The professional degrees are far more akin to a PhD than they are to an MS or MA, with the exception of an MBA. I would venture that in most, if not all of the mentioned fields (as well the dishearteningly absent life sciences) obtaining a PhD would make a DRASTIC change in lifetime earnings. It is also worth…

I’m allergic to certain perfumes. Do I get to provide a list of the banned perfumes to everyone I come in contact with so I don’t have to deal with a case of hives and the sniffles? I should add that keeping a dog well fed, groomed and clean will go a long way in limiting their allergen production. I suspect that the…

Geeze- why all the angst about pets on planes in the comments? No one has given a legitimate reason why a well-behaved animal shouldn’t be allowed in-cabin. How would you feel if someone made you hand your kid over to strangers to be put in cargo with the luggage? I’m not sure what the stats are, but there are…

Yeah, I agree that credit unions would be a better option for a million reasons, but we’re with our big bank for now just based on sheer convenience. In the future, when we’re looking to apply for home and auto loans, I think we’ll definitely do some shopping around. Until then, they can take their overdraft…

Just dealt with just one of those situations in Minnesota. I had signed up for autopay for the electric bill. We had a move, so I had an off-cycle bill and I made the mistake of paying both the off-cycle bill as well as what could have waited until the next month to pay. Apparently the autopay feature does not take…

It sucks worse when you’re two grad students who also have pets, one of which is a 55 pound bully-breed dog. Also, the influx of massive “luxury” apartments has been just absurd. Even if we could afford a $1700/mo 600 sq. ft. 1 bedroom we wouldn’t want it. Rooftop pools? Seriously? IN MINNESOTA?

We’ve been renters in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area now for going on 5 years and have lived in four different apartments during that time. At no point have we ever been able to haggle on the rent. The vacancy rate here in the cities is at like, 3% so it’s a landlord’s market. Unless the unit is a complete and total…

I cannot fathom why anyone wouldn’t just go with a prepaid plan at this point. I switched to prepaid Verizon, which isn’t even the cheapest prepaid option out there, and my bill dropped over $30/mo. I made no sacrifices in terms of data allowance either. The best part about it is that you can’t accidentally go over…

Looks like a reinstall of the touchpad driver fixed the touchpad issue. I think my problems were stemming from the fact I was was using the machine in tent-mode with an external monitor. I switched back to laptop mode and everything started behaving. I found a Lenovo document that mentioned problems with the multiple…

how do I find and update those drivers? I swear I’ve been at this for hours and I’m about ready to do a clean install that I really don’t want to do if I don’t have to....

I feel like I’m the only person experiencing this, but the update CRIPPLED me. Lenovo Yoga 2 PRo, with an i7 processer, less than 6 months old. There’s a lag with everything, my peripherals are all misbehaving (bluetooth keyboard, usb mouse) and my trackpad is malfunctioning as well. I’ve wasted most of my morning…

As a grad student who hopes to finish her dissertation and defense in something like two more years (700 days?!?!) this is more anxiety attack inducing than motivating. Excuse me while I go reexamine my life choice with what's left of my sanity.

Just my two cents on pet insurance: It’s worth it for some people, it’s not worth it for others. Typical premiums run between 30-50/mo depending on the deductible and coverage. Most true insurance plans won’t cover basic needs like annual exams and vaccines. Yes, that money could be stuck directly into a savings…

What, you mean the integrated WiFi and touchscreen console aren't going to repair themselves when they inevitably bug out in about a year? Weird....

My partner and I are chemists- STEM field graduate programs usually get stipends that cover tuition and even health insurance. Honestly, it's not a bad gig, for all that we're working 60+ hour weeks. I can't complain about 5 years of paid on-the-job training that earns me a PhD and pretty much guarantees me a decent…

Along the same lines, my 23 year old brother just got his first real job. His salary is about what you'd expect for an entry level job- livable, but nothing extravagant. He's living with mom and dad- no expenses but paying off his student loans. What does he decide to do with all his "extra" money? Drops 40K on a…

Which is hard to start doing once you're already allocating everything extra you have to paying down debt.

I think some people need to learn what life looks like on the budget they need to stay within. If you're used to a standard of living with mom and dad, it might take a little while to realize that your $25K grad student salary isn't going to go very far, especially not in the big city. By the time you figure out…

Credit cards, credit cards, credit cards. How to use them, how not to use them, how to minimize damage when you've made a mistake. Related to that, budgeting. For kids right out of college who never had to pay bills before moving out of mom and dad's basement (read: me...), it's not always easy to figure out how to…

Get a puppy. Puppies don't have snooze buttons and if you ignore them, they'll piss the bed. If you get up and take them outside to complete their morning business, you'll have gotten over the initial hurdle of getting out of bed. If, on the other hand, you ignore them and go back to sleep, you'll wake up to a…