RETURN TO HOMEAn Author Wednesday Interview with Christine Whelan, author of Generation WTF?
For the last few years, I’ve been asking college students to define the word “thrift.” After a few seconds of blank stares, I suggest that perhaps they have heard this word in conjunction with “thrift stores.”
“So thrift means vintage or used?” a student will venture.
Well, no. Not quite.
In part, this is simply a vocabulary issue: Thrift is an old-fashioned word for the good use of money, and while most college students are bombarded with news about the need for moderation in spending and the necessity of saving, that’s where the lecture ends. Introducing young-adults to the idea that our choices about how we spend our money should be in keeping with our values—that there are better and worse things to do with our cash in any given scenario based on those values—opens up a new world of personal assessment at which this solipsistic generation excels.
Saving money isn’t cool or fun, but looking inward and figuring out what’s important to you—and then spending in accordance with your beliefs and goals? Well, that’s a bit more interesting. Some of the best financial guidebooks, including Suze Orman’s The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom, David Bach’s The Finish Rich Workbook begin this way, allowing for an individualized experience. Bach asks readers to create a “Values Circle” — explained in this chapter (PDF) of his book — and then build financial goals around living out those values.
In my new book, Generation WTF: From “What the #%$&” to a Wise, Tenacious, and Fearless You, I offer young-adults thrift exercises to help them get their spending and saving in life with their values, from day-to-day spending to how to pay off student loans. To get from that WTF of frustration to becoming a wise, tenacious and fearless adult means taking personal control of your life—and finances—right now.
There are so many money guidebooks out there. How is Generation WTF different?
Most self-help books are geared toward folks in their 30s, 40s and beyond—folks who are wrestling with home mortgages, retirement planning and saving for kids’ college tuitions. While those are incredibly important topics down the line, the 18-25 year olds are in a very different place. Generation WTF offers advice on tracking daily spending, setting up a young-adult specific budget, figuring our non-monetary ways to give to charities and get involved in meaningful organizations and translates the latest psychological advice on our spending tendencies into concrete guidance for college students and emerging adults.
What’s an example of the specific thrift Generation WTF offers for young-adult readers?
Generation WTF encourages the reader to first, figure out your values. What’s important to you? How would you like your family and friends to describe you? Is family, community and faith central to your life? Or perhaps fun, adventure and friendship?
Next, write out those values and post them somewhere you’ll see them. Maybe on the bathroom mirror. Or clipped to your credit card or as the “wallpaper” on your cell phones. Molly, a junior who tested out this exercise, said by doing this “it reminds me that if I want to live independently I need to save an extra few dollars a day, so I can pay for the apartment to live in after college or be adventurous and go to a new country. Those values should always be on the top of my priority list, every single day. Writing down those priorities encourage me to use my money wisely, so I can live up to them.”
There’s also a “WTF Does Your Money Go?” tracker both in the book and online to help you budget along the way.
How did you research this book?
I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the self-help industry and I’ve read hundreds of advice guides over the years. So when the economy tanked and my students began to come to me screaming “WTF?!” in frustration at the lack of jobs and tough financial choices they were being forced to make, I turned to my research to see what advice might help.
Starting in 2009, I gave students at the University of Iowa and the University of Pittsburgh classic self-help guides like Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People and David Bach’s The Finish Rich Workbook to road-test in their day-to-day lives. While the students loved some of the advice, they told me that they’d prefer a book that was written for their generation, with advice specifically geared toward their challenges.
With the help of more than 100 Generation WTF testers, I remixed the best of classic self-help advice on thrift, perseverance, honesty and self-control – core virtues and skills we all need to succeed no matter what the economic context – and combined it with the latest social psychology research on behavior change to produce the only self-help book that’s written in conversation with young-adults, not talking down to them.
Who is the audience for Generation WTF?
High-school and college students will benefit from the news-you-can-use advice and interactive exercises to beat procrastination and set attainable goals. Recent graduates who are looking for their purpose and trying to find the right career path will also find helpful guidance as they create a personal mission statement and learn the social skills to ace a job interview. It’s an ideal graduation present for a college-bound young-adult, a great book to send to a university student looking toward the future and a perfect guide to drop on your boomerang child’s bed at home.
What are 5 things Generation WTF needs to know about thrift right now?
(1) Know Thyself: Apply Your Core Values to Your Financial Life
The Problem
You’ve got too much stuff, and yet you buy more and more. Case in point: Back-to-school shopping. One late-August Saturday at Target, I watched as parents filled cart after cart with “necessities” for their children’s college dorm rooms. “I thought we bought this for you last year,” one mother asked as her daughter put a microwave into the cart alongside disposable rugs, lamps and end tables. “Yeah, but it was so gross at the end of the year, we just threw it out.”
The Solution
Stop accumulating stuff and start figuring out your values. What is the purpose of money in your life? Are you living the kind of life you want to be living? What are your goals? And how is your spending helping you get there?
(2) Track Your Spending: WTF Does Your Money Go?
The Problem
You have no idea where your paycheck goes. You work hard for your money, but by the end of the month, you’re maxing out your credit card and begging your parents for just a little bit more dough.
The Solution
Figure out how much money you’ve got coming in—and going out. Do this on a macro and micro level (monthly and yearly, but also weekly) and you’ll get a good sense of where you are financially.
(3) Declare Your Independence: Pay Your Own Way (as much as possible)
The Problem
Your parents are getting cranky about helping you out financially. They may be on a tighter budget themselves. And anyway, you’re not really psyched about explaining to them why you need to spend $15 on iTunes songs each month. You want to be independent, but you just don’t have the money yet.
The Solution
Start building your financial independence. Consider splitting your rent with roommates, and other fairly painless ways to save. Thrift leads to savings, and a financial nest egg leads to independence.
(4) Eat Smart (at Home): Restaurants Are for Socializing
The Problem
You spend a ton of money on pizza, hoagies, and burritos. Sometimes it’s takeout or delivery meals, other times it’s just grabbing a bite on the way to work or class because there’s nothing in your refrigerator. And then you might hit a restaurant before you go out drinking with friends, because it’s 9 p.m. and you know you’ll be unconscious by midnight if you don’t eat something first. Whatever the reason, spending too much money on premade food was a common WTF complaint.
The Solution
Think of restaurants—both the sit-down kind and the take-out/delivery kind—as tools for special evenings out with friends. Having someone else make your food frees you up for socializing and works best for that purpose, not for your three-times-a-day feedings. Learn how to grocery shop like a pro, make your own frozen dinners, and yes . . . yes, you can do it . . . learn to cook.
(5): Think Rich and Be Generous: You’ve Got More to Give Than You Think
The Problem
You think you’re broke so you can’t make charitable donations or give nice gifts to those you love. You’d like to “give back” but you’re a college student on a tight budget, and money is something you’ve got to grasp as tightly as you can.
The Solution
Recognize true wealth—wealth of emotions, experiences, and love. While much of the financial advice out there is about overcoming fears and pressures that come with our modern understanding of spending and saving, thrift is about generosity at the core. The idea isn’t to hoard money for later—it’s to use it wisely. So get outside your world for a bit and help others.
About the Author
Christine B. Whelan is a visiting assistant professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. She received a doctorate from the University of Oxford for her research on the self-help industry. Generation WTF: From “What the #%$&” to a Wise, Tenacious, and Fearless You is on sale now, online at http://www.generationwtf.com and on Facebook.
Links:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/generationwtf
Website: http://www.generationwtf.com