E’. When it gets to an ‘E’, you go refill, recharge, and reconnect so you can continue on your journey. What do you like to do for fun that gives you life?
Keep Track Of Your Time – Have you ever noticed that it’s possible to be really, really busy and yet really, really unproductive? For one week, write down what you do every single minute of the day and evaluate where your time is really going. Are you really as busy as you think you are?
You Can’t Have It All – You can’t be quarterback of the football team, student body president, captain of the chess club, have a 4.0 GPA, be manager at McDonald’s, get into Harvard, and be xbox champion of the world. What do you need to sacrifice?
Determine What Matters Most – Until you answer the question of what matters most to you, then everything is important and nothing is important. How do you know what to say ‘no’ to and what to say ‘yes’ to? What matters most to you?
You Have A Capacity – You only have 24 hours in a day, 7 days a week. You have a capacity. You have limits. You can’t do it all. Stop trying. What areas of your life are you trying to do too much?
You Must Have Margin – Have you noticed that they make the lanes a little bit wider than your car? Why? Because they’ve seen how some of you drive! You need that margin. You need that space in life that gives you some breathing room. Do you have any margin in your life right now?
Have A System For You – Where do you keep your schedule? Your to-do list? Reminder notes? You can use some type of technology such as a Smartphone, PDA, or Google tools. Or you may just use good old fashioned paper and pen. Just do what works for you. What tools are you using to organize your life?
Be Proactive – Having a balanced life doesn’t just naturally happen. It’s something you have to work at on a regular basis. Take ownership for your life and pick out a few of these tips you can implement starting today. What changes are you going to make in your life to better manage your time?

YOUR TURN: What other time management tips do you have for students?

Service Learning Trip For Students

Grant — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:07:46 +0000

I wanted to introduce you to an amazing organization that offers service learning opportunities for students. The organization is called Students Today Leaders Forever and offers week-long trips called Pay It Forward Tours. They travel around to major cities and offer students the chance to do community service projects, while also allowing time for site-seeing and hanging out.

I’m at the ND State Student Council Conference right now, and one of the former state officers is a guy who helped start the organization. It was cool to connect with him, and they really seem to be providing some great opportunities for students. The costs for the trips are also extremely reasonable and shouldn’t break the bank for anyone.

Just wanted to give them a shout out…make sure to check out their site at www.stlf.net.

12 Things Teenagers Should Know About Money

Grant — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:17:37 +0000

In order to help promote the new site BrokePiggy.com, I partnered with 12 other money bloggers to do a community series of posts.

Here’s what we did…as you can see from the title of this post, I wrote an article called 12 Things Teenagers Should Know About Money (And How To Teach Them). Then we had 12 different money bloggers each post one of the points. If you’re interested in reading each of them, here are the sites they are listed at…

Money Doesn’t Grow On Trees @ Bargaineering.com

Two Words: Compound Interest @ PoorerThanYou.com

Delay Gratification To Succeed @ GatherLittleByLittle.com

Living On A Budget Isn’t An Option @ TotalCandor.com

Credit Cards Will Steal Your Lunch Money @ PTMoney.com

A Degree Is An Expensive Piece of Paper @ TheDigeratiLife.com

Spend Money Based On Needs Not Wants @ MoneyNing.com

There Is More Free Money Than You Realize For College @ FreeFromBroke.com

Living On Your Own Isn’t Cheap @ Studenomics.com

Taxes Are A Necessary Evil In Life @ MoneySmartLife.com

Do What You Love, Love What You Do @ GenXFinance.com

Don’t Be A Tightwad: Give Generously @ CashMoneyLife.com

How Much Time Does The Average Teen Spend Online?

Grant — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:07:05 +0000

I came across this article via CrunchGear about a study done in the UK that found that teenagers spend an average of 31 hours online every week.

They found that a high majority of that time was spent chatting with friends on MSN or browsing around the major social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook. Of course there was also lots of time getting lost in the entertainment abyss that is YouTube.
Here were a couple of other things that stood out to me:

Just over an hour is devoted to looking up cosmetic surgery procedures
An hour and a half is spent on family planning and pregnancy websites
One hour 35 minutes is spent investigating diets and weight loss.
One in four teenagers of the 1,000 polled said they regularly spoke to strangers online but thought it harmless.
One in three admitted trying to hide what they were looking at if a parent entered the room.
But children also use the internet to help them with homework, with at least three hours a week spent searching for such information.

Interesting stuff. It’s kind of scary how much time is spent on things like cosmetic surgery, diets, and weight loss. Gives you an idea of the level of self-esteem for most students. Also, how much time is spent on pregnancy websites…figures like those get your attention.

Again, these are figures from the UK…how do you think they would compare with the US? Leave your comment below…

(Also, if you’re reading this through an RSS Reader, come to the actual site to vote in a poll.)

3 Things You Must Know About Your College Tuition Investment…

Grant — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 09:56:55 +0000

BREAKING NEWS: College is expensive.

Just remember…you heard it here first.

Ok, so you probably already realized that. Especially if you’re a high school student searching through the sea of colleges or better yet, if you’re the parent of a high school student who plans on helping foot the bill.

There was a recent article in Smart Money Magazine that did some research into whether or not elite universities provided a solid “return on tuition investment.”

The article states that the average public university runs around $7,700 per year, while the average private school is closer to $18,600. Pretty big difference huh?

If you’re going to pursue a private college, you have to ask yourself, not only will the education be better (term used loosely), but will it be nearly $11,000 better?

The article partnered with PayScale.com (which recently published a survey on alumni salaries) with the goal to determine the relationship between tuition costs and graduates’ earning power. The bottom line…

A private school does NOT offer the return on investment that a public school does.

Again, this isn’t my opinion or my take on the college economy…this is what the numbers tell us. That being said, let me make 3 observations about the cost of college…

The More You Spend Doesn’t Equate To The More You Will Earn – You can go to an English 101 class at Harvard or an English 101 class at your local community college, and the information covered will be virtually the same. Just because you took the class at Harvard doesn’t guarantee that you will earn any more or any less than someone who took the same class at the community college.
The Knowledge Is Valuable, Not The Name On The Degree – We live in a knowledge-based economy, so today you are paid based less on what you can produce but more on what you know. Employers don’t care where that knowledge came from as long as you are applying it in your work.
What You Do With The Knowledge Is Up To You – No school and no education can guarantee you success in life. Success is up to you. There are “successful” people in the world who have masters and doctorate degrees from some of the world’s most prestigious universities and other “successful” people that are high school dropouts.

For another good post on this subject, read 10 Ways To Stretch Your College Fund by Just Plain Joy over at the Frugal Dad site.