Most people know I'm pretty interested in money/behavioral finance (I blog about it and am starting a PhD in finance). I really do believe that I'm extremely, extremely privileged in that my parents are highly educated, very responsible with money, and don't spend much (growing up in Soviet Russia does that to you). I also happen to be really curious and into math (again, thank you parents for meeting at uni while studying math, then forcing me to do math as a kid), so money and investing are at this point, not scary, but instead really interesting. So many people are only able to look around at those around them, and assume it's natural or inevitable to be stressed about money. This doesn't lead to good decisions, but it's unproductive to approach them with judgement. To me, that would be akin to children with wealthy donor parents mocking others for not getting in to an Ivy League school, while simultaneously benefiting enormously from their parents' connections & failing to acknowledge their privilege. (Can you tell I'm nose deep in a book about exactly that?)
I'm really happy when something I talk about (like switching from Verizon to a much-cheaper MVNO while keeping my iphone) resonates with people. I had friends who expressed interest in doing the same, and thanked me for sharing that option. I do sometimes get frustrated with how I see people spending money. Sometimes I have really mixed feelings -- over the last few months, a few of my friends have posted pictures on facebook of their brand-new cars. When I see that, I feel a little concerned (are they taking out a loan? Will they be paying off the car for a long time?) but also realize I would be an asshole to say something along those lines, especially since I don't know their financial situation with 100% certainty. One of my closest friends recently did this, and I'll probably end up asking him about that, as I'm really interested in how other people make financial decisions.
One of my friends is currently making a really big financial/life decision -- whether to go to a top master's degree program for design, at $150K for two years of tuition, supplies, and living costs. When I talked to her about it, I mostly asked questions about why she wants to go to grad school, how she would benefit from the program, what her other options are, etc. I have a huge pit in my stomach thinking about my friend being under such a mountain of debt. I think that in her case she shouldn't do it (right now), but I also reiterated that it's a really tough question. Ultimately I'm sad that she can't enjoy her amazing accomplishment, and that even though she's done a lot of work to get funding (postponing grad school for a year, applying for fellowships, networking, etc), she hasn't been successful and will have a huge financial burden if she goes to school. Anyone have any good links/websites to illustrate what a student loan debt will mean for her in the future? She's an engineer who's on the lookout for a math class to take for fun, so I think she'd respond well to something analytical/visual, and I'd like to make sure she understands what she could be getting into, without coming off as overbearing.