How to Survive Your Freshman Year is a part of the Hundreds of Heads Survival Guides series - the back cover claims that “This book proves that all of us are smarter than one of us.” Oh really?

I was sent a review copy of the book, and for a week or so, I endured the ridicule of my friends while I read it. “Stephanie, aren’t you a few too years late in reading this?” Yes, yes I am - as a college senior now, this information is a bit post dated.

But I wish I’d had it before my freshman year.

This book is just plain excellent. It’s a collection of tidbits - advice from college sophomores, juniors, seniors, graduates, and even a few dropouts, for good measure. Due to the format, a lot of the pieces of advice contradict each other - for example, there’s one page with people arguing for and against bringing an iPod to college. I like the conflicting advice - it gives the reader multiple views and allows them to decide for themselves.

If you’re heading off to college this fall, or sometime soon after that, I highly suggest you grab a copy of the book and read it. The best part is that they put out a new edition every year, so it stays current. So if you’re not headed to college yet, wait a bit and grab the new edition the year you go off to school.

For good measure, I’d like to add some tidbits from my own college experience. These pieces of nostalgia and advice came pouring out while I was reading the book:

I loved living in my co-ed dorm freshman year. A lot of the advice in the book says to try and get a dorm with only other freshman - nothing like that really existed at my school (that I knew of), but I was definitely in one of the more mixed dorms, because I was in the honors dorm. Even though I wasn’t an honors student, I felt really at home there. We had a running joke that the honors kids were there to make the rest of us smarter, and we were there to make the honors kids dumber!

Two things that were indispensable my freshman year: a can opener and a doorstop. I was one the only freshman on my floor to bring a can opener, so I was in hot demand for a while. And the doorstop was necessary because our dorm doors would not stay open without one.

Speaking of the doorstop, here’s a big DON’T for you: DON’T be that guy that never has his door open. There’s one on every floor, and you don’t want to be him. Keep your room reasonably clean, and prop the door open as much as possible.

There are lots of professor rating sites, and they are well worth checking when signing up for the classes. But the site the worked best for me was the one that was for my school only - more people use it, and that’s really what counts. Find out if one exists for you school, and if it doesn’t, find someone who’s willing and able to start one.

A lot of the advice in the relationship chapter says to not get into a serious relationship your freshman year. I couldn’t agree with this more heartily (based on my own mistakes) and I really wish someone had said this to me before college!

Did you survive college? Are you surviving it now? Please share your tidbits of knowledge in the comments!

My generation: do we have a name? We are the young adults, born between 1980 and 1995 (give or take). I hear us called “Generation Y,” “Echo Boomers,” “the Digital Generation,” and “the iPod Generation,” but none of these names strike a chord with me. But there’s another possibility - are we “Generation Debt?”

One of our own, columnist Anya Kamentez, gives us this label in her book Generation Debt: Why Now is a Terrible Time to be Young. I picked this book up at the library after having read several of Anya’s articles on Yahoo! Finance - and I have to say, it was one of the most enjoyable and eye-opening books that I’ve ever put my hands on.

The book is a mishmash of relevant statistics and commentary on the economics of our generation, and how social and political factors play into those economics. It’s hard to write up a review, or even an overview, since no page is to be missed. It’s all startling and staggering.

In short, I knew our generation was in trouble, but I had no idea how much trouble we are in until I read this book.

There’s a large focus throughout the book, most especially at the beginning, on the problems in paying for college. This is obviously something I know a great deal about, living through it every day. But Anya has pulled together all of the factors feeding into it, which brought new light to the problem for me. The government’s shift from providing grants to guaranteeing loans. Schools raising their tuition prices faster than inflation and faster than the growth of the average income. The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) being a poor system for calculating aid, since it doesn’t take many factors into account, including recent changes in family status (such as unemployment, disability, or emergencies).

Although there’s a strong focus on college and the enormous debt it brings so many of us, there’s also a good deal on low-wage earners: both those who forgo college (for any number of reasons) and those who get a degree that doesn’t end up being any help.

Our benefits are shrinking. Social security won’t be there for us. The entire economic system is taking a shift, and we’re going to be the ones caught up in it. The baby boomers are beginning to retire right now - and over the next 30 years or so, we’ll be picking up the bill for a lot of them.

As I said, this review is difficult to write. The copy of the book I have is full of post-it notes - item after item of things I would like to go on about in great detail. But here it is: you should really just read the book. Whoever you are. If you’re a member of Generation Debt, like I am, do not miss this opportunity to pick up the book and start to understand the world that you’re entering.

If you’re a parent of one of us “G-Debters” (I just made that term up - Anya, you can thank me later), please read this book. Please, please. I’m very much hoping to get this book into my parents’ hands, so that they can better understand what world they’ve sent me and my siblings into.

If you’re a high schooler, I also encourage this book. But be warned, a lot of it will seem like doom and gloom, and you may even be tempted to put the book down and never look at it again, halfway through. Do not fall into this trap - you really want to read the whole thing and especially get to the last chapter: “Waking Up and Taking Charge.”

This generation is not lost so long as there are those of us who are willing to go the distance to make things work. This book has inspired me to start something big - I can’t get into it now, but look for updates on that in the coming months. (Oo, SUSPENSE!)

“From My Reader” is a weekly series, highlighting one of over 30 blogs that I track using Google Reader.

This week, I’d like to highlight one of the smaller blogs I subscribe to - the personal finance blog at KMull.com, which is still trying to find its wings. But that’s ok - you could say the same thing for Poorer Than You. (Unless anyone I went to high school with asks you. In that case, you should tell them about how I run the most spectactular personal finance blog out there, and that you once heard I wrestled a shark while calculating my annual return.)

The thing I love about Kevin’s writing at KMull is the real “personal” side of the personal finance. There’s an awesome story about how his college roommate fell out of bed and broke his finger. Though, you might want to hold off on that story if you just had lunch. Just warning you.

And, of course, there are some good solid financial commentaries on the site. Be sure to run by and check out:
I Don’t Need Credit or Why I Enjoy Making My Life Difficult
Setting Goals
Charge More Than You Can Afford

You keep on writing Kevin, and I’ll keep on reading!

Over at Get Rich Slowly, J.D. is celebrating Financial Literacy Month. He wants to know if anyone has any financial literacy resources to share, and actually, I do!

The Mint is a financial resource for kids, teens, parents and teachers. The “Kids” section (which is aimed at both kids and teens) offers tons of information, on earning, spending, savings, investing, giving, owing, safeguarding, and tracking money. There’s also a “Try It” section, full of quizzes and quick games to test knowledge. Adults might want to try the quizzes themselves, to see how their own knowledge stacks up!

In the “Parents” section, there’s another set of quizzes, called “Your Financial IQ.” The site recommends taking these quizzes because “research repeatedly reports this fact: children say they learn all they know about money from their parents.” The “parenting guide” offers advice on how to talk to kids about money, how to handle allowances, and what do when kids finally leave the nest.

The “Teachers” section offers lesson plans for budgeting, credit, scarcity, and the stock market. Parents might also give this section a glance, especially if you’re worried these topics might not be covered in school.

One last note about the site: it’s a good resource, well laid out, easy to navigate - but the graphics (photos of people with large heads) creep me out a little. I’m just saying.

The other site I’ve found is the Securities and Exchanges Commission’s Tips for Students and Teachers. Although not as graphical and interactive as The Mint, this one page site covers topics such as “Why Save and Invest?”, compound interest, types of accounts, risk, diversification, credit management, and planning financial security.

At the end of the page, there are several quizzes and calculators to play around with.

If you’re looking for more resources, check out J.D.’s Financial Literacy for All Ages.

“From My Reader” is a weekly series, highlighting one of over 30 blogs that I track using Google Reader.

Go on, admit it - you buy crap, don’t you? Stuff that you just look at a month later and go “why did I put that thing on my credit card to wrack up interest and ruin my life?” Or maybe you’re super awesome and you never make a purchase you regret. We have a name for people like that: “In Denial.”

Cap of StopBuyingCrap.com implores you to… well… stop! Buying crap, that is. And if you’re not sure what constitutes “crap,” he’ll be happy to point it out for you, like in his “Totally Crap” section, which includes a Fish Tank Toilet and a DVD Rewinder. Actually, those are the only two items there - Cap, find us some more things that are “Totally Crap,” won’t you?

I personally enjoy Cap’s “Woops, Bought Crap” entries, where he admits to not heading his own advice all the time. It’s ok, Cap, I would have bought that sweet monitor, too.

Cap also has a robust section dedicated to personal finance advice, which is fun to read as well, because it’s written with Cap’s signature sense of humor.

If pressured to make a criticism of the site, I would have to say that Cap just doesn’t update enough. Please, Cap, find more crap for me, and brighten my day a little more?

Recent posts I recommend:
FICO Score Tracking #7 - Breaking the 800 Mark
Woops, I Bought a Private Jet
Finding That Special Reason to Care About Your Finances

“From My Reader” is a weekly series, highlighting one of over 30 blogs that I track using Google Reader.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi is the personal finance blog that got me interested in personal finance blogs, so I hold it very close to my heart. Ramit’s writings are full of no-nonsense, kick-in-the-butt type advice meant to jumpstart people in their twenties, and get us thinking about personal finance.

If you’ve never been to the site, start out by visiting the Table of Contents, where you can see every article on the site laid out in an easy format. If you’re new to personal finance as well at Ramit’s site, try starting out by reading the Introductory Articles - that’s where I started, and look at me now! Er… well, I mean, look at my knowledge now, not my net worth! ;o)

Ramit’s focus is more on people getting started and knowing what they spend their money on, rather than just being insanely frugal. I have to agree - what good does it do to save money if you don’t know how much you’re spending the in first place?

Does Ramit make money from his site? People ask that like it’s some indicator for how reliable the information is. Ridiculous question, but nevertheless: Yes, Ramit makes money, but indirectly. I Will Teach You To Be Rich contains no ads. Instead, readers contact him to give personal finance seminars, and recently he sold a short ebook on the site, which I myself purchased and enjoyed.

Recent articles worth reading:
Some people think there’s only a limited amount of money
Free chapter from Ramit’s 2007 Guide to Kicking Ass (the ebook)
Personalized tax answer for iwillteachyoutoberich readers - The second question answered was mine, and because of this, I was finally able to do my taxes!

“From My Reader” is a weekly series, highlighting one of over 30 blogs that I track using Google Reader.

Love him or hate him, John Chow knows how to make money online. In just a few months, he’s pulled a blog up from making nothing at all, to pulling in more than $7,000 a month.

John’s main tactic is to simply blog about how to make money online - especially with a blog! Oh, meta blogs, how I love thee! It’s a topic that nearly every other blogger is interested, even if only in passing.

He’s also decidedly pretty evil – leveraging his audience to meet his goals of increasing his revenue. But of course, we don’t mind, because by using us to make more money, he’s showing us how to do so! It’s all very incestuous, in a way… but I’m not complaining.

The main example of this is what you’re seeing right now: John offers a linkback to anyone who reviews his site. This is beneficial all around: his search engine ranking skyrocket, because of all the incoming links, and in turn, the linkbacks help all the blogs that linked to him.

John Chow is one of the few bloggers that can pull of a ReviewMe post and make me actually want to read it. He doesn’t just shill a site – he visits it, dissects it, and lays out his findings for his audience to see.

Speaking of dissecting, my favorite post of his has nothing to do with making money, but rather with him eating a live lobster. I hate lobsters, as a rule, because I’m girly and I think they’re gross. With that said, I could never eat a live lobster, because I never want a lobster within ten feet of me!

The posts I find most valuable are located in the Make Money Online section, but the other sections are definitely worth checking out. As far as improvement, I catch a grammar error here or there, and it always irks me. I know English isn’t John’s first language (and yet, his grammar is far superior to many people that I know), but I’m a grammar Nazi! (This does not go for my own site. I don’t proofread my own site. I hate proofreading myself! I’d rather criticize others!)

So why is John Chow in my reader? Because he writes on a topic that interests me, and he writes in a style that’s engaging. And he’s evil… and I like that!

The war over direct-to-mail DVD rentals continues, even in my own house. My mother has both Blockbuster Online* and Netflix* this month, and she’s torn over which one to keep. On the one hand, she can easily return her Blockbuster DVDs to one of their physical stores, and come home with even more movies - and there’s a store not far from her place of work. Seems like Blockbuster might be the better value, for her.

On the other hand, she doesn’t like the way the categories are on the Blockbuster site, and there still isn’t as good of a selection. And, Netflix introduced a new feature last month: Watch Now. Streaming video, on your desktop, free. You get as many hours as dollars you pay for your plan (my mom is on the $15 plan, so she gets 15 hours of free streaming video a month). The feature isn’t available to all subscribers yet, but it’s being rolled out to everyone over the course of the next 6 months. Looks like my mom got in on the ground floor, because I can access the feature from her account.

So, who’s winning now? Well, I can’t tell you who my mom will pick. She really seems to be taking advantage of the Blockbuster in-store exchange, so we’ll have to see at the end of the month which she chooses. But if it were me? I’m still partial to Netflix. Bigger selection, funding of independent films, and streaming videos are all major pluses to me (I already watch LOST and other shows that are offered free on the network websites). Also, I wouldn’t use the in-store exchange of Blockbuster very often. Not that I have the money for video rentals, but, you know.

*Affiliate Links

Yep, I’ve been reading a lot of Suze Orman lately. It’s not entirely on purpose, however. This particular book, The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom, I read because it was free. Not even “trip to the library” free, but free free. It was sitting on the bookshelf outside my bedroom door - my mother had purchased it way back in 1997, and judging from the placement of the bookmark, didn’t get very far through it.

Which is a shame, because she really should have.

While reading this book, I have to compare it to her other book, The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke. My brain won’t let me not compare them. I’d like to keep this review very short, so here goes:

This book is meant for adults (older than the YF&B crowd) who are in some sort of minor financial trouble. “Minor” meaning still living paycheck-to-paycheck, no matter what your income, or having a fair amount of debt that you don’t know what to do with, or just having general clueless-ness about finances (”major” would be complete bankruptcy and poverty, I imagine, and this book would not be helpful if you had no resources at all). Obviously, if you fall into the “young and broke” category, then her other book would suit you better. But if you know someone who’s a bit older and struggling with their money, you might want to read it and recommend that they do so as well, so that the two of you can begin to talk. It’s obviously also a good read if you yourself feel you are in such a situation.

I enjoyed reading this book, because I did learn a lot of things that weren’t covered in YF&B, and I liked the anecdotal nature of the book (almost every topic is discussed within the framework of a story from one of Suze’s clients, or Suze herself). I’m really hoping to get my mother to finally read all the way though this, so that she and I can begin talking about finances. It will be nice to have read the same book and literally be on the same page.

A quick aside: some of the information was outdated, because I was reading the original edition, but the book has since been updated. However, the last edition seems to have been printed in 2000, so you might want to double-check any specific information from the book before acting upon it - then again, you should double-check any financial information, regardless of when it was published!

I stayed over at my sister’s house last night after baby-sitting her two-year-old daughter (I didn’t get paid for it, but I did get some free macaroni-and-cheese, so I call it a win), and after everyone went to bed, I stayed up real late, enjoying their cable television. This was how I was able to catch the Suze Orman Show for the first time - and two episodes, no less!

Others have expressed their dislike for Suze’s show. I can see where that would come from. She’s pretty in-your-face, but you know what? I really enjoyed the show.

I think this is my official crossing into “financial nerd” territory. Um… hurray?

Anyways, I enjoyed the show. I didn’t mind the way Suze treated most of her callers, and I’ll tell you why. She’s a bit abrasive, but I get the feeling that most of the people that call in already know what the right (”right” meaning “financially smart”) answer is, they’re just calling her so that they can hear someone else say it. And she says it, outright, without mincing words.

I guess, in the end, I liked it because I had fun watching. Yep. I’m a nerd now.