Chosen Life

In my latest STEAM class, Econ, we have been covering a wide range of topics. From stocks to loans, we did the math and methodology together in class. For the math portion we mainly used the three interest rate formulas: I=Prt for simple interest, A=P(1+r/n)^n x t for compounding interest, and A=Pe^r x t for continuously compounding interest. Continuously compounding interest is the most commonly used today as it can be used to find interest on debt/ investment, inflation, and how fast you might pay back said loan/ investment. 

We also had two Field Experiences, first with one of the founders/creators of the Rapunzl app and second a workshop on money management with Capital One.  Rapunzl is an app that simulates how you might invest in stocks using a fake portfolio with 10,000 dollars to start with and then lets the stock change based on real stock prices in the market each day. The workshop went well and gave a good overview of information that I think every high schooler needs to know or hear about at some point.  

The idea of the project is to find a career of interest to us and find a path into said field: where we might go to school, how much we may accumulate in debt, and how long it would take to pay off school loans assuming we can get the desired job. 

Assuming that I decided to go into landscaping architecture, what education or certification would I need? After talking with an actual Landscape Architect, as well as some other background research, I can break it down for you. Educationally, you need a minimum of a Bachelor's degree in landscaping architecture or a closely related field. After that, you need to get experience by working closely under an LA  for several years. Each state has slightly different requirements but most must be licensed. To become licensed you need to pass a test called the L.A.R.E., a four part test on the aspects of land and infrastructure you need to know as an LA. Finally, less of a mandatory requirement and more of an important recommendation, is that you have a good amount of knowledge or familiarity with different design software. Specific examples from my interview would be: AutoCAD, Adobe suite, SketchUp, and InDesign. Other useful skills that my interviewee mentioned were studying plants and drawing in varying formats.

S + D curves for Architects, CDH, 2021

Currently there is a very steady amount of people leaving and others joining the field. With only about 1,600 yearly openings for Landscaping Architects, they are only filled, but not usually over filled, as people retire or change careers quickly in this business. The supply and demand curves aren't even curved really: (From the red dot at (0,3.2) to the green dot at (10,3.2); the X axis being #of architects and the Y axis being #of people who need them)

When looking into schools for an undergrad in architecture, one that caught my eye was Pratt Institute. It's an art college in New York City that seemed like my kind of place. I then looked at tuition (before scholarships) to figure out how much it would cost in the next few years. When looking for this, you need to know not only what you are paying that year but also the next few years, assuming you stay there. Let's say you are a student applying this year; it is going to cost you $53,814 but we also need the number for last year to find what it will probably cost next year. We do this because we need to keep track of how inflation is affecting the cost.

The tuition last year was $53,808. If we assume inflation is about 2% a year this is what costs for each year would look like:

Rate of inflation calculator, CDH, 2021

If we add all four years then we have our estimated total cost. From there we can take out a student loan to cover it temporarily and find out both how much we would pay in interest and how long it would take to pay it back with about 20% of our earnings each year after getting the job. Architects make about $85k-$100k annually so 20% is about $15k. To get our total number of years in debt we need to use the continuously compounding interest formula but subtracting our payment each year. It looks something like this:

Unending Debt, CDH, 2021

To summarize, you can't pay it off because the amount that you are paying back does not outweigh the interest, but if we were to make the payment higher like say $25k then it would look like this:

Debt Over Time, CDH, 2021

The next question stems from our talks about investment. We need to know how much we would make over all years in a field. If I worked until I was 70, making 95K annually, how much would I have made and how much could I have invested? After 4 years in school and 2 years working under another architect, it would be the start of 2028 (assuming I finish everything on time). I would have started my first year as an LA at the age of 25. That amounts to 45 years in the field for me to finish at 70 years old or $4,275,000 of total income (before spending, inflation, taxes, or promotions/ demotions).

If I were to invest with this kind of income, I would save and invest about half of my savings. If I continue to follow a main rule of saving half my personal income (after bills),

I would have about 10% while paying back student loans and 20% after paying them back. This would be $9,500 for the 15 years of paying back loans and $19,000 for the 30 years after. Altogether this amounts to $712,500 invested which depending on the chosen interest rate could turn into tens of millions of dollars.

Overall I think this project helped me visualize a future I want for myself. I have considered going into architecture since I was very young reading "Percy Jackson" and seeing one of the characters wanting to be one because they want to leave something behind to be there long after they die; that idea really stuck with me until now and has been a major career plan for me. This has pushed me to seriously consider all prospects for my future and made this a prominent/ realistic option for me. I want to thank the person I got to interview, Stephen, and thank my teacher for putting me in contact with them. I hope you learned something whether it be logical or mathematical and hope you have a good day, night, or whenever you are reading this.

-CDH