Home General Discussion

What would you do with $1600??

1
polycounter lvl 11
Offline / Send Message
Firecracker197 polycounter lvl 11
Ok guys, Ive got a problem, not a bad problem but a problem. Today I got my refund check from my school loans for $1600 and I am thinking about what to do with it. Im a student at the Art Institute of Dallas and I am about to graduate at the end of the year with a focus of modeling. Soo the catch is I want to be productive with this money, IF I spend it at all. Here are some of the options I have been thinking of.

*Listed in order of preference*

- New Laptop!(suggestions welcome)
- Upgrade my desktop (Currently have 3gigs, 32bit Vista, Quadcore, GForce 8300 GT)
- Massive Black Workshop here in Dallas
- Training DVDs
- Don't touch it and pay it back towards my loans
- Save it for after I graduate and need money between school and job

Please suggest anything awesome you would buy that I haven't thought of!

Let me know what you would do and why, I'm trying to do the most useful thing with my monies.

Replies

  • EarthQuake
    Drugs, Liquor and Hookers.
  • bounchfx
    put some towards paying off my student loan, some towards savings, some towards a cintiq, and some towards an amp head/cabinet. that was easy

    my advice for you however is to save it for the time between college and job if you want to be able to live during that time without needing a job.
  • coldkodiak
    Offline / Send Message
    coldkodiak polycounter lvl 17
    EarthQuake wrote: »
    Drugs, Liquor and Hookers.

    We don't all live in Iowa.
  • Microneezia
    Offline / Send Message
    Microneezia polycounter lvl 10
    Training DVD's and rent after school is finished. When school is done, chuck everything you made out the window and use the money and dvds to work for as long as possible on your new portfolio.
  • Wells
    Offline / Send Message
    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    this should be a poll


    save it, you can live off your fat while you hunt for a job and stay home practicing your skillz
  • Firecracker197
    Offline / Send Message
    Firecracker197 polycounter lvl 11
    Training DVD's and rent after school is finished. When school is done, chuck everything you made out the window and use the money and dvds to work for as long as possible on your new portfolio.

    wait...why can't I buy the dvd's now...and use the knowledge from the dvds...to only have to do my portfolio once...
  • ChaosEidolon
    Offline / Send Message
    ChaosEidolon polycounter lvl 17
    Save it for post-school job hunting. 1600 will go REEEAL quick if you don't have an income, but it will give you some breathing room so that you can put your full effort towards finding the job you want.

    If you have any left over, after getting that job, put it towards a cintiq. Sure as hell a better investment than the stockmarket right now :P
  • PixelMasher
    Offline / Send Message
    PixelMasher veteran polycounter
    - Save it for after I graduate and need money between school and job

    ding ding this is what you SHOULD do, I found out there is nothing worse than having to take a lame job while wanting to do 3d and it sucks all your time.Its easy to get sidetracked and then you find yourself a year or 2 behind actually getting the job you want. I hate the stress of trying to manage all that shit. Training dvds are also good so maybe buy a couple focused on the area you wanna specialize in.

    edit: Micro has a stellar point about the tossing the entire school folio after you grad. Some people balk at the mere thought of "wasting" all that work, its not wasted its a stepping stone to becoming better.

    the truth is probably at least 80% (go vague random guestiamation) of student portfolios gradding from art school will not net you a job. a grad portfolio is usually pretty easy to spot.

    Most people tend to need to put in a lot more of their own personal time after schooling to refine their workflows and get their work up to a really high calibre level. this is ofcourse all null and void if you have a bangin' collection of work right out the gate and snag a job quickly.

    you did have a good point about getting the traning materials now and applying lessons learned immediateley to your work as of now. hope you dont take this as being to harsh man. besides obviously any work you do will exponentially increase in quality with each piece right.

    cheers dude.
  • Jason Young
    Offline / Send Message
    Jason Young polycounter lvl 14
    - Save it for after I graduate and need money between school and job

    Unless you live rent free, in which case probably learning materials/workshop and student loan payments. Your comp sounds decent enough, so a laptop seems a waste.
  • skankerzero
    Definitely best saved for between school and a good job.

    If anything, hopefully it will carry you until your next return and you can ride it a little longer.

    I had a crap job between school and work, but it was easier to build a portfolio back then, the work was easier.
  • kat
    Offline / Send Message
    kat polycounter lvl 17
    Gold... the dollar is going to die.
  • hawken
    Offline / Send Message
    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    Sectaurs wrote: »
    save it, you can live off your fat while you hunt for a job and stay home practicing your skillz

    this
  • Tumerboy
    Offline / Send Message
    Tumerboy polycounter lvl 17
    I'm with most of the others. . . hookers and blow.

    Er. . I mean, save it for after you're out of school. You'll see how helpful it is later.
  • low odor
    Offline / Send Message
    low odor polycounter lvl 17
    1600$ crack party
  • snemmy
    Offline / Send Message
    snemmy polycounter lvl 18
    Pokemon cards.

    With $1600 you could build a superb deck to start winning tournaments. Forget all this 3d bullshite. Pokemon is where the real money is.

    ;)
  • PixelGoat
    Offline / Send Message
    PixelGoat polycounter lvl 12
    Two chicks at the same time (someone had to say it)
  • EVIL
    Offline / Send Message
    EVIL polycounter lvl 18
  • katzeimsack
    Offline / Send Message
    katzeimsack polycounter lvl 18
  • TheWinterLord
    Offline / Send Message
    TheWinterLord polycounter lvl 17
    Do you have any loans? It sounds like this is just extra money, so put them into where u get the most out of them, making a loan smaller now is usually a huge deal after some time, so do that now. :)
  • Fliff
    travel, get away from the US for a bit, you'll enjoy it

    your exchange rate is going to be rather shit for your dollar though I'm guessing but depends where you are going.
  • Ruz
    Offline / Send Message
    Ruz polycount lvl 666
    I wold travel with that money. Never had chance when i was growing up in 'thatchers britain'
    so yeah travelling is cool
  • EmAr
    Offline / Send Message
    EmAr polycounter lvl 18
    I wouldn't spend any more than the amount needed to upgrade your graphics card. But if you're happy with your current setup, I would save all the money.
  • almighty_gir
    Offline / Send Message
    almighty_gir ngon master
    i bought this amp

    photo0583f.jpg

    last week
  • SHEPEIRO
    Offline / Send Message
    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    go travelling...
  • blankslatejoe
    Offline / Send Message
    blankslatejoe polycounter lvl 19
    I'm suprised no one has suggested the conceptart.org workshop. You won't have to spend any travel/lodging fees since you're in dallas, so it's already a deal, and the amount of inspiration you'll walk away with from that will be fuel to last you quite a while. You'd be able to still save/upgrade/travel/do something else with what you have left.
  • sir-knight
    Offline / Send Message
    sir-knight polycounter lvl 10
    put it towards the loans man... that's free money back to get out ob debt sooner, and the sooner you can do that, the sooner you can have the real toys and not worry about paying shit off.
  • Ged
    Offline / Send Message
    Ged interpolator
    I would definitely want to upgrade from that 8300GT but if you would use a laptop more then maybe that would be worth getting.

    Yeah I would personally want to go on holiday and see my cousins in newzealand or something

    oh if you have any debts then I would say those should definitely come first.
  • Waz
    Offline / Send Message
    Waz polycounter lvl 17
    I agree with traveling and paying off debts, being in debt really sucks. But nothing beats traveling, experiencing the world and meeting new people.
  • Firecracker197
    Offline / Send Message
    Firecracker197 polycounter lvl 11
    Ged wrote: »
    I would definitely want to upgrade from that 8300GT but if you would use a laptop more then maybe that would be worth getting.

    What card would you suggest?
  • Xaltar
    Offline / Send Message
    Xaltar polycounter lvl 17
    I would suggest a 9800gtx, the prices are low for them and it would be a sizeable increase in graphic performance for you. It should run you between $150 and $200. If you can get a 1gb version then that would be the best. If your Motherboard supports SLI then you can always add another one later to get a little more of a boost.

    This way you would still have $1400+ to save away.
  • Sandbag
    Offline / Send Message
    Sandbag polycounter lvl 18
    if you dont have a nice Intous I'd look at one of those, or if you dont have a legal copy of photoshop that's always a good investment if you expect to do any freelancing. A nice 24" or pair of 21" monitors are always good investments...or if you dont feel bad about spending it all in one place...this:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115542

    Saving is good and smart and all, but if there are any supplies you can use to make better art it would be foolish to waste this opportunity to acquire them now when you can. You can always make enough money to pay rent and bills, but you cant always afford to buy photoshop or a new laptop or whatever else on top of that.
  • [MILES]
    Offline / Send Message
    [MILES] polycounter lvl 17
    Get it converted to pennies.
  • Ott
    Offline / Send Message
    Ott polycounter lvl 13
    The last thing you should be doing is spending it when you don't have an industry job. Simply getting THAT is going to be difficult with the immense amount of competition out there. What if you did land a job, but the company isn't going to help you move? How do you plan on paying first/last month's rent at your new place?

    Of course, "I am about to graduate at the end of the year" doesn't make a lot of sense, considering it is March, but if you are financially secure and feel like buying ANYthing, it should be with your industry profession in mind.

    Personally I wouldn't touch it in this economy. If you don't have 6 months+ of income in the bank, that's where you should start.
  • Mark Dygert
    Spend a little, $2-300 and bank the rest. Screw student loans, most of it would probably go to interest this early in the loan. Unless you have a way to make a principle only payment, bank it. You can make the money go farther when you're out, then you can making it pay down the principle of the loan.

    It won't go very far but its a good start.
  • Ryno
    Offline / Send Message
    Ryno polycounter lvl 18
    Agree with Vig. Personally, I'd upgrade the graphics card to the best that you can get for under $200.

    Expect to be unemployed for a bit (or longer) after you are done with school. Use this money to keep yourself afloat and cover any expenses that come up as you continue working on your portfolio. And you will continue working on it once it gets shredded by folks here after you pimp it. This is typical amongst most students, and I am not trying to pick on you or belittle your art skills. It's just the brutal truth for most recent graduates.

    But having a bit of money in the bank can ease that need to go get an extra crappy job just because it pays decently.

    IF you get a job quickly, I'd dump some of that money into the stock market. It's at a five year low, and it will come back up. Gold is a bad buy right now at record high prices. It will come back down. And if the stock market doesn't straighten itself out, you don't need to worry about your 1600 bucks. You'll be busy dodging bullets, molotov coctails, foreign soldiers (or "freedom" fighters), and rabid dogs in the street.
  • sir-knight
    Offline / Send Message
    sir-knight polycounter lvl 10
    Vig wrote: »
    Spend a little, $2-300 and bank the rest. Screw student loans, most of it would probably go to interest this early in the loan. Unless you have a way to make a principle only payment, bank it. You can make the money go farther when you're out, then you can making it pay down the principle of the loan.

    It won't go very far but its a good start.

    when you make a lump sum payment, you're paying on the principle, after that, the interest/balance of the loan is recalculated, no?
  • ebagg
    Offline / Send Message
    ebagg polycounter lvl 17
    Put it back towards your loan. Loan payments after college are a BITCH.
  • Mechadus
    Id give it right back to the student loan people. They own your ass once you graduate :(

    -N
  • Mechadus
    Im sure all lenders are different, but my loan people put 100% of any payment into interest up to 100% of the payment term interest, which basically doesn't pay anything to the loan. I have to write a separate check and write "principal only" all over it for them to apply any of it to the principal. Scum suckers.

    -N
    sir-knight wrote: »
    when you make a lump sum payment, you're paying on the principle, after that, the interest/balance of the loan is recalculated, no?
  • sir-knight
    Offline / Send Message
    sir-knight polycounter lvl 10
    wow you guys in the states have it pretty crappy... I've never heard of them doing it that way up here in canada o_o
  • Mechadus
    Thats because unless Im missing something, Canada is just a colder better version of the us.....

    sir-knight wrote: »
    wow you guys in the states have it pretty crappy... I've never heard of them doing it that way up here in canada o_o
  • killingpeople
    Offline / Send Message
    killingpeople polycounter lvl 18
    I'd drop it in my bank account and use it as a financial cushion for possible rough time ahead - coast mode
  • Marnik
    Offline / Send Message
    Marnik polycounter lvl 8
    I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure a crappy temp job is in line for me once I graduate. Granted i'm saving up for an Intuos now and will be getting a place with a few friends within the next half year, so I'm gonna be short on cash pretty much from once I get my tablet till I graduate >_<

    Money is teh sux
  • Pedro Amorim
    EarthQuake wrote: »
    Drugs, Liquor and Hookers.

    what he said.. but id change the drugs liquor and hookers with,
    rainbows, sugar, and unicorns
  • rolfness
    Offline / Send Message
    rolfness polycounter lvl 18
    I'll send you my address in a PM
  • Justin Meisse
    Offline / Send Message
    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 19
    I'm not sure that's "travel out of the country" kind of money
  • Marnik
    Offline / Send Message
    Marnik polycounter lvl 8
    I'm not sure that's "travel out of the country" kind of money

    Yeah, that's like, roadtrip for a while money ^_^
  • haba_haba
    buy some cheap bank shares
  • ebagg
    Offline / Send Message
    ebagg polycounter lvl 17
    Mechadus wrote: »
    Im sure all lenders are different, but my loan people put 100% of any payment into interest up to 100% of the payment term interest, which basically doesn't pay anything to the loan. I have to write a separate check and write "principal only" all over it for them to apply any of it to the principal. Scum suckers.

    -N

    The way I understood it was you accumulate interest on loans while you are in school, you can either choose to pay that interest while in school, or wait until you're done and once you start the official payment plan usually 3-6 months after graduation, you first have to pay off the large amount of interest you accrued during school BEFORE starting on the principle.
  • Firecracker197
    Offline / Send Message
    Firecracker197 polycounter lvl 11
    Ive got a pretty low interest rate on some of my loans its like in the 5% range, and some of them are no-interest loans. Ive been paying some interest off month by month already its only like $20-$40. So this interest thing is not an issue...I don't think. Then again financial aid is really talented in making sure you never really fully understand what is going on...
1
Sign In or Register to comment.