Reader Case Study - Reentering the US After Peace Corps Service

[pcvnepal]

so I sent an email for a reader case study but have tricky internet here so who knows if it made it.  ANYWAY, here's my deal:

i'm currently half way through my 2 year service as a peace corps volunteer here in Nepal.  currently, money is something I pretty much never really worry about because all my expenses (all 100 bucks of em) are covered by PC every month.  I just started reading here and wanna learn how to get my mustache going the minute I get back.  here's the stats:

income
- currently a savings account with around 3000 reserved for travel during and a couple months after service.
- a readjustment payment of about 8000 once I finish
- for about a year after I get back, part time work/intern while looking to apply to grad school the next year

expenses
- aside from traveling on the dirt cheap for vacations, none now
- after returning, food and rent (let's say 700-800 a month)
- zero debt!

assets
- a 91 ford Taurus currently 'stached away (a little under 90000 miles)

liability
- still under parents insurance

I just wanna know the best way to start out with these sweet mustachian ways.  what to do with that 8000 and looking a year out at a probably 50000ish grad school program.  I feel like I'm basically a clean slate.

[Spondulix]

Do you need to go to grad school to get placed into what you want to do? Just wondering about the cost-benefit analysis of going to school vs what you will earn in the field.

[pcvnepal]

looking to go to school for prosthetics and orthotics.  you can work as a tech in the field but I want to work with patients as well as fabrication which requires a masters these days

[pcvnepal]

OH, and the median salary is usually is around 60000 last time I checked

[pcvnepal]

bump

an body have some suggestions?

[Spondulix]

The best way to "start out with Mustacian ways" is just to read the blog... Honestly, right now what you're presenting isn't really a budget because your income for the next 2-3 years is basically unknown!

Once you determine exactly how much money you want/need to earn (and I'm talking about now til you graduate - not when you're in the field) that should help you lay out how you need to be living. So that's what I would focus on - figuring out what your goals are until you get in to the field. Will you have to take out student loans to pay for school? Do you want to contribute to an IRA while you're in school? How many hours can you work and still get your work done in the degree? In an ideal situation, you wouldn't be taking out any loans and maxing out a Roth IRA every year, but that may not be feasible. So how close can you (and do you want) to get?

[MDM]

pcvnepal, welcome to the forums.

Your situation is opposite the usual case study, in which people have income but spend too much of it.  As I understand your post, for the next year you have no income but all your expenses are paid by PC.  Not much you can do with that.

Then, when you return, you have a grad school lined up (or do you need to apply and get accepted somewhere?), and are planning to take loans to cover tuition, room & board.  Best thing you can do then is keep your expenses under control (but don't scrimp to the point it negatively affects your studies).

After graduation and starting a paying job, use tax-advantaged investments to "pay yourself first", keep expenses low, and away you go.  How fast to pay off the loans will depend on the interest rates you get.

Much easier written than done, but doable - so good luck!

[Spondulix]

Do you get forgiveness on future student loans for being PC? Or is it just if you do it before?

[pcvnepal]

thanks everyone,

I mean yeah that's basically what I was wanting to figure out.  just focus on keeping things under control till I get onto a steady income and then more work from there.

I was pretty much just curious if there were any tricks to pull off while getting there. 

so for now I think I'll spend some free time just reading up on basic economics (got a list of books from the MMM recommended reading) and continue reading the blog. 

annnnnd idk about future loan forgiveness, but I'll look into it because that would be great.  there is a pretty sweet program called the Paul d coverdell (sp?) fellows program that can give you outrageous deals on participating grad programs around the country.

unfortunately no prosthetics programs though