Students, here is the most important thing to keep in mind when looking for your internships

Posting on LinkedIn has connected me to a ton of #students. I've been loving talking to many of you about getting your first position in the financial services industry (and some of you in accounting!)

The initial conversation always starts off with the "how did you do it?" question. And quite frankly, I feel that I've just failed and iterated enough to refine my pitch and thought process.

💡 TIP: When talking to potential employers, bring something to the table. A minimum viable product, a suggestion, a solution, etc.

It's far less important to talk about yourself. Talk about their product or service offering. Ask yourself, how can you make their service or product better?

For some of you, that might literally just be doing menial tasks to free up their time while gaining mentorship. For others, that might mean running a marketing campaign.

Whatever it is, it's not about you and how you got into X prestigious school. It's about how you can help them achieve their goals.

💬 Keep the DMs coming everyone! I've enjoyed talking to all of you and hearing what you're up to.

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Great news for this week

Thank you AFCPE® (Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education®) for selecting me to receive this scholarship and National Endowment for Financial Education for sponsoring! And special thanks to Luis F. Rosa, CFP® EA for endorsing me in the application process.

I can't wait to get started on my path as an AFC® candidate!

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Frictionless Sales and Social Media Certified ✅

Thank you #hubspotacademy! I thoroughly enjoyed both of these courses and highly recommend other students take them as well!

With my last post on #highereducation, I got on a call with someone who challenged me to demonstrate how employers would filter through prospects among other things. Here's one way: certificates!

After tackling these two this weekend, I am currently taking on an Inbound Sales certificate and Google's Digital Marketing certificate course.

If you're like me, you're not necessarily looking for sales and marketing specific experiences, but having an understanding of these areas (even at the surface level) will help you diversify and understand your teammates in the future making you better-rounded.

With #collegesanduniversities adapting to remote instruction, free (or nearly free) learning opportunities from these courses are closing the gap of value from traditional education.

I'm committed to embracing #elearning alongside my traditional courses as I get closer to graduation to diversify my skillset with more practical learning opportunities.

How about you?

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Students, how do you feel about higher education?

Like many immigrant families, I was encouraged to take the "safe" path: go to school, go into STEM, and get a high salaried job.

As I enter the workforce concurrently as a full-time student, I've realized that my education has nearly no practical use despite taking practical skills classes.

In my limited experience thus far, my roles have leveraged more skills I learned outside of school on my own time. Moreover, I found learning skills outside of my targeted industry became highly valued from web development to digital learning to productivity.

I firmly believe the next generation of education will be different. From the startup world, Garry Tan tells us that startups have to be better, cheaper, and faster.

We can take the same approach to higher education. And it's already happening right in front of us:

-HubSpot has their #hubspotacademy

-Google has #googledigitalgarage

-LinkedIn has #linkedinlearning

-Others like Skillshare, Udemy, and Coursera leverages creators and professionals

And this is just the beginning! Education is better, cheaper, and faster already. Let's embrace it.

What do you think?

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Before #COVID19 started, I couldn't land a single summer internship. But since the pandemic hit, I've landed 3 internships!

One with Financial Planning Association (FPA)'s Externship with Hannah Moore, CFP®, one with Luis F. Rosa, CFP® EA at Build a Better Financial Future, and the last with XY Planning Network. I'm a bit late to the post, but I'm excited to announce that I've just started with XYPN last week!

What changed?

As hiring freezes rose and internships were rescinded, my strategy changed from applications to cold emails.

I cold emailed over 50+ fee-only financial planners, and I received 2 emails back from Paige Farrell, CFP® and Sophia Bera, CFP® who pointed me in FPA's direction.

As the externship ended, I cold emailed one of the speakers, Luis, and talked to him about his firm. And he sent me an internship offer letter a few days later!

Finally, I cold emailed Alan Moore (He/Him/His) and landed a call with him (with a ton of luck!). A couple weeks later, I landed an internship with XYPN!

Look, I don’t know if I was extremely lucky or struck a magic formula. But I do believe in cold emails. Comment your email below and I’ll send you the template I created and used!

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Why I Value Training and Courses Over University Education

I have never been a huge proponent of school and the current way it is set up.

For context, for those that don't know, I am currently a student at the University of California, Davis studying for my B.A. in Economics and an emphasis on Data Analytics and Economic Analysis. I originally came into college as a B.S. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major but switched soon after my first year. And now, I am in my third year (which I am planning as my last year) to graduate.

But as someone with some college education, why do I not support the current system?

Reasons I'm not a fan of formal higher education

For many people, I feel that higher education doesn't offer anything substantial considering its cost. Sure, if you are going into engineering, medical, or other technical STEM fields, higher education is practically a must, not only from the technical skill standpoint but also for credentials as you require credibility. (Fun Fact: in Canada, engineers actually get an iron ring to commemorate and swear an ethical oath to providing a high level of professional conduct in their profession because of a failure in engineering the Quebec Bridge).

However, for other majors in college, learning by doing is more efficient. For example, while you can study design and its various principles in a college setting, by actually partaking in design work, students can learn in a more natural way: making mistakes.

Another example dear to me is entrepreneurship. Many times, the professors who run these courses aren't even entrepreneurs, or they have stayed so long out of the industry that they don't contain current knowledge and challenges. Entrepreneurs (successful ones at least) are those who do, learn, pivot, and repeat (thanks Sophia Bera)! The fortitude needed is not something that is taught.

These majors could, and I believe, should, be replaced with certificates and certifications. It is much more efficient to teach these majors in a framework better adapted to their development rather than trying to fit them in the current framework. For example, at UC Davis as an Economics student, I literally only have 44 units of upper-division courses. But I am required to take at least 64 upper-division units and 180 total units to graduate. Why is it that I have to take 136 extra units to graduate? Not only is it a waste of time to take General Education courses I'm hardly interested in, but it's also a money and effort sink. I could simply take my 44 units within a single year and get a similar education value.

And quite honestly, I've learned more from sites like Skillshare and Coursera than my formal education. You learn from industry professionals in whatever topic you want to learn. Not only does it force you to engage in only what you are interested in, but these are also offered at Netflix level costs (except they're 100x more useful). I always reference my pseudo-mentor Thomas Frank, but he has an entire productivity course on there that set up my entire productivity system.

Certifications, especially in the Financial Planning world, seem to be everything. As an active job seeker, I read descriptions that say Bachelor's preferred, but they almost never specify that it has to be a Bachelor in Financial Planning. In fact, financial planners are predominantly career changers who hold other advanced degrees. These job ads focus on CFP Practitioners rather than a college education, again for that practical experience. We see similar processes in other fields like management and consulting.

So what, don't go to college?

I think that students need to refocus on if they truly need college. If you don't need it, you can avoid the average $30,000 USD of student loan debt, and save 4 years of your life that you can truly build better technical skills. There are a ton of other options, and I believe that in the future, college won't be the default for many students.

With current discourse and a bit of light encouragement, many companies like Google offer certificate programs that teach you everything you need to know about a specific job at the company. Moreover, other tech giants are not requiring college education anymore for many jobs and placing focus on practical skills.

Of course, and I repeat, for some people, college is a must. I'm talking to you technical-fields people (medical, engineering, etcetera). And more power to you! I think it makes sense for these people to have proper technical training before placing them in the field where they often have lives in their hands.

Live intentionally.

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Side Hustles For The Busy College Student

I've always questioned why college students who aren't working part- or full-time jobs on the side of their academics don't start small businesses. I feel that even loaded up with full-time units, students have far more time on their hands than they think. And starting up a side hustle could be the next break that every college student is looking for, or even just supplemental income to start paying debt, saving, or what I like to call "fun money."

For the uninitiated, side hustles are small businesses or services that people can use to leverage their skills and sell them to other people. It could literally be anything from selling t-shirts to washing cars. But here's the advantage: you get what you put out. You can choose to work for 1 hour or 40 hours depending on your current schedule.

Of course, some college students are already doing this. During my first year of college, haircutting, eyelash, and eyebrow care were highly utilized and advertised by many first-year students. They started their own businesses out of their dorm rooms leveraging their skills.

But there are students who are not doing this. I'll say though, that students who are already working part-time, full-time, or in internships may not have time to do so. But other than these people, the other demographics of students are likely to have the time to do so. But they don't.

To my college students reading this: this is the time. You likely don't have many responsibilities, have far too much time, and likely have a random leveraged skill that could serve a niche. Don't wait until later. Do it now, while you have the time and the responsibility freedom to do so.

Here are some of the side hustles ideas I've seen:

Design Work

This is an extremely broad example. I've seen students who did graphic design work: creating logos, websites, or making advertisements. Other students worked to do physical paintings and drawings. Some students created designs for t-shirts and other products. I've even seen students who paint water bottles for a living (and honestly, it was quite lucrative).

Tutoring

Tutoring is an obvious one for many students. My roommate Jon, who I mention in my Morning Routine article, was an amazing tutor for me as I struggled to grasp certain topics in my chemistry courses. And like me, many other college students are struggling with their classes from STEM to economic classes. And with the bootstrapped budgets of college students, cheap peer-to-peer tutoring is extremely desired and lucrative. You can even target virtual tutoring with websites hiring college students as tutors for high school students simply requiring proficiency from college classes. These positions often pay more than minimum wage as well. Bonus points if you tutor a topic you are extremely interested in!

Reselling

This is an obvious one. High school students can do this as well quite cheaply. A bit of an anecdote: UC Davis specifically, being the biking community that it is, has a semi-annual bike auction where the UCD Police and Transportation Services sell off abandoned or illegally parked bikes that have not been claimed. (Note: I highly recommend attending the bike auction if you are a Davis local. The atmosphere is extremely fun and energetic)! They have bikes ranging from high-end to some that don't even work. And there's a market for both. Last year, I went to the October auction and purchased 7 bikes for a little over a hundred dollars. Imagine that...I got 7 bikes for about $100. And what did I do; cleaned them with a bucket and a sponge and resold them all for about $500. I didn't even have the skills to fix them up. I just made them more presentable by cleaning them (something that doesn't require skill). Some other ideas that I've tried out are textbooks, shoes, collector items, and clothing.

But I recommend that you work within what you are comfortable with. Like technology? Buy technology. Like shoes? Buy shoes. Like hair products? Buy hair products. It's best to buy what you are interested in because you will develop a better sales pitch, and you roughly understand the market for the things you are interested in already. You know what brands are popular, what will sell, and how much things cost.

Start your side-hustle

In the end, this is not an exhaustive list, and there are many lists out there for other ideas. Just look up "college student side hustles" on Google, and you'll find thousands of results.

The important thing is to just start. It doesn't take significant time, nor research. Start with friends and work from there. Maybe you'll just spark your entrepreneurial itch as well!

Live intentionally.

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Does School Prepare Us for the Real World?

According to a CareerBuilder survey, 78 percent of U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck with 25 percent not setting aside any savings. More surprisingly, 10 percent of workers who make over six figures ($100,000 plus) also live paycheck to paycheck. 75 percent of workers are also in debt today.

With the statistics aside, finances impede the ability to live a fulfilling life for many Americans as they struggle to make basic ends meet. Many people argue that the problem is the looming cost of student debt and its toll on graduates who are thrown into an adult world without proper financial education. But why are we not looking at financial education as a way to solve the student debt crisis?

10 percent of workers who make over six figures also live paycheck to paycheck. That says something. On top of this, we always hear stories of lottery winners or athletes who go broke in a year. The problem isn't with the amount of money you make nor the debt you have, but rather it has to do with the financial education offered in our education systems.

People argue that we aren't taught to do taxes, balance an account, nor how to properly utilize debt as a tool for wealth within our education system. I do agree with this statement to a certain extent. Let me explain:

The public high school system does not include financial education as part of its curriculum. We learn how the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell and how to utilize thousand-year-old theorems to find the sides of a triangle (looking at you Pythagoras). But like every student has thought, "When will I ever truly use this in real life?" It's more than likely, you won't, especially in the context in which it is delivered. This is where I agree.

However, for those who are college-bound, nearly every campus will have classes on financial education. For example, here at the University of California, Davis, we have classes for Investments, Personal Finance, Real Estate Economics, and other related "life-skill" type classes that we can utilize. But these classes are not popular among all students, but rather those who must take these classes as part of the curriculum. Students are not utilizing the resources that they are already paying for. You do not have to pay extra past the tuition that you are already paying for to take these classes. And that is where the problem lies.

On top of this, we live in the digital era. We have huge platforms built for information and the barrier to entry is at all times low. YouTubers have capitalized and offer free advice on personal finance and investing using all types of strategies. Google also will connect you with the best sites like Investopedia. Not only that, websites like SkillShare are also revolutionizing digital education with online classes tailored to digital learning.

Life-skill classes are right in front of them, but they actively choose not to take them at a low price of practically free. Evidently, the problem doesn't lie with the lack of financial education, but rather the lack of motivation to take these classes.

I have first-hand experience with this lack of motivation. With my position as an Aggie Business Leaders and Entrepreneurship Resident Advisor, I try to bring in life skills into the dorms to integrate education for first-year students.

But my attempts are often met with a multitude of arguments:

"That's boring! Why not do something fun?"

"We can learn that in class. Why not do it there?"

"We're already dealing with x number of classes."

"I'm only 18, why do I need to know that now?"

That last one is an answer I plan to answer in the future, but the others are always common when I bring up the topic of financial education.

The problem doesn't lie with not having the financial education resources available; it lies in the mindset of those who complain about not having them.

Live intentionally.

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Entrepreneurship Is Safer Than Salary

This pandemic has given me time to reflect on my long term goals. I may be young, but I am confident in my ability to learn from older generations. Many Americans are now unemployed as a result of these struggling times, and the illusion of job security is especially apparent now.

Like many immigrant families, I was encouraged a simple path. Go to school, get into a STEM program, and get a high salaried job. But as I entered college as a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major, I started having second thoughts on what I thought my future would look like.

But now as I see many companies laying off employees, using PPP loans, or just shutting down, is there true job security in these fields? For those who didn't invest and have a strong financial foundation, their only source of income was the job they held. Their time at work equaled their living expenses.

What if I told you that there's a way to leverage skills to say have 100 different jobs at the same time, all while working similar hours (or even less), and doing something you are truly interested in? It's called entrepreneurship.

Justin, that's way too risky! What if you fail?

From my perspective, building a business seems much less risky than having a job. In a job, you have one source of income: the company. But in your business, you can build as many as you want.

Take financial planning as one example. If you serve 100 clients and 1 fires you, you still have 99% of your income. Even if something drastic happens and 50% of your clients fire you, you still have 50% of your income. Now let's compare this to a job. If your boss decides to fire you for whatever reason, 100% of your income will be gone. So, with this, I feel that having multiple bosses (your clientele) is much safer than just having one.

Of course, there is always risk of failure. But that risk is much higher in the so-called "secure" job market. And of course, there is a bit of survivor bias in current rhetoric from other entrepreneurs that have "made it," but there is also survivor bias in the rhetoric from the secure job market.

While I believe that a "stable" job with a steady stream of income can be an extremely valuable tool for wealth generation and growth, I don't think that it should be advertised as the only pipeline for growth. In today's discourse, we often see that all students are encouraged to get a job after college, because why else would you go to college?

Colleges should be encouraging students to pave their own path (even if that path is to go to a more stable job) and foster personal development and growth.

As to not be somber, I believe this change is happening. Many colleges now offer practical skills and applicable skills classes. Furthermore, many colleges are now offering entrepreneurship and startup classes or infrastructure to support this type of growth. It's a small step towards the growth I'd like to see in the future.

Live intentionally.

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The Morning Routine of a UC Davis Student

With productivity at an all-time high, students and professionals alike are trying to find ways to free up more time for their work-life balance. Some are seeking the secrets to becoming a billionaire. And others are trying to get an edge over their competitors.

The "Morning Routine" has had quite a boom over the past few years with thousands of videos on Youtube and even more, Google searches shown by Google Trends data.

Last year, I had a bit of this craze too. Throughout high school, I followed a Youtuber by the name of Thomas Frank over at CollegeInfoGeek. He discusses various productivity tips for students that he, himself, implemented in his life over time. Of course, he is not a robot (or might be, who knows), and has the identity of being the productivity guru.

The morning routine is advocated for multitudes of successful people leading to the topic's popularity in online literature. Some claim that waking up at 3:30 A.M., 5:00 A.M., and everything in between is keys to success. But how true are these claims?

When I started at UC Davis, I was determined to make a name for myself. I tried to implement a bunch of productivity tips, but to my dismay, they often slowed my progress down due to the sheer number that I tried to do at once. The lesson of the day is to make incremental changes that lead to exponential gains.

However, the morning routine ideology stood with me with the main benefit of time without distraction. I tried different times in each quarter (3 month periods) to test the changes in my life.

First, I tried the 5:00 A.M. time as it seemed to be the most popular. Waking up when the world was still asleep was brutal, but it definitely allowed me extra time without any distractions from my phone and my roommate, Jonathan. (Jon, if you're reading this, sorry for waking up at 5:00 A.M. all the time.) I usually was able to get about 75% of my school work done for the day during this time period before my classes around 8:00 A.M. To do this, I set a rule for myself. I had to get to bed by 9:00 P.M. to try to get the full 8 hours. Sometimes it worked; sometimes it didn't.

The problem with waking up at 5:00 A.M. is that you have to sleep early or you'll be too tired for the day's work. As a student, these night hours are when you socialize with your friends, and I had to sacrifice this aspect of my life to achieve this goal. On top of this, waking up early may have disturbed the sleep of my roommate, Jon. These were serious problems with this morning routine that couldn't be valued over the amount of work I got done.

Later on, when I got my own room, I tried a 4:30 A.M. morning routine so that I could get into the gym and out before anyone else got there. This, of course, again had the same problem of sacrificing night social hours.

Fast forward to today, and I am now waking up at a cool 7:30 A.M. Now this may seem early to many people still, but my year of waking up 2 to 3 hours earlier prepared me for this well. This is a sweet spot for me as my natural waking time is usually between 7:00 and 8:00 A.M. which allowed me to wake up without the grogginess of waking up from an alarm.

From here, I give myself 30 minutes to catch up on financial literacy as well as social media platforms. After this, I head to work out in my garage for about 60 minutes since we are all social distancing (if you're reading this in the future, google "COVID-19.") This is followed by a shower and breakfast which I allot myself 60 minutes for. While I usually do not take the full 60 minutes, I've learned that overestimating the time is more efficient as it gives you some leeway. And then, it's off to do some work before my classes.

While this might not seem like the most efficient or most productive morning routine, I definitely believe you can learn from my self-experimentation.

Here are my conclusions:

• Wake up around your natural waking time. Don't fight your circadian rhythm. There is no magic number of when to wake up for success. Some of us are night owls, and some are early birds.

• Your morning doesn't have to be filled with work as people make it out to seem. This time might just be the best time for your self-improvement regimen.

• Get enough sleep. Waking up at 5:00 A.M. doesn't work on 2 hours of sleep. The other side of this is don't oversleep either as this can be just as detrimental.

• If you have a roommate and your natural waking time is earlier than theirs, tell them sorry now and maybe get one of those vibrating alarms rather than auditory ones. Sorry, Jon.

At the end of the day, it isn't the morning routine that gets you to success. It's the discipline associated with it. If you are able to discipline yourself enough to follow a consistent routine, it will help you in other areas of your life until you are successful.

Live intentionally.

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Stop Normalizing Debt

They tell you never to ask for a man's salary. But why? Why is money a taboo in our society? Honestly, it's gotten a lot better over time.

I think one of the main issues is that people normalize having a negative net worth (debt). I believe that debt shouldn't be a taboo because it is actually the most powerful wealth-building tool ever (if used correctly). But of course, it's a double-edged sword that can easily stab you in the back.

But people often don't understand that their debt jokes are often underlying issues in their financial mindset.

At least I only have X amount of debt.

Oh, I can pay off the credit card later!

Interest is just a matter of using someone else's money. After all, today's money is worth more today than later.

I can't beat the credit card companies anyways.

These are just a few of the things I've heard in my lifetime, even at my age. But these highlight serious underlying issues of how people normalize their debt.

For one, it doesn't matter how much debt you have. It matters what your plan is with it. See, a low-interest house mortgage is one of the best-used debts as it allows you to leverage a small amount of money to purchase a large investment. But a 15% credit card debt will compound largely overtime. If you approach a 15% credit card debt with the rule of 72 (a rule that roughly estimates the time in years for the doubling of a number), 72/15 is 4.8 years. This means that if you owe 10,000 on your credit card, and only pay the minimums, you'll likely double the balance in 5 years. And in another five years, your 10,000 of debt will be somewhere in the 40,000 ballpark.

Also, while it is true that credit cards allow you to buy things and pay later, this can become sour very quickly. The question is if you have the discipline to only spend what you can afford. Credit cards and their limits give an illusion that you can afford more than you actually can. So, one of the few things you could do is to automatically pay off your credit card by linking a checking or savings account. You could also simply place small items such as subscriptions on your credit (to build your credit score), but use your debit for larger purchases such as groceries.

These are just a few of the common issues that people try to normalize. There are many more, and this obviously isn't an exhaustive list. If there is anything you'd like me to tackle specifically, let me know!

I just wanted to show you that seemingly small jokes that people say on a daily basis can be largely caused by underlying beliefs and that these beliefs can be solved quite easily with some conscious thinking.

Live intentionally.

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Snowball vs. Avalanche Debt Paydown Method

One of the first financial "gurus" that people often tell me about is Dave Ramsey. For the uninitiated, Dave Ramsey is a financial author and talk show host who popularized his snowball method in his book, The Total Money Makeover. And he has had quite the impact on the financial services community by provided Dave Ramsey preferred financial coach partners, where a financial coach can go through his training and pay to get prospects fed to them.

What is the Snowball Method?

The Snowball Method is a process to eliminate debt. Simple right? What it recommends is to write out and track all of your debt in terms of monetary value owed at the present time. After doing this, we must order the debt in terms of increasing value. And finally, pay off this debt by paying off the smallest balances first.

Now, why does this work? it works on the principle of having many small victories over your financial chains. After paying off each debt completely, it feels like a moment of relief as if you have won the first battle. And this continues to fuel your drive to pay off the next smallest debt. Repeat this over and over until your debt is completely paid off.

Largely, it gives you the motivation to continue to pay off the debt by giving you small victories and increasing the chances of the feel-good hormone to make you more likely to tackle the next debt. This is why it is called the Snowball Method. It continually builds up until the snowball becomes so large from paying off debt, that it fast tracks you into building more wealth through the next stage: investments.

But, Justin, is this the most efficient method?

No. The reason why this is absolutely not the most efficient method is that the smallest debt might not have the highest interest rate.

So, let me explain:

Say you have two separate debts. One is 10,000 at a 15% interest rate and the other is 1,000 at a 10% interest rate. What the Snowball Method recommends is to take care of the 1,000 first, and worry about the 10,000 later. But this doesn't make numerical sense. For simplicity, let's assume that the interest is billed on an annual basis. This means that 10,000 will be 11,500 in one year, whereas 1000 will only grow to 1100. So in one year, by not trying to pay off the higher interest rate, it grew by over 1,000...more than the other debt completely.

So why doesn't everyone just pay off high-interest debt first? I mean technically, it's the most efficient method. But paying off high-interest debt first may not lead to the small victories that the Snowball Method would give. And thus, people are more likely to give up on paying it off.

So while it is the most efficient, psychologically, many people prefer the Snowball Method as it gives them something to celebrate about at smaller terms rather than tackling the most expensive and fastest-growing debt.

So, what does this mean for me?

Choose the method that works for you. For me, I rather be efficient as I tend to see things in the long term. For many others (likely the majority), the Snowball Method will give each person victories that they can use as motivation for the next battle.

You have to know what kind of person you are and choose the best method for you because, at the end of the day, all that truly matters is that you pay off your debt and free your financial chains. You are in control.

Live intentionally.

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My Message to the Class of 2020

Congratulations to the Class of 2020! While COVID-19 may have left you with a virtual ceremony for your 16+ years of hard work, you had the most supported graduation unique from previous classes. The Obamas, Beyoncé, BTS, Lady Gaga, Secretary Robert M. Gates, Sundar Pichai, Secretary Condoleezza Rice, and Malala Yousafzai were your commencement speakers. Not only that, but Lizzo, BTS, the New York Philharmonic, dozens of other artists, famous actors like Dwyane Wade, Tom Hanks, and Alicia Keys also performed just for you.

What a memory to have. And a great story to tell your kids.

I'm usually not of an optimistic mindset, but trust me when I say, while job recruitment has nearly come to a stop, unemployment is unusually high, and the stock market crashed, all of these will pass. And you will be successful.

A Case Study: 2008

In 2008 pre-recession, life was great. The stock market was at all-time highs. Homeowners were abundant. And students getting ready for graduation were optimistic going into the job market. Then, the bubble burst. Institutions were destroyed, and individuals fell on hard times.

But what happened after?

The markets recovered in record time: 4 years. The previous recession before took nearly 25 years!

What made this drastic difference was the duration for containment measures as well as the speed in which the government reacted. The Federal Reserve quickly lowered interest rates to record lows increasing money velocity, which led to more investment and boom in the economy.

Companies grew at unprecedented rates with borrowing rates so low, and thus, the Class of 2008 was once again given its chance to rise to collectively take over the job market.

To The Class of 2020

The markets have largely returned to where they were before. This was in a matter of months, not years. And mid- and large- companies are stronger than ever. And people are especially considerate towards you, Class of 2020.

To my friends in Silicon Valley, tech companies actually grew! This means great prospective jobs for my engineers, analysts, and consultants.

To my biotech friends, obviously, all of these are growing at insane rates to ramp up R&D for the vaccine. Again, a solid prospective job field to apply to right now.

To my creators, this is the perfect time for creation. People have record levels of time now. And to top it off, we can't leave our homes. So digital content is on the rise, and you can capitalize on its growth. Be the next Ed Sheeran, Picasso, and PewDiePie. You can do it.

The list can go on. See the pandemic as an opportunity for growth, not stagnation. Develop applicable skills in your field to better your resume. Get a new hobby. Whatever you do, don't stop progressing.

Live intentionally.

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FPA Externship Review 2020

With COVID-19 running rampant and multitudes of companies freezing their hiring process and internship programs, I was stuck without options. Looking for virtual positions, I landed on sending emails to local fee-only financial planners looking to outsource some of their financial planning needs. Many of them, members of Financial Planning Association (FPA), referred me to the Virtual Externship program (Thanks to Paige Farrell at Endeavor Financial Planning as well as Sophia Bera at Gen Y Planning!).

The program runs through all eight of the primary topics of financial planning.

• Investment Planning

• Insurance and Risk Management Planning

• Client Communication & Care

• Cash Flow Planning

• Student Loan Planning and College Planning

• Retirement Planning

• Tax Planning

• Estate Planning

And the primary methodology was a video format of professionals in the industry discussing how each topic is related within their firm (and there were definite variations of how the planning is done from firm to firm). This was then accompanied by a homework assignment and live office hours with each speaker.

The Positives

To me, the most useful aspect was the live office hours. This is what truly made it feel like a personal experience to be in the program as it allowed us to get direct questions answered in an efficient way. With so many different professionals in the program, it was interesting to see the different perspectives taken on the same issues such as the lack of diversity in the industry. Moreover, we were able to hear some of the underlying stories (unedited) of different pathways that each person took to get to where they were.

Furthermore, I thoroughly enjoyed the community. What Hannah did was to invite "ambassadors" from the FPA Activate Facebook group who could help out to act as moderators to give answers to prospective questions on various topics ranging from general career advice to help on the use of financial technology software. This, again, gave a personal touch where we could directly relate to the other externs in the program, but also people ahead of us career-wise to hear the different perspectives and pool our knowledge together.

The third positive is the homework assignments that gave us technical knowledge and practice with what would otherwise be unattainable software for the entry-level or aspiring planner. Specifically, we worked a bit with Morningstar Advisor Workstation and eMoney, with a demo of TD Ameritrade's iRebal software. With eMoney, we were given an 11-hour certification program that allowed us to gain proficiency in the software that also gave us proof of mastery. I believe that this will significantly add an edge to my resume as I will immediately be able to start using the software in whatever position I get.

Some Improvement Areas

One of the things that I wished the program had as I worked through the modules was a practice full walkthrough of a financial planning process. Within the program, we did have a Financial Planning In Action video set, but it largely was synonymous with the live office hours from the other professionals. What I would have liked to see was a mock walkthrough of a client-planner relationship as I'd like to see how different (common) client questions are approached and how the planner structures each meeting. While I understand that this experience would change from firm to firm, I would have loved to see at least one angle spread across the 8-week program.

Another area I would have loved to see was a business development type week where we could go over the backend work of firm structure and different industry standards. For example, we could have been shown the various aspects of setting up a firm such that of compliance, legal business entities, and other core investments into a firm. This particularly would have been useful for career changers (which I am not) as they would have been more likely to gain by utilizing their previous career experience for implementation.

Overall

Overall, it was definitely a positive experience and I would recommend it to my peers if asked. And I believe it was well worth the $40 membership fee for FPA. As the goal was to develop FPA NextGen's outreach, I believe it was incredibly successful.

I appreciated the behind the scenes looks from each individual, small and large, and it really gave me a better perspective on the bright minds leading this industry. And of course, I thoroughly enjoyed every segment of "what advice do you have for the new planner?" at the end of each live office hours.

Some of my key takeaways (Note: These are not exact quotes, just from my jotted down notes, links to each person can be found below):

Failure is part of the process. Learn, pivot, and it'll all be okay. (Sophia Bera)

Little things add up. (Carl Richards)

Find a mentor. (Dr. Brad Klontz)

Define what you are really selling. (Keith Beverly)

Your path is going to be the best path for you. (Hannah Moore)

Simplicity leads to action. / Don't be afraid to get compensated for your value. (Luis Rosa)

Understand various perspectives. (Lauryn Williams)

Do it sooner. Go. Do it. Get it done. (Pam Horack)

Be conscious of who you want your client to be. / You have to truly love the career. (Louis Barajas)

I truly enjoyed hearing everyone's perspectives on various topics during this externship program. This externship has introduced me to so many different areas of financial planning: namely the coaching side (what I like to call the pre-advisor). It also gave me an introduction to different literature and industry-leading material that I could utilize to learn more. Namely, I'd like to mention the FPA Activate Facebook group, XYPN Facebook Group, and the You're a Financial Planner Now What podcast, all of which I have now become an active user of.

I'd like to give special thanks to Hannah Moore and her entire team that handled all the logistics and technology. I'd also like to give special thanks to Luis Rosa, who was willing to give me a one-on-one chat with him to discuss my goals and get some advice. And thank you to all speakers and community ambassadors! All speakers will be linked below (if I can find each link) by order in the externship.

1. Katie Brewer

2. Dan Yerger

3. Keith Beverly

4. Carly Schulaka

5. Dan Moisand

6. Emilie Neumeier

7. Nelson Greene

8. Celeste Revelli

9. Jocelyn Wright

10. Christopher Woods

11. Charles Adi

12. Carolyn McClanahan

13. Heather Pierson

14. Roger Ma

15. Carl Richards

16. Sophia Bera

17. Dr. Brad Klontz

18. Eugenie George

19. Mary Beth Storjohann

20. Zaneilia Harris

21. Melissa Tosetti

22. Kevin Gibbons

23. Douglas A. Boneparth

24. Elizabeth Jetton

25. Luis Rosa

26. Matt Fizell

27. Ian Harvey

28. Alexandria Davis

29. John M. Loper

30. Catalina Franco-Cicero

31. Lauryn Williams

32. Alex Wilson

33. Pam Horack

34. Jennifer Harris

35. Pamela Capalad

36. Dyalekt

37. Ana Trujillo Limon

38. Brandon Heid

39. Meg Bartelt

40. Sabrina Lowell

41. Chloe Moore

42. J.D. Bruce

43. John Eing

44. Daria Victorov

45. Joseph Stemmle

46. Amanda Gutierrez

47. Kevin Mahoney

48. Erica James

49. Scott Leonard

50. Mark Prendergast

51. Trudy Turner

52. Walter K. Booker

53. Brett Tharp

54. Louis Barajas

55. Marguerita Cheng

56. Matt Showley

57. Elissa Buie

58. Kyle Jordan

59. Christine Richardson

60. Kate Healy

61. Patrick McAleer

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Motivated By The Fear Of Being Average

I saw a quote recently that said something along the lines of...

"If you don't come out of this pandemic's quarantine with a new side hustle, a new hobby, or better habits, you are the average person."

...and it hit me like a brick wall. Quite literally.

Story Time

When COVID-19 hit, my world was thrown into chaos. My final exams in a week were all being changed to online formats, and some of my professors opted to grade us solely on what we had already done. In one class, a single midterm decided my entire grade (though subtle brag: it was my investments class, which I did great at given my background).

And as Spring Quarter rolled around, we were presented with "emergency" online classes. At this time, I was also relieved of my position as a Resident Advisor at the University of California, Davis, and thus, I had to move back home. And as I sat there without the distractions and community events of being in person on campus, I realized the amount of time I really had available to me. Nearly 8 hours each day were spent unproductively according to my calculations (nerd voice).

As a productivity junkie, this just couldn't be.

So what did you do, Justin? Play video games?

Why, yes...yes I did. I gained some more squad wins in Fortnite.

But that wasn't it. I began to focus. I focused on what my short term goals were, where I wanted to be in 5 years, and the key question: What are some steps I can do today to get myself 1% closer?

This question is extremely powerful, and it plays off the 1% rule that is cited nearly everywhere. Slow and steady wins the race just as 1% compounded every single day will win your goals.

I've seen two types of people grow out of this pandemic.

👉 Type I - Finally had the time to achieve their goals and got to it. I'm looking at all those achieving their fitness goals right now!

👉 Type II - Those who wasted their time and didn't see the pandemic as an opportunity. I'm looking at all those who lost all their gains now.

Both Type I's and Type II's were dealt with the same hands. The difference lies in the mindset. Type I's wanted to be more than average, and they pushed forward with their newfound time. And of course, Type II's slugged behind watching the latest hit series (totally recommend the new Snowpiercer series!).

And it doesn't seem like the pandemic is going to be over anytime soon with the growing rates of transmission. So it isn't too late for the II's to become I's, and I strongly urge all of you to grab your goals now.

What did you actually do, Justin?

No, seriously, I played video games...many, many hours have been clocked in on my Steam and EpicGames accounts.

Though, I did accomplish a few things, and I failed at others.

Accomplishments thus far:

• Built a small business (subtle ad: kicknkardz.com)

• Went all in on my website design service (I stagnated for the past year or so with little clients) and became a Wix Partner, took the Wix Editor X Academy, and mastered Editor X's beta software for responsive web design

• Started my financial coaching service, built out appropriate systems, took on my first two clients, and currently attending the Financial Coaches Network's Launch Program (a coaching program that helps you launch your financial coaching business)*

• Attended the Financial Planning Associations Virtual Externship

• Networked, learned, networked, and learned

• Received a financial planning internship at Build a Better Financial Future*

Failures thus far:

• Lost significant gains and gained significant amounts of fat (yes, it's noticeable)

• Failed a few virtual job interviews

• Played far too many hours of video games (Fortnite, Don't Starve, The Witcher Trilogy)

I will be updating this list as the pandemic goes on, and my list of video games grows, of course.

And as always —

Live intentionally.

*Updates I've made since writing the article

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Real Video Games Are Good Teachers of Real Principles

Like many words in today's society, defining education is difficult to say the least. This is because of the huge disparity of what one person would consider education. School is a word that is much more synonymous with the majority of the population. But are these two things the same?

Often, people say that you receive an education in school. But with new ideas, people are now seeing education and school as separate, or at least each having their own defining character. In the modern era, the idea of education includes everything you learn through your daily life. This means that you are able to get an education outside of an official institution such as a university.

With this, I believe it is interesting to see the adaptation of education in today's progressive era.

Learning comes in all forms and despite the older folk saying that video games are rotting our brains, I believe that video games can be a stimulating way to teach children complex topics in a way that will keep those dopamine levels high.

My Game of Choice: Maplestory

I learned this first hand. I was able to learn many of the basic business tactics without even knowing it at the bright age of 5.

For those who are also video game enthusiasts, you may have heard of the game Maplestory. It is a game by Nexon that is a 2-D side-scrolling massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). There is a virtual currency in the game called Mesos that allows you to purchase better equipment to make your character stronger. And this is where it begins.

How I Learned Business Principles

Buy Low, Sell High

In the game, you could get mesos by killing monsters that would drop them. However, this would be the equivalent of trying to find pennies on the ground. It wouldn't be profitable. The other and the better alternative would be to do the most basic principle, buy low, and sell high. This is the most basic business principle to produce a profit, which is defined as revenue minus costs.

Even as a five-year-old kid, I was able to notice that there was a low, average, and high cost for various items. One of these items for those versed in Maplestory was Ilbis, a throwing star for one of the character classes that allowed you to do more damage. However, this item is not a high tier nor a low tier item giving it a unique position where many higher-tiered players were trying to get rid of them (buying low from these people) and mid-tier players who sought them out (selling high to these people).

Scarcity

Economics works on this one principle: scarcity. Scarcity is the idea that there is a limited amount of goods within a market. In this case, there was a limited amount of Ilbis in the market since they were not a farm-able item. While I didn't know the economic term at the time, it was basic understanding to me that when there is less stock, price increases drastically since the demand for the product was higher. This is exactly what happened with the market for Ilbis, and of course, I took advantage of it.

Convenience

By understanding my customer, I was able to create convenience for my customers in the game. Thus, I was able to sell at a premium price level. I did this by offering to travel in-game to the consumer rather than forcing them to come to me. Fixing a problem like this is a key principle when trying to run a business. Take granola bars for example. Granola bars are extremely cheap to manufacture, but they provide a quick and easy snack for the consumer, and thus, consumers are willing to pay premium prices for what is a relatively inexpensive item.

Advertising and Marketing

To sell products, you need to advertise. In Maplestory, you would go to the Free Market (FM), an area where people would congregate to sell their items. I use to sit for hours copy and pasting the same line "Selling Ilbis 20 million mesos!" While this wasn't the most efficient option to sell the products, it was effective, to say the least. Staying in the FM for long periods of time allowed me to hit a larger number of consumers which allowed me to convert them into buying customers.

Automation

Nexon, the company that created Maplestory, has to make money somehow. The video game market is driven by pure profit. Since Maplestory was a free-to-play game, they instead offered in-game purchases that would ease the gameplay slightly. One of the most useful products they sold was a virtual character store. This store would allow you to leave your character in-game with your computer running that lets you list items for sale in the Free Market. This store basically allowed you to remove yourself from the copy and pasting. So instead of sitting there for hours on end trying to sell my products, I would just leave my character there to do the work for me! This would be like purchasing capital in the real world. A machine that does a monotonous task will save you time and money as it did for me in Maplestory.

Even better than this was a virtual shop. Nexon sold a store that allowed you to leave it there WITHOUT having to leave your character there as well. So this would be similar to hiring an employee to run your store. With this method, you could actually play the game by being able to sell things at the same time. Of course, this came at an added price. It cost nearly double the amount in real-world money when compared to the character run store.

Competition and Location

With these stores, there were better spots to leave them with higher amounts of player traffic, but again, these spots were scarce. I was able to learn the importance of location. Location is one of the key aspects when planning out a business. It could make the difference between success and failure. Being downtown in most cities is extremely expensive, but it comes at a benefit that there is a huge amount of foot-traffic that would pass by and allow you to advertise to the larger number of consumers that could be converted into customers.

What Does This All Mean?

What I am getting at, is that all experiences could be education if you are able to turn it into one. I fell upon this idea accidentally through Maplestory, but I am obviously not the only unique case. Many game developers are seeing the value in game-based education with a multitude of mobile applications that have come out recently to give an incentive to children for learning.

In the modern era, school is not the only future. With the internet rising at hand, entrepreneurship is at an all-time high, and getting a college-level learning experience is in the palm of our hands.

Live intentionally.

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