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here’s what i used to do in NM; when there was an extreme lightning storm–frequent occurrence; id’d get my kids, strip the blankets off the bed, and go hang out on the covered porch till they fell asleep watching lightning all around.

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one fond memory of my dad; NYC; 1970’s…when we’d hear on the radio or our staticky black n white tv that there was a hurricane or extreme storm watch, he’d urge us to come hang out with him in his room with the window of his bedroom wide open, looking out at NYC from th 6th floor, watching for an hour or so for the hurricane. he drank little tiny Miller “pony” beers while we were doing this. I recall this being very exciting and fun and I remember it happening pretty regularly….

i think this was the storm he was waiting for…

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i am attemting to raise 3 kids, but i doubt i’ll be as nervous for the second two.

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counter-counterproint; they don’t need to repossess your brain, stupid, because the lien they have against your brain is nondischargeable in bankruptcy.

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counterpoint: my mom says they sent me to the best school they could, so i should do the same.

Also, with inflation, the fortune you borrow today will be pocket change ina decade, and you’ll still have the degree…

they cannot repossess your brain…or can they?

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the thing is, law, and colleges, have for so long been bound by “status” and “rank” and by trying to perceived by others as the best and brightest.

that brand value does have some value–when you talk to other lawyers, and you tell them you’re from a top school, they think immediately, here’s a smart guy. It also has a slight intimidation factor.

True also with college degrees. guy graduates from harvard you think, well, hell, he’s probably fairly clever. that’s translated into money and access to jobs for years.

the price one should be willing to pay to buy that status is not limitless. at a certain debt level it’s just a bad bad bet. even if you have the cash lying aboutstagnating, waiting to be applied to someprestigious degree, it still might be a poor use of funds.

However, a huge segment of society–including myself–has for a long time eschewed looking at educational investment as merely a dollars and cents investment. it gets all tied up with “the college experience”, with life-forming identity trips and finding yourself and your identity, and other intangibles, so that the value becomes harder and harder to pin down.

Kinda like real estate, but even worse, since the very future of your children may depend on the school you select! how can you be so low as to skimp on money!?

When you think it through, coldly, rationally, the education has value–like a house–but you need to think long and hard about what youre willing to pay for it and more improtant, to borrow for it–and not necessarily give up opportunities for low-price options that could turn out to be good strong financial decisions.

because our ego is involved, and our fear for our children’s future, this analysis is going to be very difficult to do in a cold manner. If emotion is involved in real estate purchases, then I submit that emotion squared is involved in college selection (and to some extent, law school selection).

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on the other hand. if you have zero debt and zero obligations after getting your degree. and you
w ant to be a lawyerand you’re willing to go anywhere. you’ll probably be able to make a living.

i mean, a guy graduates froma top ten school with 225,000 in total debt. he gets a job at a big firm say for two years. he hates it. he services his debt for two years, maybe pays it downa little. he’s still a couple hundred grand in the hole, and say he quits in year three, puzzled about what to do next.

is he, a graduate of a “good ” school, really ina better position than a guy who goes to a non aba school,graduates with no debt because he earned enough to pay his tuition as he goes, struggles to open up a small family/criminal/bankruptcy law pracice, but is making 75,000 a year in year 4, with no debt payments?

even in a screwed up legal market, is it completely plausible for a hustler to make 75-100k even if he’s a mediocre lawyer in 5 years or so?

yes, it’s plausible. way more liely in fact, than that the big firm guy from the big school will be at the same job 5 years out…

Id’d say the second guy i smore likely to hang in there and make it long termsyustainably than the first guy. hell, he’s way more liekly to beway ahead with some decent sized personal injury case in years 5-15.

ive got a buddy who had a one man shop who hit it very very big on one case. whcih never wouldve happened if he’d stuck around as an hourly toiling corporate type lawyer. by big I mean never work again big.

hell, if a law degree is worthless in general, wouldnt a b.a. also be worthless?

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in general in life, it’s a let down to get what you’ve wanted…

in the case of real estate, not sure that’s always true.

i am wondering if people who wait longer and look harder and save more tend to be more satisfied.

8 years has to be at the end of the waiting curve….I wouldn’t say I waited 8 years…probably more like about 5 years from the time my wife really started itching to get a place and complaining about not having one.

I would rate my satsifaction personally with homebuying ultimately as a 9.5/10.

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we were HOWLING yesterday to this one at home. it’s the town hall debates songified…mitt and obama’s responses and the “audience”‘s questions transmuted into a motown hit. Just hilarious and also it seemed to have some sort of message but the message wasn’t exactly political. maybe it was artistic. i don’t know. this one is crazy funny…

it was the moment at 1:25 that sent me personally over the top into hysterics….

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actually if i could go back and do it all over again, id do it all the same, id just worry a lot less and work harder.

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http://www.deepsprings.edu/home

another tuition free amazing school.

i was actually contemplating applying as a senior but didn’t have the guts…

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this looks like the best deal in the nation.

http://www.cooper.edu

looks a bit selective tough.

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8 years is a long time to wait. glad you’re still married!

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what if colleges in general are all a bunch of thomas jefferson law schools?

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i got a bad vibe from the assigned appraiser on the phone; he sounded conservative. he wanted a “spring hinge” installed before he’d sign off.

i told the bank i wouldn’t accept him, get me another.

i think my instinct was right…

i feel pretty happy.

my p&i would be the same as my rent was in my former place if this works out, except this place is 6x nicer and 2x as large.

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