Blog - Nicholas Fainlight | Business Development Associate, Hartford, CT

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6 Tips for Getting Ready to Head to Grad School

On June 21, 2018

In Career, Education, Finance, Nicholas Fainlight

Once you’ve been accepted to graduate school, you might think it’s time to relax and that you can approach grad school like you did your undergrad college. However, grad school is vastly different from your previous college experience. You’re studying something much more specialized and are in an even more competitive program. You’ll have to work harder and produce higher level work in order to excel in your grad program. It’s important to remember that grad school is a much more professional environment than undergrad; you’re entirely focused on progressing your career and have a narrowed view of what you want to study. This focus doesn’t mean that grad school can’t be fun, it just mean you need to prepare for it differently than you did undergrad.

Network

Since grad school is all about getting ready for the future, take time to network before and during it. Attend local networking events over the summer and take advantage of any opportunities to connect with people from your school. The sooner you get to know professors and fellow students, the better.

Learn about the school

Once you’ve chosen your grad school, take the time to learn more about it. What’s the town or area around it like? How’s the campus? What are the classes and professors like there? Try to find current students to talk to or blogs to read. It’s never too early to start thinking about what classes you’d like to take or what organizations you’ll get involved with.

Choose where you’ll live

Some grad schools do not offer on-campus housing so it’s up to you to find your own place to stay while in school. Others do offer housing, but it’s often your responsibility to seek out your options and decide where to stay. The last thing you want is to show up on the first day with nowhere to stay.

Increase your knowledge

Before getting to grad school, it’s beneficial to increase your knowledge of the subject you’ll be studying and any other areas that could be useful. Take time to catch up with recent news and developments in your chosen field of study. Refresh yourself on the basics and do some research to find out if there’s any material you should know that you haven’t previously studied.

Get prepared

In addition to being prepared as far as your studies go, making sure you’re practically prepared is important too. Once you decide where you’re living, do you have all the essentials you’ll need for your new home? Do you have clothes that are appropriate for the climate? Are all of your papers in order? Make a list of everything you’ll need and tasks you to complete before starting grad school to be sure you don’t forget anything important.

Create some goals

Finally, set aside time to create a few goals for yourself. You’re entering grad school and need to have a plan for what you’ll do these years and afterwards. Are there specific internships you’d like to apply for? What do you want your career to look like once you’re done with school? Setting long-term goals helps you stay focused and organized during grad school.

White tabletop, calendar, cup of coffee, nicholas fainlight managing your schedule as young professional

4 Tips for Handling Your Schedule as a Young Professional

By Nicholas Fainlight

On May 28, 2018

In Career, Nicholas Fainlight

When you’re in college, you might think that you have a busy schedule and you’re prepared to juggle obligations and run on limited sleep. However, once you graduate and become a young professional with a full-time job, you’ll realize that you’re incredibly busy, but it’s different from what you experienced during college. When you’re in college, you have a clear path and schedule; you take classes at specific times, you have regular meetings, you do stuff with your friends who live nearby.

As a young professional, you’re spending at least eight hours at your workplace and then have a limited amount of time for your other plans. It’s up to you to plan your own schedule. You have to coordinate with friends’ schedules, find volunteer opportunities, discover networking groups and events, and make up your mind on what should be a priority and how you want to spend your time. For college students who thrived on being involved, having so many options on top of working full-time can feel a little overwhelming. Here are some tips on how to handle your young professional schedule and make sure you’re doing what you really want to do.

Prioritize events

The first step to take for managing your new, busy schedule is to prioritize your commitments and what you want to get involved in. If there’s a cause particularly important to you, make a charity that works with it your main philanthropic focus instead of trying to get involved with a variety of organizations. If you want to spend time visiting your family above everything else, plan around those visits. Decide what your focus is and how you want to spend your time and then work around those events.

Get plenty of rest

When you’re spending hours at work, going to the gym, attending a networking event, volunteering, and hanging out with friends, you probably feel like you cannot waste a second of your day sleeping more than necessary. However, being well rested is key to being able to manage a busy schedule; you’ll feel more inclined to stick to commitments and excel at work if you’re not short on sleep.

Talk to your friends

If you’re struggling to find time to fit in all the activities in your schedule and hang out with your friends or significant other, talk to them. Find out what each others’ schedules are and consider participating in events together. Attending a networking event together can be fun and help you branch out from your comfort zone. Volunteering together is a great idea and can be something you make a regular occurrence. It’s harder to stay in touch with friends once you graduate, so make the extra effort.

Plan ahead

You’ll feel much more on top of your schedule when you make the effort to actually plan ahead. Take time at the beginning of each week to look over your schedule so you’re aware of everything that’s happening in the week ahead. You don’t want to be caught off guard by an obligation or event you forgot. Add meetings and events to your phone’s calendar so you get reminders and write them down in a physical planner. You’ll be (and feel) more organized and do not have to stress about remembering everything.

Group of people sitting around a table with an open laptop and graphs and papers, Nicholas Fainlight improve credit score

4 Tips for Improving Your Credit Score

By Nicholas Fainlight

On April 29, 2018

In Finance, Investing, Nicholas Fainlight, Technology

Once you graduate college and begin your life after school, you likely realize how important a credit score is for various decisions. You may have had to deal with issues relating to your credit score beforehand, but it’s certainly something you must pay attention to now. Your credit score affects whether or not you can open credit cards, get a car loan, or get approved for a mortgage. Many landlords also want to know your credit score to see how reliable you are when it comes to making payments. You may have a low credit score or not much credit at all, but there are certainly steps you can take to build it into a respectable number. However, you need to understand that it takes time and hard work to reach an excellent score.

Open accounts with credit

For many recent graduates, you might not have much credit at all, which leads to a low score. The first step to take is opening accounts that utilize your credit; the earlier you take this step, the better. There are plenty of student credit cards out there that are easy to get approved on, or ask your parents to add you to one of theirs. Even using the card a few times a month and then immediately paying it off helps improve your credit score. Be aware that opening new forms of credit means a credit report will be pulled for you to be approved, which often temporary drops your credit score a few points. This drop is completely normal and goes back to what it should be within a few months.

Make payments on time

Something that seriously damages your credit score is making late payments. Even a single late payment on credit can lower your score. If you’ve been notorious for this issue and it’s what caused your score to be so low, change your methods starting today. Set alerts for when your payments are due or even set up automatic payments so you don’t have to worry about forgetting at all.

Regularly check your credit score

If you want to really make a difference in your credit score, you need to be aware of any changes to it, whether positive or negative. The more you familiarize yourself with the score and see fluctuations, the better able you are to make decisions that impact your finances. It’s also important to regularly check your credit score so if a fraudulent account is ever opened in your name, you can report it as soon as possible and prevent it from seriously affecting you. Credit Karma is a great resource to use and can be downloaded as an app on your phone.

Pay off debt

If you want to see immense improvement to your credit score, pay off current debt. Even paying off a single debt can boost your score several points. Make larger payments than required and avoid paying more interest than you have to. While paying off your debt, consider using the debt snowball method in order to receive the maximum benefit.

Home with forest behind it sunlight streaming through, Nicholas Fainlight millennials save for first home

4 Tips to Help Millennials Save for Their First Home

By Nicholas Fainlight

On April 10, 2018

In Career, Finance, Investing, Nicholas Fainlight

There seems to be a prevalent mindset that millennials will never be able to afford a house. While the housing market is inflated in some areas, for most of the country, there are certainly affordable properties. This misconception is certainly not current for many young adults who are working full-time, even if they have significant student loan debt. There are a few steps millennials can take to save for their first home, even if that purchase is ten years down the road. Here are steps you can start taking today to help get you ready to purchase a home.

Boost your credit score

While this tip isn’t directly related to saving up money, it’s a vital one when it comes to purchasing your first home. When you apply for a loan for your mortgage, a big factor for the interest rate and whether or not you’ll get approved is based off of your credit score. If you do not have a great credit score now, you can fix this issue by opening up a credit card and lightly using it; make sure you pay off the balance each month and avoid late payments. Over time, your credit history will improve as you use more of it. Regularly check your credit score as well to make sure there’s no false information or that someone is opening accounts in your name.

Save up a down payment

The best way to make owning a home feasible and less stressful is by saving up an adequate down payment. The rule of thumb is to have 20 percent of the home’s value as your down payment, though many people do not follow this number. You can get approved for a home if you have less than a 20 percent down payment and there are programs out there to help make up the difference and navigate buying your first home, but it’s still best to put as much money down initially as possible.

Do your research

There are major costs associated with buying a home, but you can mitigate some of these costs if you do sufficient research. Make sure you are only buying a house you can actually afford; people often get approved for mortgages that severely strain their budgets. Also shop around for real estate agents and learn what costs you can cut back on and how to get the best deal as you search for your home.

Set regular goals

Buying a home might seem far off, but saving up a down payment takes time. Set goals for yourself to achieve over the next few years. Even putting away $20 a week adds up! You can also schedule automatic withdrawals from your account to go to a separate account for your down payment. You won’t notice the money’s gone and you’ll save up a decent down payment for when you start shopping for a home.

Person's hand holding a locked phone above a blue background, Nicholas Fainlight keep financial accounts secure

How to Make Sure Your Financial Accounts are Secure

By Nicholas Fainlight

On March 24, 2018

In Career, Finance, Nicholas Fainlight, Technology

Whether you like it or not, most of your financial information is available online. While some people avoid using online banking or payment options, most people do. You can pay your credit cards online, check your bank balance, pay off other loans, or manage your retirement accounts. Many people have these apps on their phones and download other financial apps to help them save money or monitor their credit score. These options are incredibly convenient and can help you make informed financial choices and get help if any issues arise, but it can also lead to security issues. However, there are steps you can take to make your financial accounts secure.

Make sure it’s safe

The first step to take when making sure your financial accounts are secure is verifying that the app or website you’re using is actually safe. If you’re considering downloading an app, first look at reviews to make sure people aren’t having a lot of issues with it. Also check out the terms and conditions and find information on how they’re actually protecting your information. Most banks and financial apps are FDIC-insured, which means you can be reimbursed for money up to a quarter of a million dollars. Avoid following any suspicious links as well; only use your institution’s official website when entering account information.

Create complex log-in information

A lot of people reuse usernames and passwords amongst their accounts. However, when it comes to your financial accounts, you need variation. Create unique usernames for each account and randomly generate your passwords. Do not use any information over if you can avoid it. Then, write down your login information on a tangible copy and keep it somewhere secure in your home; avoid keeping any of this information on your phone, no matter how secure you think it is.

Regularly update your passwords

Even with variation, you’ll need to regularly update your passwords. Some people could access your information, but wait to use it. Regularly updating passwords helps make your accounts more secure and greatly reduces the possibility of your information being stolen.

Use a secure connection

If you’re on a public computer or even using a public WiFi connection, avoid checking your financial accounts. It’s much easier than you think to hack into public WiFi and subsequently get onto people’s computers; always use private, secure WiFi when checking important accounts online. Do not save your information in your browser for easier logins in the future. Just memorize your passwords or only access your accounts when you have the information written in front of you.

Monitor your accounts

Finally, once you’ve taken proper precautions with your accounts, continue to monitor them. Instead of waiting for your monthly statement, check your credit card and banking accounts at least once a week to make sure no fraudulent charges were made. While banks have become increasing good at detecting fraud, there is still risk. Always look over charges made to your accounts and make sure every transfer of money and every purchase was actually made by you or another family member who shares the account information.

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Why Financial Literacy Should Be Taught in Schools

By Nicholas Fainlight

On March 12, 2018

In Career, Finance, Nicholas Fainlight

Financial literacy is important no matter what point of your life you’re at. However, the younger you begin learning how to manage your finances, the better you’ll be at managing money throughout your life. There are studies that show financial literacy education has a significant impact and affects students far past their school years. Students in high school who take at least one financial literacy class show themselves to be much more financially responsible as they grow older. With far too many Americans shouldering hefty credit card debt and the rise of immense students loans, it’s more important than ever before for people to understand their financial choices.

Better understanding of life choices

Nearly any aspect of life requires some kind of financial knowledge and means. If you want to go to college, buy a house, get married, have kids, etc., you’re going to be spending money. There are options to take out loans for nearly anything, but is that the best option for you? When you’re researching student loans or working on purchasing your first car, understanding basic financial ideas like interest rates, down payments, and financing is vitally important in order to make the best financial decisions. Being financially literate helps you make informed choices on these topics.

Successfully avoid debt

Most people living in the United States have some kind of debt and that number isn’t going down. People eagerly charge credit cards for purchases, slowly paying off the bill over years and spending more than they would have initially thanks to huge interest rates. Taking out loans for college or a mortgage simply adds to this debt. With financial literacy, it makes it much easier for adults to avoid excessive debt and helps educate them on how to strategically pay off any debt they do accumulate.

Find greater happiness

While money cannot buy happiness, concerns over money cause excessive stress. The number one topic couples argue about is money and people who have to live paycheck to paycheck often feel stressed out, wondering if they’ll be able to pay their bills each month. With financial knowledge, it makes becoming financially secure much easier and lowers levels of stress. WIth less stress, you’ll lead a healthier life. You might not have as large a house or as nice a car as other people, but you won’t be using up all of your money paying off debt you didn’t need to have in the first place.

Increase monetary gains

The better educated you are about finances, the more likely you are to have financial security and increase monetary gains over your lifetime. Understanding the basics of investing and the importance of saving for retirement leads to people being more financially stable as they get older. If you understand the importance of making a fair salary, you’re more likely to advocate for a great starting salary and fair pay increases.

Create a secure future

Like I mentioned above, students who are taught financial literacy early in life are more likely to understand the importance of many financial decisions, such as saving for retirement. The younger someone realizes they should be saving up for their future and making wise purchasing decisions, the sooner they’ll start investing and saving. Planning for your future early helps create a secure future that leads to less monetary concerns.

Room full of people, person at front of room giving a presentation, nicholas fainlight blog about the importance of continuing your education

5 Reasons You Should Continue Your Education After College

By Nicholas Fainlight

On March 1, 2018

In Career, Investing, Nicholas Fainlight

Up until your college graduation, a large portion of your time has been spent furthering your education. While post-graduation feels great because you can stop worrying about attending classes, paper deadlines, and finals week, it’s important you continue your education in some other way. You might be done with a formal education, but you need to keep learning even after graduation. There are plenty of invaluable reasons to continue your education; here are just a few of them.

Career advancement

One of the biggest benefits of continued education after official graduation is how it can help your career. No matter what your job is, there’s more you can learn and there’s someplace to advance to. Maybe you want to get promoted, but lack management skills or another business skill. You might want to pursue an entirely new career, but lack some of the necessary skills. Luckily, by continuing your education, you have opportunities to learn more skills and pursue a new direction in your career. It also showcases your work ethic to your boss and proves that you care about your job and can work hard.

Improves your mind

Plenty of studies have shown the benefits reading and continuous learning have on your mind and overall health. You strengthen your mind, which can help reduce memory loss. You’ll find it’s easier to recall facts and teach yourself other skills if you make a point to keep learning. While general learning is also helpful, you can teach yourself specific skills that help prevent other health issues, such as reducing stress or learning about proper exercise and nutrition.

Makes you interesting

The last kind of person you want to be is someone others find boring to talk to. Whether it’s a conversation with your family, friends, or strangers, continually educating yourself provides you with insightful ideas and interesting topics to discuss. You never know when some interesting fact or skill you learned could come in handy. Being able to hold an interesting conversation improves your personal and professional lives as well.

Discover new passions

You might not realize you’re incredibly interested in photography or the history of Australia until you begin teaching yourself about it. Even if a topic doesn’t seem like something you’d really want to learn about, try reading a book or taking an online class about it. You never know what strikes your interest or where it’ll take you.

Learn useful skills

Unfortunately, most schools do not teach students basic life skills. Once you graduate, you’ll realize you need to know a lot of information no one told you about, like signing a lease, filing taxes, opening a credit card, or maintaining upkeep on your home. Take time to read books, blogs, or watch videos that address these issues. Any question you might have about a certain life skill can be found either in your local library or online, so teach yourself these skills and make your life that much less stressful.

Blank white piece of paper with a small leaf on it, cup of coffee next to it, both on a table, Nicholas Fainlight blog about how to develop a great morning routine

6 Ways to Create a Better Morning Routine

By Nicholas Fainlight

On February 8, 2018

In Career, Nicholas Fainlight

No matter what you’re doing, whether you’re working full-time or still in school, it’s important that you craft a great morning routine. In order to have a successful day, you need to start off well. Unfortunately, many people do not have much of a morning routine at all and try their hardest to get a few more minutes of sleep in, even if it means they’re rushing to get ready and feeling stressed out. Here are tips on how you can create a great morning routine that improves the rest of your day and pushes you down the path to success.

Get up with your alarm

The biggest mistake most people make in their morning routines is continuously hitting snooze. Though you might feel great in the moment getting ten minutes of extra sleep, it doesn’t actually help you throughout the rest of your day. That small amount of sleep does not make a difference in your energy and can actually make you feel sluggish since you’re disturbing your sleep. You’ll find you have more time in the mornings if you get up with your first alarm.

Make your bed

Right now, you might not have time to complete this step, but if you stop hitting snooze, you will. It only takes a few minutes and making your bed ensures that you don’t get back into it to take a nap later in the day or waste time while you’re getting ready. It also makes your mind feel at peace because everything in your room looks more organized with your bed made and makes moving forward with your day easier.

Eat healthy

Most people have the best intentions when it comes to healthy eating, but find it’s much harder to put into practice once you’re competing with your busy schedule. While you should be eating healthy your entire day, the meal you eat in the morning is vitally important. Make yourself a protein rich breakfast and take time to slowly eat it; do not eat something full of sugar that leaves you feeling hungry and tired a few hours later.

Do some activity

Some people find it’s incredibly effective to work out in the morning, though this routine isn’t for everyone. You might not want to hit the gym, but do a few exercises in your room right after you get up. Take time to stretch, do some pushups, or something else and you’ll find you’re more alert and ready to face the day.

Go over your day

Staying organized is important to your daily routine so start the day by going over what you need to accomplish in the next 24 hours. Just quickly reading through a planner or making a short to-do list helps you focus and get ready for the day ahead. You’ll stay focused and avoid forgetting important meetings or tasks.

Avoid your phone

A lot of people reach for their phones as soon as they wake up, but this habit can lead to you wasting time in the morning scrolling through social media. Instead, go straight to your routine and wait until after you’re fully awake before you check your emails and the weather. The less time you spend looking at your phone, the better.

6 Tips for Dealing with Life After College

By Nicholas Fainlight

On December 13, 2017

In Career, Nicholas Fainlight

No matter how ready you think you are, graduating from college and firmly entering the adult world can be jarring. You might be heading off to grad school, but even then, you’ll eventually be done with school and no longer in such a structured environment. While being a full-fledged adult is exciting, there are also a lot more responsibilities you’ll realize and you’ll have to take complete control over planning your own future, since you no longer have a clear goal like graduation to work toward and set steps on how to get there.

Accept the changes

The first step to adjusting to life after college is accepting that it’s happening. You’ve been spending most of your life working toward graduation and everything else likely seemed fairly distant. Now, you need to seriously think about a job, your career, professional opportunities, what you want to do in the near and far future, and how to achieve those goals. You’re soon going to be financially responsible for yourself (if you aren’t already) and you may be getting married and starting a family sooner than you think. Acknowledge these changes are all possible and begin planning.

Find a routine

Something that’ll keep you sane now that you’re out of college is creating a solid routine. Try to go to bed and get up around the same time, make consistent plans with friends, and consider regular workout times or something else. As long as you have a routine, you’ll have something to rely on and keep you focused.

Make a plan

After you’ve gotten used to no longer being in college, it’s time to make a plan about what you want your next steps to be. What kind of career do you want in the long run? Where do you want to live? Do you want to buy a car or a house? Begin crafting one, five, or ten years plans and you’ll feel a bit more in control of your future.

Prioritize

While in college, it’s completely normal to frequently multitask and juggle various responsibilities like class, work, socializing, video games, and clubs, but once you’re out of college, it’s harder to do so many things. One big reason is you are now spending a significant amount of time each day at a job (hopefully), so you don’t have the short breaks you used to enjoy between classes. Realize this reality and instead prioritize what you want to do outside of work. Do you want to go to the gym or go home and watch television? Do you want to get dinner with your friends or run some errands? These decisions are very real out of college.

Create a support system

You might no longer live next door to your best friends and you might work somewhere far away from your family. However, it’s important to create a strong support system. Make new connections with coworkers or other people where you live or reconnect with people in the area if you moved back home. Regularly talk to your friends from college and your family, even if you can’t see them often.

Take care of yourself

Finally, make sure you’re taking care of yourself. You’ll have to adjust to a new schedule and phase of your life and it’s going to be stressful. Give yourself time to sleep each night, eat healthy, drink lots of water, and get regular exercise. Avoid becoming burned out or too stressed at your job and take some time to do something you enjoy each day.

How to Use Credit Cards the Smart Way

By Nicholas Fainlight

On December 13, 2017

In Finance, Nicholas Fainlight

Credit cards are something we’re likely all familiar with. You’ve probably gone shopping to a larger store and had the salesperson ask if you want to open a credit card account specific to that store. It’s likely you always brush it off, knowing you don’t shop there that often or don’t want to deal with more debt. However, many people open credit cards, whether a store card or a regular one. The average household in America carries nearly $6,000 of credit card debt. Other studies show that about a third of Americans have at least one credit card.

You’ve probably heard horror stories of people getting into insane amounts of credit card debt they’re never able to pay off. Many people completely swear off of credit cards and believe they’re sure ways to get sucked into overwhelming debt. However, if you handle credit cards in a smart way, you won’t have to worry about dealing with outrageous amounts of debt. Here are tips on using credit cards and actually benefiting from them.

Online shopping

One of the best uses for credit cards can be to use exclusively for online shopping or somewhere else you think information could get compromised, such as a small stand or other place that appears to have low security. All too often, we make online purchases and then see that our account information has been compromised. It’s much easier to freeze and cancel credit cards and get the purchases taken off your statement than it is to do the same with getting money back into your bank account. By using a credit card for a purchase you would have made anyway, you can protect yourself from fraud.

Designated purchase

Sometimes, credit cards can be useful for a designated purchase. You might receive a lower car insurance rate if you set up an automatic payment, but don’t want to save your bank information, using a credit card becomes a great alternative. It’s also easier to track spending if the only purchase you’re making on that card is one kind.

Gain rewards

You can easily find credit cards that claim they have incredible rewards programs. Nearly every card now offers some type of reward. It’s important to avoid being drawn into promises of rewards and going for every card offered; take the time to research different cards and find out which ones offer the best rewards for you. Then, use that card regularly to make purchases you can afford and build rewards that are actually beneficial.

Build credit

A very smart reason to use credit cards is because they allow you to easily build your credit. By regularly using a credit card and not making late payments, you’re able to improve your credit score. This benefit is especially useful to younger people who don’t have any kind of credit score and need to create one in order to make larger purchases or rent an apartment. Spend smartly and avoid creating debt so you can improve your credit score.

Pay on time

Finally, the smartest way to use your credit card is by paying it off on time. If you carry a balance over from month-to-month, you’ll likely have to pay large amounts of interest, often around 20 percent of whatever the balance is. If you can’t pay off a large purchase in a month (or very shortly after), do not use your credit card. The problem with credit cards is people avoid paying off the balance each month, so it just accumulates and interest builds, which results in outrageous amounts of debt and you paying more than you spent in the first place.

A credit card isn’t something you have to be scared to use, as long as you’re following these tips and being smart in your spending. It could actually be something that benefits you.