See Jane Get Rich

Today, I logged into my bank account to find that my account balance jumped by $4,000.   “Whoa!  What happened?!” I asked myself.  As I quickly scanned my bank account transactions I saw a refund from my law school in the amount of $4,000.  I then quickly logged into my student account to review account charges for Spring 2010 and under credits there is a credit under “outside scholarship $4,000.”   

 I had an outside scholarship that paid for $4k of my tuition for Spring 2009 and I used another $4k for my Fall 2009 tuition.  I found the terms of the scholarship and it states:

 The $4,000.00 scholarship is renewable for the third year of law school (except in the event of unusual circumstances, determined in the discretion of the firm, that may involve the Scholar’s academic performance or conduct subsequent to the award….)

 It seems I was wrong in my interpretation in thinking $4k was just for the third year as a whole.  The scholarship must have renewed again for the Spring semester since I still meet the requirements.  I paid my tuition somewhat early before the scholarship was applied to my tuition and I believe this triggered the refund.  

This brings down my total all time out-of-pocket law school tuition expenses from $29,377.50 to $25,377.50 and my Spring 2010 tuition from $8,777.50 to $4,777.50.   

 An unexpected $4,000 is the best way to start off the week!

Come spring 44,000 law students will graduate with their JD and what will the overwhelming majority have in common?  Debt to the tune of $76,563.  That is the estimated average law school debt.  Actually, those figures were for 2004-2005 and Forbes puts that number at $100,000.   Mint puts it at $92,937 in their interactive Student Loans by the Numbers guide.  Of course, this is in addition to any debt accrued from undergrad and graduate school. 

According to the American Bar Association, the average tuition and fees for a private law school rose from $16,798 in 1995 to $26,952 in 2004, including a 5 percent jump from the $25,574 tuition average in 2003. To help pay for that education, students attending private law school borrowed an average of $76,563 in 2004-2005, according to the ABA.

I always stayed away from debt because I wanted to know that after Law School where and what I decided to do would be my own choice.  That choice should only be dictated by my personal preference (and the job market) and not how much I must make to meet my monthly debt payments. 

Having such a huge debt means that students will not only forego an ideal job for one that pays the most, but research shows that student loans will cause 44% to delay buying a house while 28% will delay having children per Mint’s data.   

I don’t believe in the concept of good debt versus bad debt because I think all debt is debt.  Debt for education is not necessarily good because it is for education.  It will only be financially benficial if it will increase your earning power in a significant manner for the amount your paid for the education plus the amount of money you lost by staying out of the job market while pursuing the education.  I think the term ”good debt” causes people to skip the careful analysis that they should be doing whenever they take on any kind of debt. 

Do you agree with the concept of good debt and bad debt?

Hmm…networking or animal sacrifice?  What a tough choice to make!  The sample size is small so, “Emailing resumes, 300th time’s a charm!” is most definitely still in the running.   

 There is a very honest article  titled Unemployed law student will work for $160k plus benefits from a third-year Harvard Law student who was “no-offered” by his/her summer firm similar to me.   The author did forget to mention a crucial piece of information.  Harvard Law is taking close to half a million from their endowment and creating jobs for their graduates in the form of public interest fellowships.   Now, that’s an unexpected benefit of going to a top law school.  The law school will actually create jobs for its unemployed students.  

The poll did give me a good laugh.

Over budget by $63.63

February expenses were much better when compared with last month.   My gas use was very low because I was stuck inside for a whole week due to the snow storm. 

My food expenses have gone up because (1) I am eating out a whole lot more with friends and (2) I am feeling down about my legal career prospects and haven’t really had the energy nor the desire to cook.

I had lunch with an attorney from the General Counsel’s office at my internship site and I ran over some of my plans with her.  The current plan is to get a non-legal regulatory job and then use that experience to get a legal job.  I told her I knew going the non-legal path first would make everything a little bit more difficult but if I wanted to avoid gaps in my resume, I should take a non-legal job for 1-2 years. 

 The attorney told me that going the non-legal route is not only makes obtaining a legal position down the road difficult but it is also a highly risky path to take.  She said she had seen too many lawyers get stuck in non-legal positions and advised me to proceed with caution.  Also, my legal skills would get shoddy from disuse.  According to her, a law school graduate becomes a lawyer by doing legal work and getting feedback from other lawyers.  It took her three years to feel competent in her skills as a junior lawyer.  Integral to that transformation from law student to lawyer was doing legal work and having feedback from lawyers. 

 I also discussed with her another problem with pursuing a non-legal job.  Your colleagues can feel intimidated by you.  I am already experiencing this at my internship site. 

 A lot of things she said was hard to swallow and the only consolation at the end of the meal was that she picked up the check.

Last year I made a big fat mistake by paying $310 for my tax preparation.  This year I did my taxes using H&R Block’s free tax prep software for my federal and then paid $10.55 for DC and home state.  It wasn’t worth it to pay $10.55 each for the home state one but it did save me a whole lot of time so I forked over the money.  It feels so good to be done.

Federal $6,834

DC: $921

Home State: $24

Cost: -$21.10

Total = $7,757.90

I met an attorney and I told her about how I was on Plan C and she tooked at me and said “you don’t really want a job!” 

“What do you mean?  I want a job.” 

“No, you don’t.  If you really wanted a job then you would have also applied for state clerkships and you would have…”

Jane: “But, I don’t want to do state clerkships.”

“See, you don’t want a job.”

Jane: “No, I don’t want ANY job.”

“I would much rather you be in a position to turn down a job than have nothing.  You are working on plan A, then on plan B, now plan C.  By working on things consecutively, you are setting yourself up for failure.  You gotta have Plan’s A through Z and work on as many of them as possible.  You have to stagger your approach.  You have to do a full force job search none of this oh, I think I will like this.  I need you to spend at least 2 hours a day looking for a job.” 

Jane: “Two hours a day?!”

 ”There’s 168 hours in a week.  What?  You don’t have two hours to spent searching for jobs?” 

Jane: “I can try to find two hours.”

“And, you can’t be egotistical.  This is not the job market for that.  I graduated from a top law school and worked at some of the best firms.  I applied for 150 jobs last month.  Guess how many calls I got?  I got 4 interviews.  In any other market, my resume would have been snatched up but not in this market.” 

And…

I met this attorney on Friday.  Before then, I didn’t think this consecutive job searching was a bad thing although I knew it wasn’t the best way to go about it.  In some ways she is right about the fact that I don’t want a job.  I don’t want any job just to say that I have a job.  I would much rather leave the legal field behind and jump into something else rather than trying to make my way through a dead end profession where even a former Skadden associate like this attorney can’t find a job based on her superb qualifications.   But, I am thankful for this encounter because it did force me to sit down and make a list of A through Z options to pursue after graduation.  And, it did make me start spending 2 hours each day starting yesterday.

I am currently on Plan C.

Plan A was to get a job at the firm that I worked as a summer associate at.  The attorney in charge of the summer program told me that I was getting an offer, so I didn’t look at alternatives.  Towards mid to late August, I found out that I was no-offered.

Plan B was to apply for a federal clerkship position.  I was behind in the application process because I abandoned it as soon as I was told about the offer, but somehow I got my applicated together and applied.  I got one invitation to interview from a judge.  He said that he had 600 applications for his one position and of that 600 he was interviewing 20.    I wasn’t the one person out of twenty who ultimately ended up with the position. 

Plan C  I decided to go with my current internship site because I believed I was more likely to obtain an entry level position with this organization than the internship offer from the more prestigious governmental agency.  I applied for two positions with this organization.  I reached out to a recruiter and she informed me competition was stiff these days with each position getting 300 to 600 applications.   If a position with this prospective employer doesn’t work work out then I need to consider alternatives. 

Readers: What, if any, mistakes am I making with my job search?  

I’ve woken up to find out that there is a possible emergency brewing in my family.  My grandmother had a fall yesterday and she is currently hospitalized.  There are some possible complication’s that at this time sounds like a stroke.  But, we are not sure at all.  I am hoping that she will stabilize.   

If this situation gets worse then Bum, my parent, will need to fly out to the “Old Country” to visit my grandmother.  And of course, that means I will be the one shelling out the dough to get Bum there since Bumt doesn’t want to dip into the money that is being saved for the first installment on my loan.  Translation =  there isn’t much saved to begin with. 

I’ve about $10k in hand that is easily accessible.  If this situation gets worse then I will, without a doubt, shell out for a trip abroad and wait to impart a financial lesson about the importance of emergency funds to my parent (!) later.  I checked the flights and right now they are coming in at $1,140. 

This is such a delicate personal situation that I don’t think this is the time to cut Bum off to show that I am no longer the safety net.  This situation has definitely shown me that if I don’t set up some ground rules then I can easily become an ATM.

Update: 2/19/2010

My grandmother is doing much better and we do not believe that she had a stroke.  Thank you for your support.

Destination:  Millionairehood

Departure: 2008 – Age 24 

Arrival: 2028 – Age 44

Speed: Aggressive.

 My blogging friend Don and I decided to buddy-up and join J. Money’s Millionaire’s Club.  It is an e-club for prospective millionaires.  The only requirement is that you make the committment and list the steps you will take to achieve your goal. Right now, since I haven’t landed a job yet I have no idea about my earning power but I am going to estimate conservatively and give myself 18 more years to achieve my goal.  I plan to become a millionaire by doing the following things:

1. Develop multiple income streams.
2. Diversify my career.   
3. Invest wisely for retirement.
4. Live below my means.
5. Give back to the community.  

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