Excuse Me, Do You Accept Monopoly Money?

What has more value: fake money or real money?

Most of you probably said real money, but my experiences have taught me otherwise. Growing up, I observed a strange phenomenon and no matter how much I think about it, I can’t seem to make any sense out of it. Let me lay it out for you.

Video games are great. They’re supposed to be a means of escape from reality because reality sucks. “Life is full of work and I don’t want to work, so I think I’ll play games.” Good so far. Now, some of these games have a currency system built into them (role playing games, or RPGs). That’s fine. What I don’t understand is how for some people the line has blurred and that which was imaginary somehow has become more real than the real world itself.

Why is it that some people feel so much more driven to earn fantasy money than real money? Why are they so much more driven to focus on bettering their characters in a game rather than bettering themselves in real life? It’s gotten to the point where South Korea’s supreme court ruled that virtual currencies are protected just like real money.

Could you imagine how productive the world would be if everyone put the same amount of effort they did playing RPGs into improving themselves or improving society? There probably wouldn’t be any more homeless people. We might even have the cure for cancer. Maybe even both.

Before I go on any further, let me clarify that this post isn’t hating on video games. I bloody damn well love video games. It’s not about video game addiction either. I’m specifically questioning why would people devote more time and effort into developing an in game character rather than developing their own lives. What is it about video games that makes it so much more attractive? And why can’t they take that same energy and apply it to the real world to make themselves better off? I’ve tried to think of a few reasons, but I’m not happy with any of them.

Laziness

I will not blame laziness. Laziness is not a factor. If it were, people would not put in so much time and energy into the video game in the first place.

Video games are supposed to be fun. Grinding (just running around the same area again and again hoping to find some valuable loot) is not. I’ve done plenty of grinding to know how much it sucks. Back in the day I used to play Diablo 2 and 9Dragons for 12 hours a day, doing nothing but farming in-game currency. I wasn’t even really playing the game anymore; I was just watching the number counter go up. After a few years, I eventually grew up and realized this shit was a complete waste of my time. In some games, grinding for loot can be even more monotonous than a real job. The upside of a real job is that at the end of the day you get paid. With a RPG, all you get is a higher electricity bill.

Different Reality

A lot of people play games to get away from reality. I know I do. But sometimes what you end up doing is trading away one set of problems for another. RPG reality also sucks, especially when you first start off. You own absolutely nothing of value and have no friends to boot. You have to work your way up from the bottom. Sort of like real life, no? Interesting psychological phenomenon going on here, escaping one situation only to be placed into a similar one, but instead of real, 3D objects, you have 3D rendering. On top of that you have people that harass you in-game, probably way more than most people would dare to do in real life, since they’re sitting in the safety of their own home, behind a screen, with the anonymity of a username. Then there are the annoying 12 year olds who just won’t shut the hell up.

I suppose there’s the argument that RPGs allow you to embody a character that’s greater than yourself. Maybe. But I’d bet that you yourself would be a whole lot greater if you used the same amount of time improving yourself as you did your character.

Reduced Waiting Time

Video games speed up the passage of time, so maybe people are fulfilling their instant gratification needs. They earn money quickly and are able to make large purchases quickly, something that isn’t easily accomplished in real life.

It may also be because earning money in a video game is a task that does not require much brain power. I’m not saying that it’s easy because it can be very tedious, but for the most part however, there tends to be a set formula. Lather, rinse, and repeat. In real life, it could get a lot more complicated, a lot more unpredictable, which drives people away.

However…

In games with well set up market systems, like Neopets or World of Warcraft, prices prevail just as they would in a real market economy and it ends up taking a very long time to accumulate currency to purchase big ticket items, just like real life. Despite spending half of my day playing RPGs, I managed to accumulate some decent gear and items in game, but I never got to the point where I was considered to be really “rich.”

Ultimately, in most cases, at the end of the day, after the game you are left with nothing tangible. Yet so many people (myself included) are constantly drawn back into that illusionary world. Food for thought.

Sometimes It’s Hard To Get Inspired…

…And that’s where a few friendly bets come in handy =D

I have been lacking motivation in three areas: writing for this blog, increasing my savings, and finding a job. Tonight, in an effort to incentivize productivity, I have made two bets with a friend of mine (mikE):

Bet #1
The situation: We are both currently broke as shit and we haven’t done a very good job lately of saving our money.
The bet: Whoever saves more money by December 7, 2012 wins.
The reward: Loser owes winner a fancy dinner. The total bill is capped at one hundred dollars.
The rules:
1) We both start with savings accounts that has no money in them
2) Only money that is received from this point on may be added to the savings account
3) Only money that is earned may be deposited. Money that is gifted may not be included.
4) The winner of the bet will be determined by the value of the savings account and the savings account only. No other assets will be included, such as checking accounts, stocks, etc.

Fairly straight forward.

Bet #2
The situation: mikE is a recent college graduate. I am about to be a collage graduate. We both lack full time employment.
The bet: Whoever gets hired for a full time position wins.
The reward: Will be split into two tiers:
Reward 1: mikE has long hair (about neck length) and I have short hair (usually clean shaven). If I win, mikE shaves his head. If mikE wins, I grow my hair out for one year starting immediately from his hiring date, regardless of how long it currently is.
Reward 2: If the loser fails to find a full time job within one month of the winner’s hiring date, in addition to reward 1, the loser will have to wear a dunce cap of some sort with something derogatory on it. Nothing too bad. Maybe. For two hours minimum. In a public place (most likely a bar).
The rules:
1) The pictures will not be posted on the internet (sorry my dear readers).
2) The pictures may be printed and shown to our friends.
3) The pictures may be framed and put up in our homes.

I, Rags, do solemnly swear to adhere to the rules set above and follow through with the consequences should I lose the bet.

mikE, if you agree to the terms above, please make your mark below.

This should be fun. May the best man win.

Carnival of Personal Finance #332

Want to read more about personal finance? Check out the Carnival of Personal Finance #332, hosted this week by Beating Broke.

Failure Story: 3 Question Long Interview

I once had an interview for a job that ended after only three questions. This happened two days ago.

Here’s the back story:
This past Wednesday, my university held a career fair. Since I'm going to graduate in March, I decided to hit it up to see what kind of potential employment opportunities were out there for me. I currently want to work as a financial analyst or planner; something that has a lot of quantitative analysis to it. GEICO was there and seeing as to how they’re an insurance company, I asked about any actuary/finance positions available. The rep told me that all of those positions were located in the east coast. For the time being, I don’t want to relocate out of California. As I was about to leave, the rep asked me for my resume, looked at it, and told me that I qualified for their leadership development program, which is a three year training program that rotates you through several positions before finally putting you in management. I didn’t have much interest in it, but the rep told me that was doing on campus interviews the next day and asked if I wanted to schedule an appointment with him. What the heck, why not. I might as well get some interview experience, I thought. So I said yes and walked away with a 3:00pm interview on Thursday.

Thursday came around and I’ve done zero interview prep and zero research on the company/position outside of the online application they have. Once the interview got rolling, my lack of preparation became very apparent. Now of course, I could make the argument that because I’m a student, a one day turnover isn’t a lot of time to prepare and research, especially with all the other crap I have to get done, but I’m not going to do that. I firmly believe that everyone has twenty-four hours in a day and nobody but you decides how you spend those twenty-four hours. Not being prepared is nobody’s fault but my own. Despite only being three questions long, I still learned a lot out of that interview. Here’s a breakdown of what was asked, what I said, how I should have answered it, and why.


Question 1: How did you hear about us?

What I said:
I was looking at the companies that were going to attend the job fair and I saw GEICO being listed as one of them. I looked at the job categories that you guys were hiring for and I saw that finance was one of them and so I decided to come by your booth. Then I met you and here I am.

What I should have said:
GEICO is one of the largest insurance companies around with one of the largest marketing campaigns around. I’ve seen and heard your advertisements on billboards, the television, and on the radio. After speaking with you, yesterday was the first day I’ve heard about your leadership development program, but I’ve known about this company’s existence for the better part of my life.

Why:
My original response clearly portrays a lack of interest in both the job and the company itself. I’m clearly just going along with the flow of events and am applying for the position just because I happened to land an interview. Also, with the way I worded it, my original answer indicates that I have done no research on the company, have never bothered to look them up, and have no idea who or what they are.

Question 2: Which two of our office locations would you like to work at and why did you make that choice?

What I said:
There is an office located close to San Diego, correct? I would like that one. Do I have to make a second choice? Uh, could you give me a list of locations? (I ended up choosing San Diego, CA and Woodbury, NY.)

San Diego, CA:
I choose San Diego because preferably, I would like to stay in California. I like the heat, so it’s an environmental preference.

Woodbury, NY:
I haven’t been to the east coast much and so if I have to relocate, I would like to move to some place new and experience new surroundings. From what I know, New York is heavily populated and so I would like to know what it’s like to be constantly surrounded by people. (This was a complete lie. I live near Los Angeles City and I hate being surrounded by people, but I had to come up with an answer on the spot.)

What I should have said:
San Diego because it is located in Southern California and that is ideally where I would like to stay in as I have lived in So Cal all of my life. I have my family here and many friends as well. In addition to that, I like the weather here in California. I like the heat, but at the same time, if I wanted snow, all I would have to do is drive north 100 miles and I’ll be up in big bear. Or, I can drive west and be in the beach. The autumn weather is nice and cool here as well. I don’t believe any other city offers me such a perfect combination. Also, the heat here is different from the heat located in the other states; it’s much hotter and dryer closer to the mid-west and too humid for me in the east. As for my second city, I would like blah blah blah (I still need to look it up and qualify it).

Why:
At the career fair, I was given a brochure with a map of their office locations. It wouldn’t have been too difficult for me to pick out a second city and have its name memorized. Knowing where their offices are located is an indication of the amount of research that was put into the company. I went into the interview adamant that I was not going to leave Southern California and so I hadn’t bothered to look outside of their one California-based location. This again shows my lack of interest in the company. Also, in my original answer, I failed to properly qualify why I wanted to stay in Cali. The moment I stopped talking after I said I chose California for the heat, I knew I was doomed. There were plenty of other offices located in hot locations, but there’s something about California that I like and I failed to properly communicate that.

Question 3: Do you have any other job applications in progress and why did you choose them?

What I said:
Yes. I am going to apply to __________ located in _________, California. I chose them because they are a financial management firm and they are offering the ideal position I would like to have. They have an internship program within their finance department that they hire out of and I am hoping to be one of the ones selected. I’m aiming to be a financial analyst or financial planner.

What I should have said:
No.

Why:
I didn’t actually have any other applications in progress. He asked me whether I had any applications in progress, not who else am I going to apply to. Also, in the three sentences that I said about the other company, I portrayed more interest and knowledge about the other company than GEICO. Oops. Not to mention that I just outright said ‘I want to work for someone else.’ Now, I was running some hypothetical situations in my head and I was wondering how would I respond if I actually did apply somewhere else. For now, I believe that my answer should be something along the lines of ‘Yes. I have applied to X, Y, and Z. Why? Because they are also hiring for positions that I have interest in and with the current state of unemployment, one can never be too safe with job applications.’ Keep the response as short as possible and reveal as little as possible.


From there, the rep decided to stop the interview and I don’t blame him. Given my responses, I clearly wasn’t a good candidate for the program. I let the idea that this interview was just for practice get stuck in my head and I didn’t take it seriously enough. Although I would have liked the interview to have lasted longer so that I could have been exposed to more questions, I am still happy with what I got. I’ve learned so much just from those three questions alone and I’m very glad that I screwed up an interview for a job I didn’t want rather than for a job that I would’ve loved to have. Seeing as to how this is just the first interview of many, I think it’s a great way to kick start my path to full time employment. I haven’t done an interview in a while so I’m reminded of what it’s like, I know how to better prepare, and I am now armed with three kick-ass responses.

Making Yourself Worth More: 5 Steps to Ace Your Next Interview

A few weeks ago, I scheduled breakfast with a former professor of mine. I’m currently on the market for a job as my graduation date is coming up soon and I wanted to learn from his experiences. Given today's job market situation, I want to get every edge and advantage I can. He gave me one of the most innovative pieces of advice that I have heard in a long while. I’ve never read about this specific technique online or in any job-hunting book I have ever seen.


Step 1: Think about six companies in your field
List the top three firms that you want to be employed by and the bottom three firms that you would never work for no matter what.

Step 2: Do your research
I don’t just mean looking at the company website. Sit in the lobbies of those companies and observe everything. Look at the way people dress, listen to the way people talk, identify who’s important. Note every subtle detail you can. Every company has its own established culture and you want to be someone who is going to embellish that culture rather than clash against it. If everyone is uptight and stiff, then that’s the image that you’re going to want to project. If everyone is loose and relaxed, then soften up your image a bit to match.

Step 3 Apply to the bottom three companies in your list
Do what you can to get an interview with them. Use those three interviews as part of your learning process. Try to adapt your personality to better fit with that company’s culture. Test drive different responses to interview questions. You’re using these three interviews as practice for the three real ones you’re going to conduct later.

Step 4: Apply to the top three companies in your list
Use what you have learned from your first three interviews to create the best responses possible. Keep in the company’s culture in mind and make sure your answers are congruent with the image that you are trying to portray.

Step 5: Be persistent
There is a lot of interview advice that gets passed around. The perfect interviewee may not be the perfect candidate for the job. Once you leave the room, your interviewer is going to have to ask him or herself “How much of what I just saw was authentic and how much of that was just an act?” Show your interviewer (and the company) that you have done your research and you applied for that job not because you just want to get paid, but because you are genuinely interested in working for them. There’s the standard thank you note that everyone sends, but you can do so much more. Use what you’ve learned about the company culture to generate the right persistence response. Be creative.

Once you’ve done that, the job application is no longer in your hands. If you’ve really taken these steps to heart, then in my mind, there isn’t anything else you could have done to portray your value to your potential employer. If anyone experiences any success with these steps, then I’m very interested in hearing about it. Let me know.

Occupy Wall Street: Which Percent Are You?

I'm not much of a political person. Whatever few political views and opinions I have, I tend to keep them to myself. I'm not picking a particular side of this ordeal (not publicly anyway). However, I did find these photos floating around on the internet that illustrate two different point of views on the wealth disparity and I thought they were quite intriguing. I thought I'd share them with you.

*NOTE: I am in neither one of these photos nor were they taken by me.*

Fun fact related to the second picture: This morning, I just signed up for my second job, adding on an extra six hours of work a week.


For those not aware of what's going on, since about mid-September, there have been demonstrations going on around the nation, originating in New York City, where people are protesting the income gap that has grown between the wealthiest 1% in the nation and the rest of the 99%. It's a protest against the economic inequality and the lack of governance over the financial corporations that lead to the credit crisis in 2008. As far as I know, the protestors currently do not have a list of demands, but they sure are getting a lot of attention.

Making Yourself Worth More: Careerealism On The 10,000 Hour Rule

Here's an interesting article that I found stashed away underneath my mountain of bookmarks. It relates back to my post about working on things you're passionate about. My friend showed it to me a few years ago and I thought I'd share it with you all.

This piece is from Careerealism, a blog that is focused on providing career advice.
Read the post here: 10,000 Hour Rule: Why Young Workers Struggle after College (and why some seasoned professionals do too!)


In short, the article essentially states that if you want to be proficient at something, then you're going to have to invest at least 10,000 hours of your time working at whatever you want to be good at. This 10,000 hour rule applies to careers as well. The author gives a little anecdote about how when he was just thirteen years old, his father had him work in an accounting office from that point all the way into the end of his college years. As he entered the workforce, he found that it was easy for him to get along with others and to rise through the ranks. He attributes this not to luck or to talent, but to the experience that he had gained from all the hours that he had logged in working in that accounting office. He then goes on to encourage any professional (not just recent college grads) that want to succeed in their careers to go and start looking for ways they can complete the necessary 10,000 hours.


I am (unfortunately) a math minded person, so I decided to figure out what 10,000 hours really equated to.

10,000 Hours = 416.67 Days = 59.5 Weeks = 1.1 Years

If you devote 8 hours a day, everyday, to your 10,000 hour investment then it would take you 1250 days which translates into roughly three and a half years to complete those hours.

After doing that bit of number crunching, I decided that still I completely agree with what the author says about this "rule." Sure, three and a half years might seem like a long time, but I think that all too often in this fast pace world we are fooled into believing that we only need to spend a minimal amount of time working at something in order to be the best at it. When we take a look at other people's successes, we only see where they ended; we forget to look at where they started from and where all the hard work that was put in. Find a couple people that you believe to be professionals in their area and ask them how long it took them to get where they are. If you know anyone who does martial arts, ask him/her how long it takes to achieve a high rank (e.g. a black belt in Taekwondo or Karate). If you know anyone who you considered to be a skilled musician, ask him/her how long has he/she been playing the instrument and how many hours were put into practicing that instrument. If you know anyone who has a Ph.D., ask him/her how many years he or she spent in college, how many hours were put into late night studying, and how much work was put into the dissertation. I think once you listen to all their grueling stories, you'll find that spending only three and a half years (or 10,000 hours) towards getting better at your career won't seem that bad.


I'm going to try to find as many ways as I possibly can to rack up those 10,000 hours. The sooner I get started, the more experience I'll have. The more experience I have, the better the opportunities that will be presented to me. The better the opportunities, the faster I can make my way from rags to riches.