Ask the Experts

I’ve been having kind of a hard time lately, and I don’t know who to talk to about it. I feel very worried and stressed. Sometimes, when things aren’t going well (which is often!), I actually feel how upset I am in a physical way. My heart will start beating really fast and I’ll feel almost dizzy. It’s scary!

Last spring, I sold my car from high school and bought a new Honda motorcycle. What can I say? It’s fast, it’s sleek, and it gets great gas mileage (and I’m never on it without my helmet!). I’m already a little familiar with the short-term and routine maintenance I have to do to keep it in good shape. What do I do for the next few months and years, though? I like this bike and I plan on keeping it for a long time. How can I make sure I still have it for years to come?

I’m a business major and the vice president of my university’s student investment club. Basically, we’re part of the business school, and we have a pot of money that we invest as an educational tool. We usually only do stocks and bonds, but I (personally) am interested in real estate investing. I’m starting to do research, and it looks really promising, but with our investment club, I would have to get other members on board if we invest in real estate. We’re not about to become builder-developers, obviously, but how do we find a way in? And what can I do to persuade other members to get on board with the plan?

I'm on the internet a lot, just like most people are. I use the internet for work, for fun, and even to get dates! But I'm not sure I know as much as I wish I did about how things on the internet actually work.

After years of dreaming of going to Hawaii, I'm finally doing it! I've put in for time off from work and I'm just now beginning to plan out the trip.

I'm preparing to invest in a vacation property. It's not for me. It's going to be an income property to rent out to vacationers. I'm really excited about getting into this business, but I'm also very new to it. I'm doing my best to research all the ins and outs of rental properties, and as a part of that I thought I'd reach out to you, the experts! Experts, a major concern is keeping this property rented out (and making money) for as much of the year as possible. With relatively short stays, I'm concerned that the commitments I get will be too patchy and leave me on the hook for too many vacant weeks. What kind of advice can you offer?

My brother has always been a hard worker. He got a job pretty young, and he’s really advanced with it over the years. But he’s also very serious about his education, and now that he has graduated from high school, he’s planning to go to college. To keep working and go to college at the same time, he wants to go to college online.

I’m graduating with a degree in computer science, and I’m passionate about cybersecurity (writing that, I realize exactly how nerdy it sounds). It seems like cybersecurity is all over the place these days, from what happened in the elections of 2016 to stuff happening with big companies giving away user data. My adviser is saying I should go on to get a master’s degree, but I’m just not feeling that. At the end of last semester, he said people don’t take cybersecurity seriously. Honestly, it hurt. I’m inclined to believe him, but I want to prove him wrong. How can I do that? Should I? Or should I just go to grad school?

I’m just about done with school and am ready to embark on my career, but I feel kind of weird about networking. I’m a reasonably social person, but I don’t really know how to have a conversation that puts such emphasis on business and usefulness. And I definitely don’t need business cards if I have a LinkedIn profile — right? I find the whole thing super bewildering, but I know that networking is important. How can I get better at it?

I’m graduating next year but I’m a little panicked. I’m a chemistry major, and I don’t want to go the traditional path of getting more advanced degrees right out of college. A lot of people think that getting a STEM major means insta-success right out of college, but I don’t think that’s true. It’s tons of work then insta-panic when you graduate. I haven’t really had time to think about my passions, and now I feel like I’m rushing towards the future without knowing what my passions are. Did I make a mistake? Should I have been a chemical engineer? What career options should I be looking in to?

I need some insight from someone familiar with careers in healthcare. I recently graduated from college with my Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and now I’m considering my next career move.

When I was a little kid, I loved going to restaurants. Actually, scratch that: I still love going to restaurants! It's not just the food — the whole idea of a restaurant, with people coming together and professionals creating the perfect atmosphere, really excites me. For a long time, I've wanted to run a restaurant for a living. But now, in college, I feel like I have kind of let that dream go. I don't know anything about how restaurants are run! Is it too late for me to learn? How can I get into the business?

Is it possible to live without the internet? I know that the internet is everywhere these days, but I find so much of it to be a waste of time. It distracts me from the work I should be doing. I know this sounds crazy, but I am not sure the internet is all that useful to individual people. I know it helps big corporations and stuff, but what good is it for me?

I could use some insight from someone with real estate knowledge. I recently graduated from college with a degree in electrical engineering and landed a job with a major tech company based in Silicon Valley. I couldn’t be more excited about it.

It seems like everyone in my parents’ generation ended up buying houses. Some of them even ended up in the real estate business and bought apartment buildings and other properties to rent out to tenants. However, I’m not sure if these kinds of opportunities will exist for my generation. It seems like real estate is becoming too expensive, and that I might never be able to do any of this.

I am enrolled in a statistics class and we were assigned a semester-long quantitative research paper. The study requires the use of a survey as the instrument to obtain data. I chose a correlational design so that cause and effect do not need to be established, but I do need some help on the types of correlation. I was also hoping to gain some insight on what I should consider in creating a survey and any other useful ideas that you may have.

I’m trying to plan a party. I’m not new to that--I’ve had plenty of fun here in college, thanks very much!--but this time, there’s a twist. The party isn’t for me or my friends. It’s for a kid, my baby brother, who is excited about me planning his party.