Term: Are you getting into a month-to-month, full year, or lease term that lasts only for the school year? Most landlords push for a year, but many allow students to rent only for the months they’re in school.
Damage Deposit: Are you prepared for the amount and conditions of the damage deposit? How does your landlord plan to reconcile the condition of your place before and after you lease it out? It can help to take plenty of before and after pictures to establish your position if there ends up being a disagreement upon your departure.
Notice: Can your landlord kick you out with 60 days notice? That would be an issue if you were in the middle of exams. Consider the opposite situation where you need to break the lease. What are the penalties for doing so?
Eviction: What will it take to get evicted? Not paying the rent? Loud noise? Drug use? Vandalizing the property? You need to find out. Generally speaking, if you treat the property as your own, practice common courtesy, and pay rent on time and in full, you shouldn’t have issues.
Repairs: Who will be responsible for which repairs? How will you notify your landlord of issues? It’s very common for tenants to be responsible for repairs under $50, such as replacing light bulbs.
Community Rules: In many cases, condominiums and apartments have common property and strict rules around how that property is to be used. You should review these rules, determine how they will affect you, and ask your landlord if there is a need to “sign off” on them prior to signing the lease.
Changes to the Property: Are you allowed to paint, hang art, copy keys, and swap out the furniture? This may be important as you’re establishing your much-needed Zen for school.
Read: Don’t skim your lease agreement! The devil is always in the details. Take it home for a thorough review and consult with your student resource centre if you have questions. You might also want to understand the basic legal rights between tenants and landlords in your province or city. A quick Google search can provide this information.
Well Past High School? You’re Not Alone
Jodi was contemplating whether to head back to school after working for four years as a legal assistant. At the age of 25, she was thinking she was too old to join the ranks of so many others studying. But the income she would earn as a legal business analyst versus a legal assistant would be nearly 70 percent greater. But the cost to Jodi would be three years of additional schooling.
Many people choose to go back to school after they’ve been working for many years and already have financial commitments, such as a mortgage, rent, or car payments. My parents did it while I was growing up in the hopes of increasing their collective income and creating a better life for our family. The costs, however, were very inhibitive for our family and essentially pushed us below the poverty line for nearly a decade because they had to forego much of their income-earning capacity in exchange for their education. Ultimately it was worth it because they did make more money, but our budget was very lean and sacrifices were made during that time.
If you’re thinking of heading back to school later in life or your career, go for it! But be smart about it so you can avoid financial hardship in the process. There are two ways to balance the commitment — part time or full time.
My pal Maria does the part-time school route. She is a young mother of three children, and between working 40 hours a week and shuttling her children between dance lessons and karate practice, she has time to take only one night class each semester as she works to complete a bachelor of arts degree at her local university. Sure, it will take her almost five times as long to complete her degree as it would if she were a full-time student, but having balance between her schooling, work, and personal life is important to her.
My other pal Angela took a year off to complete her masters of business administration (MBA) full time. For Angela, this meant forgoing her healthy income as a geologist for 12 months in exchange for completing her master’s program much faster. But the moment she graduated, her income bumped up 40 percent, which helped to offset the costs of forgoing it for a year.
In either scenario, you’ll be able to achieve a higher level of education. The biggest consideration for you will be whether to forgo your current income in order to expedite the process. If you have a partner or children, going to school full-time might not work well for you and your budget. Whereas if you’re single and living on your own, the only person you’ll be affecting financially, and with your lack of availability, is you.
Informal Education
Education can also be informal. Take, for example, Jack, a young fitness trainer. He’d like to broaden his fitness expertise into teaching spin classes. In order to learn how to do this, he doesn’t need to take a formal class, he just needs to learn the skills from an expert spin instructor.
Think about where you’d like to take your career in the next 5 to 10 years. What types of skills and education will you need to make your career goals a reality? If you’re not sure, speak to someone who has the type of job you’d like to have. For example, if you’d like to become the site manager of the construction site you currently work on, spend time with the current foreperson. Inquire about education, accreditations, and specific skill sets. Ask for some specific advice on what you could do in terms of education and skills to advance your career. If you don’t have those kinds of connections, reviewing job postings for your dream job can be equally beneficial. The postings should clearly state the skills, experience, and education required for the role.
When you have a clear idea of where you want to take your career, you can determine the appropriate level of investment in your own education and skills. Whether you hit the books or not, develop skills that will give you a competitive edge and make you difficult to replace. Competitive skill sets provide leverage during salary negotiations and greater options for advancement and promotion.
CAN Education BE a Bad Investment?
There are two ways in which education can be a bad investment. The first is if you overdo it with student loans and lines of credit, meaning you get more than what you need in order to have extra spending money or make car payments. This will thrust you into unnecessary debt, which is very hard to pay off upon graduation.
The second is if you choose a program with limited employment opportunities available in that field. This would force you into a situation where you are required to complete additional, and more practical, education or face unemployment or a lower salary after graduating. Yes, you still need to be true to yourself and what you want to study, but blend that with practical skills. So if, for example, you’re doing a fine arts major, you may also want to take classes on bookkeeping so you could potentially get a job managing an art shop while still enjoying the beauty of art.
Practical skills are vital and you often get those through a combination of courses and working experiences. So do your best to blend these together. Ultimately, though, getting an education will always pay off in that it will broaden your thinking, which can then be applied to whatever you put your mind to.
CHAPTER 3
Get Organized: File Folders, Banks, and You
Organization truly is the key to success. In fact, on the road to wealth and splendour, getting organized is the most important step to take. This process is often referred to as “getting your financial house in order.” It may sound a little intimidating, but it’s not. It can actually be fun.
The Tools of the Trade
Meet Erica, age 26. She works full-time and rents a small apartment with her roommate. Unfortunately for both of them, Erica has never been very good at managing her money. She never knows how much money she has in her chequing or savings accounts, and her unpaid cell phone and credit card bills are always stuffed inside her purse or into the glove compartment of her car. Often, her debit/ATM card and credit cards are declined at stores. Erica jokes with her friends that she never knows when her phone bill is due until