Jack,

Great show. Thanks for your show. I am helping at the Homeless Veteran Stand Down in San Diego today and still managed to listen to your show!

Rob
http://crispe.org

I have been listening to TSP for a few months now and, in my view, not only is this the best podcast so far, it’s the best use of 40 minutes a younger person (I am a still young 32) could spend. This podcast is free, but is worth at least the first years’ tuition at a university.

I agree 100% with Jack’s view of credit cards and agree that no younger person should have one…period.

I also would like to second Jack’s idea to learn how to design a website and learn website marketing. I don’t know this and it is holding me back. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE 32 TO LEARN THIS!

The nomadic lifestyle is another great idea.

If you’re 18-25, it doesn’t really matter what you do, just do something. Be useful and provide value to others and good things will happen.

Hey Jack,

Just wanted to thank you for doing this show, its always challenging to take the conversations and arguments you present and filter them to fit into my personal demographic. alot of the time its not too hard, but investments, ridding of debt etc… is a tough one as im steadily piling on the debt at college. I think the fact of having a plan is the best part because thats the only way this massive college debt is going to go away anytime soon is with a thorough and rational plan both being smart with my money now and having that solid plan when i get out. Thanks.

New listener here. Enjoy the show and just bought some cases of food from one of your show’s sponsor “ready made resources”. You may have covered this before but since I just joined I dont know, but being a first responder what advice do you you have for guys like me that cant “bug out” when the sh*t hits the fan because I have to stay here and go to work and handle it?

Regarding the 2009 Lincoln pennies, \"each cent is now struck from 99.2 percent zinc and 0.8% copper\" sourced from CoinNews.Net http://www.coinnews.net/2009/02/12/first-redesigned-lincoln-cent-launched-95-copper-versions-to-follow-4716/

What I didn\’t realise was that there are four different designs, I\’ve only seen the cabin one.
Also some \"special\" 95% Copper Cents will be coming out, not quite the same as silver coins if you ask me, but and interesting side.

As a 23 year old I really appreciated today\’s podcast. I\’ve have some friends that kinda laugh and sneer at the survivalist outlook but I have others who are much more open and they see the practicality and value of it all. Remaining hopeful for the others.

Thanks – Dave

Great show, as usual. Two comments. My first is on credit cards – I still think they are useful if used properly. We have one card, use it for everything, and pay it off the end of every month. Get 2% back on the most frequent category of purchases (for us this is groceries) and 1% back on the rest. When used responsibly, there are benefits. Second comment is on education. I’d push education, especially advanced education. In general, I would not waste time in college with degrees that lead to opportunities with salaries only marginally higher than you could get without the time spent in school. However, most technical disciplines necessitate a formal degree. Further, I’d encourage young folks who think they might want to get an advanced degree to go all the way without stopping. I went on to receive advanced degrees in engineering. After getting out and getting used to having money and a significantly easier lifestyle that graduate school in an engineering discipline I know there is no way I could go back now – just don’t have the mental fortitude or time now that I have a family. I’m a firm believer in the principle that Jack sort of implied to youger folks (correct me if I’m wrong, but this was my takeaway from your closing comments on younger employees appreciating their salaries) which is you can pay now and play later, or vice versa. Many of us truly paid our dues through a lot of hard work, dedication, and focus in executing a well thought out plan for our futures. Now, life is significantly easier thanks to that planning, hard work, some luck, and providence. I know many folks that played hard back then and have it significantly harder than I do now. One more plug for advanced degrees in technical disciplines – there are many jobs out there that require such degrees coupled with the requirement that you are a US citizen. My observation of the majority of graduate programs in any engineering discipline is that they are largely populated by foreign students. Many of these folks will not be able to apply for a large number of the available jobs out or will loose out due to communication skills. Unfortunately, most of the domestic students I came in contact with when teaching them undergrad level labs/classes when I was in school had no interest in continuing – they wanted the instant gratification of getting out and getting that “high” engineering salary to go and blow on custom golf clubs, leased vehicles, etc.

Stay disciplined, formulate and execute a good plan, resist the “gotta have it now” attitude that is pervasive in our society, and you’ll be much better off in the long run.

Ok, about credit cards. My wife and I have one. We pay it in full every single month and have never carried a balance. It also earns us points. Periodically we go online and redeem these points for gift cards to Target and restaurants we like. We have saved hundreds of dollars over the last few years on eating out, diapers, formula, etc. As long as you never carry a balance, a card is not so dangerous.

Per your quote:

When you pay cash, you can “feel” the money leaving you. This is not true with credit cards. Flipping a credit card up on a counter registers nothing emotionally. If you use credit cards instead of cash you will spend 12-18% more. This is money you could have saved.”

————————————–

That is probably the primary rationale for CHIPS being used in a casino as opposed to cash (though not the only one)
— Steve C

To everyone who loves their credit card, uses it, and pays it off, remember:

YOU ARE THE EXCEPTION, NOT THE RULE.

I’m sure there are a lot of people who can juggle chainsaws without losing a limb, but just because you saw one guy do it doesn’t mean that everyone can or should. 😉

Modern Survival,

We have used either cash or checks exclusively in the past for several years when I was in graduate school (checks were necessary for paying utility bills) and I can honestly say our spending patterns are not different (except in volume – kids have been added to the equation so of course we purchase more food, more household items like TP, etc.). Now, I will admit I have not done a 30 days one way, 30 days another comparison but I’m extremely confident in our budget and spending. Another thing to mention is that we do purchase a number of items in bulk that we do pay cash for such as a yearly supply of meat, honey, and other bulk food items that go into storage – these items we must pay for in cash, but if I could I’d use the CC. The last vehicle we purchased was a Honda minivan. We financed half of the purchase price and I was planning on paying cash for the other half (NEVER finance a vehicle by the way unless you have to – in our case neither of our other vehicles would accomodate the car seats…). Then I asked the dealer, “hey would you take a CC for the down payment” They did, so half of the purchase price went on the CC. Paid it off the end of the month and got 1% of 13k plus I kept the down payment in the bank and got another nickel of interest. I call that a good deal. As as aside, if you must finance a vehicle, have a 401k, and the 401k plan allows for it consider borrowing out of the 401k. Most plans will require you to pay yourself back interest. I dumped everything in 2007 before the crash so it was sitting there in a cash-equivalent fund earning a percent or two. Used it to finance the rest of the minivan – pay myself back 5% interest – additional forced savings to purchase a tangible good. Some might argue I should have purchased a used vehicle for 13k and been done, but our other vehicle is a beater, we travel to visit family out of state frequently, and I wanted the wife/kids in a safe reliable car.

What I will consent is that using cash probably makes one really go through the “want vs. need” line of questioning before making a purchase. I can see where it would be easy to spend spend spend without going through this exercise when using a CC. However, I still maintain CC’s can be used responsibly and to the benefit of the holder so long as their use is accompanied by a great deal of discipline.

One last un-related point – excellent suggestion about getting in and staying in shape. If you wind up in an office job it’s easy to get slack and soft. Make sure fitness is a priority.

Sending this to my daughter who’s half way through college thanks.

Hey jack, I loved the show a lot. I am 26 and have a wife and four kids, and was in the US Army 3rd ID, i learned a lot from the Army, never got to do the things you said to do, But i did travel the world to the middle east, That’ll change your life for ever!! It did mine, made me more aware how quickly things can go bad for a family fast. We saw a lot of families have food stuffs, firarm’s cache’s and etc.. there it paid off, because when we invaded the people’s infrastructure was immediately cut off, Good for the people who stored things, I just wanted to say to people my age, prepare!!! For you never know what tommorrow brings!! They didn’t and neither do i, but i am as ready as one can be in his mind. Thank you Jack