Survival Strategies for Today’S Graduate

By Todd Little

Survival Strategies for Todays Graduate is dedicated to providing the most comprehensive and reliable information concerning all the lessons in life that you have not yet learned. This book will enable todays graduate to fulfill his/her vision of successful living by granting them access to resources that will help them better understand how to function more productively.

Most of todays graduates are extremely unprepared when it comes to applying the everyday skills that the average consumer needs to know. These are very important issues that they will most certainly face at some point in their life, such as creating a rsum, being interviewed for a job, managing their credit, buying a car, and obtaining a mortgage. Most of these lessons are unfortunately not taught in our high schools or colleges due to a severe lack of funding. These lessons are vital to all our graduates so that they may become functioning members of our society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984526229

Todd Little

Todd Little is a Licensed Mortgage Loan Officer, Public Speaker, Continuing Education Facilitator, Baseball Coach, Husband, and Father. As a leading authority in the mortgage industry, Todd has helped thousands of people realize the American Dream of Home Ownership. Unfortunately, Todd has also seen a large number of young people that have applied for a home mortgage turned down due to poor credit, excessive debt, or no credit file at all. Student Loans, car loans, and credit card debt obtained while in college are very common denominators with our young graduates of today. For years, Todd has coached and mentored these clients that were turned down to help them repair the mistakes that were made. Mistakes that could have easily been avoided with education. Todd set out to change this behavior by educating our graduates before they make these costly mistakes. The information in this book can save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime and can significantly help your lifes journey be more fulfilling and successful.

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Copyright © 2018 by Todd Little.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2018905348

ISBN:      Hardcover        978-1-9845-2624-3

                Softcover          978-1-9845-2623-6

                eBook               978-1-9845-2622-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 05/16/2018

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

776899

Contents

Chapter 1 What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

Chapter 2 Making Great First Impressions

Chapter 3 Writing an A+ Résumé

Chapter 4 Your Credit Score and Its Effect on Your Finances

Chapter 5 Understanding the Car-Buying Process

Chapter 6 Buying and Financing Your Next Home

Acknowledgments

Book Dedication

This book is dedicated to my wife Nicole. It is a privilege to share my business, life, and love with you.

To my children, Braeden, Natalie, Hannah, Allie, and Emily who will inherit this world and make it a much better place. Your growth provides a daily source of joy, pride, smiles and best of all, memories. I want each one of you to know, and never forget that I will always be your biggest fan.

To our Graduates all over the world, that work every day at making their career a success and just need a little guidance and education to help them make better financial decsions.

Survival Strategies for Today’s Graduate is dedicated to providing the most comprehensive, reliable information concerning all the lessons in life that you have not yet learned. This book will enable today’s graduates to fulfill their vision of successful living by granting them access to resources that will help them better understand how to function more productively in today’s society.

I have been associated with the mortgage industry since 1996. During my career, I have met thousands of people from all walks of life. I have noticed that even the most educated people in America do not understand some of the most important basic fundamentals. Our education system does a great job focusing on math, science, social studies, English, and various other topics, but it accomplishes very little in regard to preparing today’s students for everyday life. Over the years, I have received countless résumés and conducted thousands of interviews. Today’s graduates have had very little education, if any, in regard to preparing a résumé and, most importantly, preparing for the actual interview. Without these basic skills, all the education in the world will not land them the position they are seeking. Most of the individuals I have had the pleasure of meeting were interviewed for positions outside the scope of their degree.

During the research prior to writing this book, we discovered that most of today’s graduates are clueless when it comes to applying everyday skills that the average consumers will most definitely, at some point in their lives, need to know. Very important issues that consumers will definitely face— such as choosing a career path, writing an effective résumé, interviewing for a job, preparing for a job interview, purchasing or leasing a car, becoming a homeowner, and obtaining a mortgage—are unfortunately not taught enough in our high schools or colleges. These lessons are vital to all our citizens so that they may have the opportunity to become above average achievers and more productive, functioning members of our society.

In our ever-changing economy, managing one’s credit is becoming more important than ever before. Credit scores now affect our citizens’ mortgage interest rates, their auto loan rates, and their credit card interest rates, just to name a few. Establishing a solid credit profile is not something that just happens; it is a skill that needs to be learned. This book will give you all the tools and guidance to help you better understand and manage the most important resource you have: your credit report.

When I think back on the financial mistakes I myself could have avoided with information such as this in my younger years, I would have created a more diverse investment portfolio and more than likely saved myself many troublesome moments and thousands of dollars in costly mistakes.

Recognizing that there is a huge gap in our education system, I have set out to deliver a solution by writing this book. Prior to writing this book, hundreds of people from all walks of life were interviewed. I asked them all one very simple question: What is the one lesson you wished you would have learned early on that would have had the greatest impact in your life? Their answers were stunning. The information in this book will change people’s lives forever, and if used properly, it will save them thousands of dollars over their lifetime. It will allow our citizens to better understand their credit profile, thereby giving them the ability to obtain more favorable financing on their homes, cars, credit cards, and insurance. This book will give them guidance and understanding and will help them better prepare for their future and their families’ future.

With our nation’s economy in shambles, the need for home- buyer education has never been greater. The chapter on homebuyer education will allow our citizens to better understand the process and assist them in possibly avoiding foreclosure in the future. Without these basic fundamentals, our citizens will continue to maneuver in the same vicious, unproductive circle.

Chapter One

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

From the time we are old enough to talk, grown-ups persist in asking us the age-old question, What do you want to be when you grow up? Most of the time, as small children, we will answer something like a policeman, a doctor, a nurse, or a fireman. As small children, we all dream of becoming heroes and fairy-tale characters because these are the larger-than-life characters that we grow up with. It is not very common to encounter a small child who plans on a career as a financial planner or an operations manager.

However, as we grow up and start to mature, we begin to answer the same question more along the lines of our personal interests. As we begin to enter into our preteen years, we will more than likely find ourselves answering the same question with responses such as a professional baseball player, an actor or actress, or possibly a news reporter. As we begin our journey into high school, we will start to consider the career question in a more realistic manner but usually from the point of view of what career is the most popular at the time or in regard to which career is paying the highest compensation such as being a doctor or an attorney. For most of us, when we think back to our own career choices, we have experienced many changes as we have grown up and become more acclimated to this drastically changing world in which we live.

As we graduate high school and begin to either enter the world’s workforce or pursue our education, we find ourselves caught in the time-sensitive situation of having to decide which career path we would like to pursue. As we enter college, it has become a standard practice for individuals to choose a major course of study. The problem this creates is that we are unfortunately still in the doctor or lawyer mode and we still decide to select a career path based on career popularity and/or future income potential. Our individual interest begins to play a small role at this stage, but many of us still find it extremely difficult to transform our interests into careers and, ultimately, into permanent employment. Hopefully, the choices we make at this stage of the learning process will assist us in determining the course of our college study and help direct us toward a specific career path.

Is it even possible for anyone to successfully make a career choice and, most importantly, plan an education to achieve that goal at the very young age of eighteen? Evidently, it is because some people go straight through college and enter the fields of their study to become physicians, lawyers, and engineers with very little indecisiveness. It is mind-boggling to note, however, that the majority of college graduates never attain work in a career path related to their major field of study. Another very important statistic is that the average Americans will also change career fields at least three times during their lifetime. These very concerning statistics most definitely bring into question the value, if there is any, of choosing a career path as a high school graduate or even as a college freshman.

When you are in the process of choosing a career plan, you might want to take a few tips from some of your favorite teachers and begin learning how to create lesson plans that will ultimately guide you in reaching your goals. Incredible teachers and professors have several things in common. They design and create their lesson plans so that they not only know what and how they are going to teach their students but most importantly how their teaching plans help them define their ultimate goal, which is what the students will end up learning by the end of their lesson. Creating a lesson plan prior to choosing your career path can help guide you and coach you on the pathway to your new career. Most importantly, the lesson plan you create will help you determine the final destination of the long journey you are about to begin.

Choosing a career path, in my opinion, is probably one of the most important parts of your life and one of the most important decisions that you are ever going to make. This decision has an enormous impact on your future. Since you will more than likely spend one third of your life at your place of employment, choosing the right career path is an essential ingredient of your overall happiness and, ultimately, a key factor in the overall quality of your life. Properly designing this lesson plan will enable you to more visibly establish your path by outlining the steps you need to take to get there, which will ultimately help lead you to your final destination! If you are going to set out in your car on vacation but you do not have a map or are unable to use your auto navigation, I am assuming that reaching your destination without a few wrong turns will be very unlikely. Very simply put, your lesson plan will assist you in attaining your goal, which should be to secure the job of your dreams.

If you are currently employed in a specific industry just because you need a paycheck, it may or may not be your dream job. But let’s face reality. It is a paycheck, and we all need paychecks to avoid the utility company turning off our power. Since you were a little kid, you have always dreamed of being a veterinarian, but you have had trouble figuring out just how to go about getting into that career field. This is the starting point where you will begin designing and developing your lesson plan.

Begin by setting your goal of becoming a veterinarian. Now that you have decided on a career, simply map out the steps you will need to take to begin working toward that achievement. Some of your steps may include volunteering at an animal hospital, reading books, applying for an intern position at a local veterinarian clinic. Once you have developed the plan in writing, that’s when you have truly begun to work toward your goal. The first step you may take is to begin making phone calls to local veterinarian clinics. Then you may research on the internet and begin to identify everything that you don’t know about the field you are interested in. Finally, you can call on local veterinarian clinics and ask to speak with one of their veterinarians to set up a personal meeting. These personal meetings will most certainly prove to be an eye-opener. If anyone can answer your questions and address your concerns about becoming a veterinarian, it will be them.

If you keep trying and never give up, you will eventually be able to realize your dream of becoming a veterinarian. Creating a seamless lesson plan to assist you in choosing a career path will prove to be a phenomenal way to keep you focused on your goal. Most importantly, it will provide you with the focus you need by keeping you on the right path. A well-thought-out and strategic lesson plan will help you realize that you can make a successful career change if you are headstrong, if you follow your plan to the letter, and if you never—and I mean never—stop short of achieving your goal. There are very talented people in this world who exceed with very little effort. There are also people in this world who are not as talented, but they try harder, and work longer. They are stronger-willed, and they never give up. Once you begin to never give up, it will become part of who you are. Believe me, everyone that comes in contact with you will soon be able to recognize this trait.

A wise man, my father, once told me to always pursue my dreams and to not let detours stand in the way. There will always be detours and obstacles that will appear to stand in your way. There will always be objections and people around you telling you that you can’t do it or that it will be too hard. In my opinion, there can be absolutely nothing worse than becoming older and finally realizing that you never even took the necessary steps to try and realize your dream. One thing is certain. A day will come in your life when it will be too late. In discovering what you want to be now that you are all grown up, the dreams you had as a child have now become critically important. The clock is ticking; your time frame for making this life-changing decision is closing in. I am not trying to scare you, but one thing is true: none of us can turn back time. If you do figure out how to turn back time, this will be a very lucrative employment opportunity. Now is the time to finally address the question that you have been stressing over for so long and the same question that everyone in your life has been asking you since you were old enough to talk.

This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where you want the best tires on the market. This is the most important trip you will ever be on. What do you want to be now that you have grown up? You have had many years to decide, but now this question is taking on a more serious urgency. Even though this question is probably one of the most critical questions you will ever be faced with answering, very few of us will ever allow ourselves the necessary time and freedom of unrestrained and open-minded thinking! There are some people in this world who spend more time deciding which car to purchase than which career path to choose.

One of the primary reasons we do not allow our thought process to open up is due to the programming we have received for most of our lives, which is following directions and guidelines. As a result of this training, most of us will find ourselves letting life’s processes and procedures dictate our behavior. If we are forever waiting for someone else’s approval or instruction