That is awesome that she is thinking ahead like that. So many young adults don't do that. Personally, I am SO thankful to my mother for refusing to help with college costs unless I picked a useful degree. I also think it's really hard to know at 18 what you want to do with your life, as I don't think most young adults have the life experience to really know. I think everyone can agree that what you picture your life being at 18 and what it ends up being at 30+ are often quite different. I know it was for me. I majored in Economics and it allowed me the opportunity to go into a variety of different fields, from marketing to investment banking to even entrepreneurship. Understanding numbers and how they work can apply to anything in any industry. I am a huge proponent of the quantitative degrees - math, economics, programming, etc. These fields will never, ever go away because they can be applied to anything and any new technology that evolves. I have so many friends who majored in degrees like communications, marketing, history, journalism, etc. because it was their passion or interest at the time, and while I can appreciate that, they also have incredible stress because they can barely pay their bills, much less save for retirement or children's education. Student loans are also crippling - I know people with $500 a month loan payments and it is an incredible burden. All that being said, I agree with all of the above with regards to lifestyle and priorities. For myself, my #1 priority is financial security over job satisfaction, at least for now. I'm 31 and my fiance is 37 and through our jobs and savings, we've already saved enough to send our (future) kids wherever they want for college, and for our family to live completely debt-free. This was all done 100% from good jobs, working hard and savings...no inheritance or lucky investments. We live a simple lifestyle. Our house was expensive but that's just standard for where we live. I drive a 12 year old car and buy my clothes at Target. Before I met him he used the same particle board furniture from his college days. :) He still wears tshirts from 1992, lol. It's all about priorities. But there are trade-offs. He loves his job but I don't like mine. But the way I look at it is that for me, financial struggling would be as stressful as this job, so I am saving and saving to someday pursue my own passions. Working hard in a job I didn't necessarily love from college to now also allows me the privilege of being able to stay home with future kids, which is a big priority for me. Again with trade-offs. If I pursued my interests early on, I probably wouldn't be able to do that now. But I also hate going to work in the morning. Another thing to consider is that in 40+ years there's a good chance there won't be social security anymore so retirement savings needs to start as young as possible. Also, no matter what she picks, please emphasize the importance of internships and work experience in college! It really, truly can make the difference between a $20k job out of college and a $50k job out of college. Your starting salary will very often pave the way for future salaries, at least in my experience where new jobs can only pay a certain percentage higher than what you were previously making. I couldn't find any internships as I was ignorant of the importance until it was too late to apply for the ideal ones, so I reached out to local businesses and volunteered my services in exchange for being able to put it on my resume. Things like basic data analysis in the real world vs. a classroom can really make a difference after graduation. My friends who dedicated themselves to studying instead of trying to work at the same time had a really hard time finding jobs after college.

When I bought my oven Masterchef was included. There was no option. I've used it twice in 8 years and could easily do without it. However, I've read posts from people who were buying the oven for Masterchef. It works well if you don't know how to cook, or aren't sure or don't want to bother. If the oven doesn't have it then attention really must be paid to learning the way the various combination heat settings work and which to use for what since this is European convection. Example: one of my favorite settings -- autoroast -- is a cold-oven setting. By that I mean no preheat is required. The food is started in a cold oven then both the broiler and oven element are engaged to sear and bring the oven up to temperature. Autoroast isn't suitable for a souffle. But it's great for roasting poultry, meat or veggies -- and terrific for Thanksgiving turkey which is heavy and cumbersome to put into a preheated oven. Learning the oven is well worth it IMO but the alternative to figuring it out is Masterchef settings. Depends on your needs.

We've never discussed a dollar limit - but when I was working and earning more than/about the same as he was, I'd just buy anything I wanted, he did the same, even if that was $200. Once we had kids, even though I was still working, we tried saving a bit more so didn't "splurge" though we did buy new BR furniture after DS was born, we shopped for it together (I told him what I liked and he agreed LOL), same as we did before kids (DR furniture). I have bought 2 new cars since we got married, both I picked out and paid for, he only gave me rides to dealers to pick up. "We" (he doesn't pick out his own cars LOL) have also bought a used pickup truck and 2 Explorers in that time, those he helped pick out but I was the one who decided which model (and also decided when I was pg that we needed to trade the pickup for something with a backseat!). He never negotiates - hates buying cars and I've learned not to take him shopping for used anything (CL) b/c he won't play "bad cop" to my "good cop" when I'm trying to negotiate price - though I feel it would be perfect since I'm the one who has responded to the ad, and he's the sole wage earner now, if he would say something about it being "too much for the condition" or something when I ask him in front of the seller what he thinks. DH doesn't tend to ask how much something is when I am looking for decor - he trusts me to shop around, like when I was pricing out custom roman shades for our FR. I told him I liked the $2000 ones from Calico Corners, found SlectBlinds was $1000 but I was OK with the $500 ones from JCP, since I know we've got other things to spend "our" money on. We shopped for the FR together, but whether my dad would be able to get up from the sofa was a major consideration. I found the LR sofa with my mom, that was over $700 so I took pics and told DH and dragged him down to store for OK before I ordered it. But he wants a recliner, I would not go buy one for him, he has to sit in it and pick it out, though I will try to steer him toward a style that will fir with the other furniture. He wants to buy a pickup again now, he can go out and buy one himself but I have been trying to get him to express what he wants to use it for so I can help him find one (he wants an extended cab but I don't know if that means jump seats or bench seat and four doors). I know what *I* would use a pickup for, but don't know if he just wants something to plow with, in which case we don't need a back seat and don't need to trade in the SUV, can even just buy a junker and keep it unregistered. Gotta love him - he spent 2 days running around looking for fabric for LR curtains while I was sick, he never even questioned why I didn't want to use the curtains I'd already bought and can't return. I'm just trying to be respectful of all his hard work, since I won't be able to sell those for what I paid for them, I don't want to spend more than $200 on the new ones, though the "budget" I had in mind (not discussed) was larger to big with, I think I have to fit the cost of both sets of WTs within that original "budget" now. I feel guilty that I "wasted" money on the old ones just b/c I found something I like better.

I think enough to finish the job is a good rule of thumb, unless your contract specifies otherwise. This doesn't necessarily protect you against the contractor disappearing anyway, though. As a point of reference, while we've never worked with a GC, we have done two big projects with a structural and HVAC contractor in the last few years. The structural guy wanted final payment after we passed inspection. He got 90% done and then completely disappeared---no final inspection so we still owed him $3K, and he *still* didn't return calls! Took a month to get him back out to tie up loose ends so we could final the permit. Contrast that to the HVAC people, where the contract specified final payment upon completion of work---*before* final inspection, which irked my husband. But the contract also specified that they were required to correct any inspection issues within 30 days of notice, so there was some protection there. So if they disappeared, we would have had some recourse. I actually think I prefer that to the contract with the structural people, which didn't put any timelines on anything. And then there's our cabinetmaker, who has a 30-30-30-10 contract, with the last payment coming after we are "completely satisfied." Ha, hope he knows what he's getting himself into... :)