{"id":4203,"date":"2018-06-01T08:15:24","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T14:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/?p=4203"},"modified":"2020-04-28T11:33:44","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T17:33:44","slug":"life-after-college-wealth-vs-income","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/","title":{"rendered":"Life after college: Wealth vs. Income"},"content":{"rendered":"

When making the decision of \u201cshould I go to college or not?\u201d there is one statistic that comes up more times than not: income.<\/p>\n

Everyone has seen some iteration of the chart, where it shows the rising lines of income as the level of education rises. It\u2019s also something that pops up in the \u201cSponsored Results\u201d section if you Google different degrees. \u201cMedian Salary\u201d is right up there with how long it takes to get a degree, the type of school that offers the degree and other basic information.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s safe to say that salary and income expectations have become a conscious choice of students when selecting a field of study.<\/p>\n

But what Google won\u2019t tell you, is that income is only a component of the equation. When it comes to making moves in your life, career or in the business world, the metric to measure is wealth.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong. Income is important, but it\u2019s simply the measure of the amount of compensation one receives.<\/p>\n

Wealth is the big picture: Income versus cost of living, retirement savings and the value of property and assets. There\u2019s a checkers and chess analogy to be made here, but I think you get it.<\/p>\n

Income is the simple game, with moving pieces and some nuances to understand. Wealth is the intellectual test of a \u2018game\u2019 that takes years to \u2018master,\u2019 and even then you still feel like there are moves and strategies you just can\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where people like Sue Downing come in handy. Downing is a senior vice president at Inceptia, a company that helps students understand financial aid and financial literacy. And according to Downing, the underbelly of finance and student loans is far from a game.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents need to understand the serious implications student loans can have on the trajectory of their lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Starting Simple<\/h3>\n

Beyond the direct effects of student loans<\/a>, Downing said students can also take more of an active role in finances from a young age. Even the college search process can be used as a tool to help students start to take money matters seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust having an introduction to the cost of living and what it takes to keep a roof over your head can be tremendously eye-opening. Researching and creating a budget for college costs<\/a> is also a \u201ckill two birds with one stone\u201d approach, in which they get exposure to big-ticket purchases and take a step toward making an informed college decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once they get to school, students are mostly focused on adjusting to classes and social life away from home. Sometimes the simple things slip through the cracks. That\u2019s where Downing said having practice can come in handy.<\/p>\n

So while students may not be paying the bills themselves before college, seeing the process, and thinking critically about the cost of living can help students prepare for life on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents and young adults can educate themselves by being more involved in household finances, like paying all the bills for the month, or budgeting for and buying the groceries,\u201d Downing said. \u201cPartaking in these activities is a very hands-on way to instill the importance of understanding financial matters, and usually the light bulb comes on all by itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thinking Smart, Early and Often<\/h3>\n

Introducing students to financial decision making isn\u2019t just about balancing your checking account, either. It\u2019s a good first step, but in uncertain economic times there is an ever-increasing pressure on young adults to start saving and forecasting finances at a younger age. Especially considering the potential for student loan debt–it is never \u2018too early\u2019 to start thinking about creating wealth and putting money away for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for us to tell young people that no one will ever take better care of your money than you, and learning to live within your means will prepare you for whatever salary you earn,\u201d Downing said.<\/p>\n

Beyond the college years, Downing said creating positive financial habits at a young age can change the trajectory of one\u2019s financial life. When you look at the traditional path of students who borrow for their education, there are a number of handoffs that start with leaving for college.<\/p>\n

First the student is \u2018on their own\u2019 in terms of budgeting and purchasing. Next step is figuring out how to budget those \u201cbig-ticket\u201d expenditures that Downing mentioned: Study abroad opportunities, spring break experiences or financing an unpaid internship or other work opportunities.<\/p>\n

Then a student starts sizing up the job market, and that income factor comes into play. Once graduation hits, there\u2019s a six-month grace period and then it\u2019s time to start repaying loans. Before they realize it, the discussion has shifted to benefits packages, 401k plans and planning for kids, houses and retirement.<\/p>\n

It starts slow, and with simple things like groceries and understanding utility payments, but then life comes at you fast. By simply understanding that fact, and having a plan for how to be fiscally responsible, Downing said students can get a leg up on developing wealth directly out of college.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole phenomena behind \u201cthe millionaire next door\u201d is the basic concept that what you earn is not nearly as important as how you spend and save,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to focus more on the latter in order to create financial security.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When making the decision of \u201cshould I go to college or not?\u201d there is one statistic that comes up more times than not: income. Everyone has seen some iteration of the chart, where it shows the rising lines of income as the level of education rises. It\u2019s also something that pops up in the \u201cSponsored<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3922,20],"tags":[426,439,429,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-4203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-adult-learner","8":"category-scholarships","9":"tag-graduate","10":"tag-interest-rates","11":"tag-loans","12":"tag-undergraduate"},"better_featured_image":{"id":4208,"alt_text":"","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":1400,"height":500,"file":"s3:\/\/pcom-wp-media\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/10124813\/wealth.png","sizes":{},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":4203,"source_url":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/10124813\/wealth.png"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLife after college: Wealth vs. Income - Peterson's<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When making the decision of \u201cshould I go to college or not?\u201d there is one statistic that comes up more times than not: income.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Life after college: Wealth vs. Income - Peterson's\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When making the decision of \u201cshould I go to college or not?\u201d there is one statistic that comes up more times than not: income.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peterson's\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/petersons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-01T14:15:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-28T17:33:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/10124813\/wealth.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Petersons\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Petersons\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Life after college: Wealth vs. Income - Peterson's","description":"When making the decision of \u201cshould I go to college or not?\u201d there is one statistic that comes up more times than not: income.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Life after college: Wealth vs. Income - Peterson's","og_description":"When making the decision of \u201cshould I go to college or not?\u201d there is one statistic that comes up more times than not: income.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/","og_site_name":"Peterson's","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/petersons","article_published_time":"2018-06-01T14:15:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-04-28T17:33:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1400,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/10124813\/wealth.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Staff Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Petersons","twitter_site":"@Petersons","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Staff Writer","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/"},"author":{"name":"Staff Writer","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/de16a60c2d4cd725a73b140f92aea013"},"headline":"Life after college: Wealth vs. Income","datePublished":"2018-06-01T14:15:24+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-28T17:33:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/"},"wordCount":906,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/10124813\/wealth.png","keywords":["graduate","interest rates","loans","undergraduate"],"articleSection":["Adult Learner","Funding"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/","url":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/","name":"Life after college: Wealth vs. Income - Peterson's","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/10124813\/wealth.png","datePublished":"2018-06-01T14:15:24+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-28T17:33:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/de16a60c2d4cd725a73b140f92aea013"},"description":"When making the decision of \u201cshould I go to college or not?\u201d there is one statistic that comes up more times than not: income.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/10124813\/wealth.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/10124813\/wealth.png","width":1400,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/life-after-college-wealth-vs-income\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Funding","item":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/category\/scholarships\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Life after college: Wealth vs. Income"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/","name":"Peterson's","description":"Peterson's helps students discover their best fit educational program","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/de16a60c2d4cd725a73b140f92aea013","name":"Staff Writer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fd9c661dc63a23028d5b76bd26c9c6beecfe3494df61794bcf6e8778b00a6a7e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fd9c661dc63a23028d5b76bd26c9c6beecfe3494df61794bcf6e8778b00a6a7e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fd9c661dc63a23028d5b76bd26c9c6beecfe3494df61794bcf6e8778b00a6a7e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Staff Writer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/author\/brian\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12792,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4203\/revisions\/12792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersons.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}