A Letter to My College-Bound Daughter
给将上大学的女儿的一封信——来自爸爸的“大学理财经”
Dear Lexie,
亲爱的莱克西：
On your first day of college, let me congratulate you on your well-earned freedom. No more curfews. No more being dragged places you'd rather not be. No more of Dad's teachable moments about responsibility, opportunity...life. And no more boring lessons about after-tax income, saving, borrowing, compound returns and growth stocks.
在你上大学的第一天，首先祝贺你获得了应得的自由。不再有宵禁，不再被拉去不想去的地方，不用再听爸爸那些关于责任、机遇之类的人生说教，也不用再上税后收入、储蓄、借贷、回报率、增长股等枯燥乏味的课程。
While we're on the subject of “no more,” let me gently mention that it applies to the car you've been driving too, and my gas card and your allowance. Freedom, you see, has its price. Sorry, I couldn't resist one more teachable moment.
我们正讲到“不用再怎样”，让我稍微提一下，这也包括你开的车，我给你的汽油费和零用钱。你瞧，自由也是有代价的。抱歉，我又情不自禁说教了一回。
I know that you will study hard and explore all the great things that a university has to offer. You are ready for this and, frankly, so am I. Your freedom and a degree of mine come wrapped together.
我知道你不仅会刻苦学习，还会尝试大学提供的一切美好的事情。你已经为此作好准备，坦白地说，我也一样。在某种程度上，我的自由与你的自由密不可分。
Yet I can't help but worry that you may get tripped up with money issues. It's easy to do, especially when you're just starting out. But happily, it's also fairly easy to avoid. So if you'll just indulge me one last time, I'd like to offer some parting financial wisdom for your first semester and beyond.
可是我担心你有可能陷入财政危机。这极有可能发生，特别是你才刚刚开始独立。但庆幸的是要避免也很容易。因此，如果你再容忍我一次，我想最后告诉你一些在第一学期以及将来的理财秘诀。
You are fortunate to have parents that can take care of your biggest bills—tuition, room and board, transportation home. But the rest, dear child, is up to you. It would be a shame for you to end up in debt with your modest earning ability right now (the average credit card balance for college seniors: nearly $3,000). So estimate all of your expenses over the next 17 weeks and compare that with your available resources. Looking at the whole semester, not just a sample week, makes plain how recurring expenses add up—like, say, $4 a day at Starbucks setting you back nearly $500.
你很幸运，因为父母帮你承担了大额的支出——学费、住宿费和伙食费及回家的交通费。但亲爱的孩子，剩下的就要靠你自己了。以你现在有限的赚钱能力，最后负债累累，那将非常丢人(大四学生平均可透支3000美元)。所以估算一下你未来17周的支出，与你现有的可用资金进行权衡。查看整个学期的情况——而不单是一周——明确一再重复的支出加起来是多大一笔费用——比如说，在星巴克一天花4美元买咖啡，累积起来就是500美元。
Separate your spending into categories, such as books, laundry, entertainment, food and beverages (spare me the details about what kind of beverages). “Keep an envelope for each, and place all of your receipts in those envelopes so you can go back and count what you spent where,” says Douglas Andrew, author of Millionaire by Thirty. "That way you'll quickly recognize where you may be going overboard." Make adjustments as needed.
将你的支出分门别类，比如课本费、洗衣费、娱乐消费、伙食、饮品(不必告诉我你都喝了些什么)。“为每一类支出准备一个信封，将你所有的收据放到那些信封中，这样你就可以回头看看自己将钱花在哪里，”《三十而富》的作者道格拉斯·安德鲁如是说，“通过这种方法，你可以很快得知自己哪里的支出超出了预算。” 如有需要，作一些调整吧。
But when you add to one category, be sure you subtract[减] from another. If money runs tight, don't default to a part-time job unless you'd really enjoy it or it's truly a last option. You worked hard all summer and saved enough to get by. Cut your expenses instead. That's a lifetime skill worth developing now.
一项支出增加，另一项就要减少。不要在收支紧张后就只想着去做兼职，除非你真的喜欢或者别无选择。你整个夏天都在努力工作，才勉强熬过来。还不如削减开支呢。这是一项受益终身的技能，值得现在开始培养。
I have a confession : In the past few months I have—without telling you—thrown away at least a dozen credit card offers to you. This bombardment will continue when you move to campus. They will not stop the barrage , and even without me as your guardian filter, I hope you'll keep throwing the offers away. You need only one—a Visa, a MasterCard or an American Express注. Never charge more than 30 percent of your credit limit and pay in full every month. But just to be safe, authorize an appropriate automatic monthly payment to protect you from late fees and a credit blemish.
我得承认：我在过去的几个月里——之前没有告诉你——帮你扔掉了好些信用卡申请表。即使你搬到学校，这种轰炸还会继续。他们不会停止进攻，即使没有我这个防护过滤器，希望你可以继续扔掉那些申请表。你只需要一张——一张Visa卡、万事达卡或者美国运通卡。不要透支信用卡限额的30%，并且每月都要还清欠款。为了安全起见，设置合适的月度自动还款系统，避免需要缴纳滞纳金或者造成信用不良记录。
Even if you don't have to, take at least one economics and one personal finance course. High schools don't teach much about budgets and credit or supply and demand. These courses will open your eyes to how much money works in the real world and introduce you to practical skills you'll use the rest of your life. They will also, finally, give you an inkling of what your dad's been writing about for 25 years.
选修至少一门经济学和一门个人理财课程，即使学校没有要求你这样做。中学教育并没有传授太多有关预算和信用，或者供求关系方面的知识。这些课程会让你认识到金钱在现实社会中如何运作，让你学到终身受用的实用技巧，也让你终于对爸爸25年来所写的内容有一个大致的了解。
Don't get caught up in talk on campus about which majors are the best stepping stones to financial success. You'll hear plenty of that from kids who want or may be under pressure to get a quick return from their education. Forget them. Many of those kids will end up disliking their jobs and muddling through so-so careers. You can make a great living doing almost anything, as long as you love it. So take risks. Explore. Switch majors. Get your head out of the books and do something surprising. There's time. But find your bliss and pursue it. Go ahead and get fluent in Spanish and study abroad if that makes your heart sing. Your knowledge and experience will pay off later on, I promise—just as you'll be rewarded for the joy you bring to tasks that excite you.
不要相信校园里那些关于什么专业是财富的垫脚石的谈论。你会听到很多这样的谈论，它们都是来自于那些渴望或者急于想从教育中得到快速回报的孩子。不要去理会。那些孩子将来大多不喜欢他们的工作，只是在平淡的职位上混日子。只要你喜欢，你可以做你想做的一切事情。所以去冒险吧，不断探究，转专业。从书本的框框条条中跳出来，做一些令人惊奇的事情。你有足够的时间。发现自己的幸福所在并努力追求。如果你的心为此雀跃，练就一口流利的西班牙语，出国留学吧。我保证，你所学到的知识和经历将会给你带来回报——正如那些让你兴奋的事儿给你带来的快乐一样。
So that's it, Lexie. Of course, I'll be available for more advice anytime—for the price of a phone call. Judging by how eagerly you packed your things, though, I recognize that my time would be ill-spent sitting in front of the telephone waiting. That's okay, I won't. We're both ready.
就说这么多吧，莱克西。当然，我随时会为你提供建议——只要你付得起话费。不过看到你如此急切地打包行李，我意识到自己可能要在电话机旁边无比煎熬地等待下去。没关系。我不会这样做。我们都准备好了。
Love always,
Dad
永远爱你的
爸爸
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