Before moving to Chicago to take a $12,000-a-year job as a community organizer in the 1980s, someone advised Barack Obama to go into TV broadcasting.

Why?

He was told: “Forget this community organizing business and do something that’s gonna make you some money”

Arguably, cutting his teeth on public service at the grassroots level has, in the long-run, been far more beneficial for Mr. Obama than if he had pursued a TV news career. The Democratic presidential candidate shared this experience in a commencement address he delivered to Wesleyan University graduates last week. He was standing in for Sen. Edward Kennedy, who was recently diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.

Selflessly serve the underprivileged or earn lots of money. True, it’s not always a choice between the two. But, at least at the grassroots level — or the fresh-out-of-college-with-little-experience level — let’s face it: compared to other professions, neither public service nor non-profit work is very financially rewarding at the outset.

It’s a choice many socially conscious grads are faced with when deciding on a career. Even for the most selfless individual, it’s hard to accept that non-profit position if the salary is such that you’ll either be eating instant noodles for the next 30 months or living at your parents’ house for the next 30 years.

I do think my friends look for greater meaning in their jobs because they desire to make a difference. I have friends who are teachers, and some who work in state or city government, or for non-profits. They work hard; they leave their jobs exhausted each day. They take pleasure in their work, even if it means they’re earning less than if they had gone into something more lucrative, but perhaps less morally rewarding.

I also have friends who work on Wall Street. But then, there are the friends who are earning big money on Wall Street with the goal of starting their own non-profits in a few years. True story.

Does all of this sound idealistic? Naive? Crazy?

As Obama put it: “There’s no community service requirement in the real world; no one forcing you to care.” It’s what makes the commitment from young people that much more important.

I guess the speech struck me because, even two years out of college, I’m still doing some similar soul-searching — what I can do to make a positive change, regardless of where my career path leads. As an undergrad, Obama was inspired as he followed the debates about poverty and health care and became involved in the anti-apartheid movement. So, he said, “by the time I graduated from college, I was possessed with a crazy idea – that I would work at a grassroots level to bring about change.”

Wouldn’t it be great if it weren’t just a crazy idea?

Think back to when you got your first paycheck. Maybe you framed it. Maybe you cashed it and put a down payment on a new car.

Bet you didn’t think: “Wow! What a great chance to start saving for retirement!”

I’d venture to say that hardly any of my friends are thinking about saving and investing for when they reach old age. For Gen Y-ers, who tend to switch jobs every two years, even the thought of settling down in a permanent career seems light years away. So much for job security. So much for pensions.

I think most of us are conscious of the fact that we won’t have the same safety net to fall back on as our parents will when they retire. It’s a scary idea, but one that often gets pushed to the backs of our minds in the face of other matters.

Case in point: I talked to a friend yesterday who works two jobs. He bemoaned the fact that after plunking down money for various bills, tuition and car payments, he is basically living paycheck-to-paycheck. So, you can’t blame him if at the end of the month, putting an extra $100 into an IRA or a 401(k) isn’t foremost on his mind — IF there is even money left over.

“I try to, but then I realize I have no money,” he said. “It’s all gone.”

So, how do you convince a quarterlifer with a modest income to look 40 years down the road? I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s about setting long-term goals, like owning a house in Hawaii, and then realizing that there is no way you’ll achieve that goal unless you start doing something about it right now.

Here are some starting suggestions the experts have for saving:

1) Avoid running up high credit card bills, and pay off credit card debt. Consolidate student loans.

2) Open a high-interest savings account, and have a set amount automatically deducted from your paycheck and directed to it each month. Realize that time is on your side if you start saving early. Find a new appreciation for compound interest.

3) Open a Roth IRA and contribute to your 401(k).

4) Live with roommates to save on rent, or, if you are OK with it — live at home with parents.

5) Keep an emergency cash reserve that can go to pay for 3 to 6 months of expenses.

6) Check out this article from the Washington Post, which profiles three 20-somethings who are saving for retirement.

And if that doesn’t encourage you to start saving now, well, maybe this will.

There is quite an interesting discussion that has been growing since yesterday in the forum for this USA Today article on rising college tuition — and whether the costs translate into results.

A report by the Delta Cost Project, a Washington-based non-profit, says even as colleges and universities receive more revenue from tuition, that may not mean more is being spent on classroom instruction to prepare students for graduation.

Leaders in higher education typically argue that spending increases are necessary to maintain educational quality, but “what we see across a broad range of indicators is that states and institutions are spending money in areas that may not be in line with the public priority of preparing more graduates,” report author Jane Wellman says. The report is based on Department of Education data across 18 years from nearly 2,000 institutions representing 90% of students. The study examined only operating expenses, which include instructional costs — primarily faculty salaries and benefits. The fastest-growing operating expenses are related to research, public outreach and financial aid, the report says. Other examples are student services, maintenance and academic support.

For the current school year, the price of tuition at community colleges increased an average of 4.2 percent and 6.6 percent at public four-year institutions, according to College Board data.

Interestingly, as the article points out, the United States spends more per student than any other industrialized nation, but is at the bottom in regards to degree completion (54 percent), as reported by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in a 2007 study. The organization’s average was 71 percent, with Japan at the top with 91 percent.

Some who have left comments on the article disagree on just how important a college degree is in getting ahead, and how much going to a name-brand institution, like an Ivy League school, counts. Could one spend far less than the $125,000+ it would cost for four years at Harvard and get a fine education and a degree from a community college (and afford the first down payment on a house) instead? Does more money shelled out for college necessarily equal a better education? A bigger circle of connections? A higher-paying job?

A better life?

What I find intimidating is that more and more, it seems that a four-year, oftentimes terribly expensive college degree is not enough. Back in the day, those who finished high school were considered accomplished. Then it became those who completed some kind of secondary education. Now it seems you may need even more than that to succeed in this increasingly globalized world.

Many of my friends are discovering that their college degrees are not enough. But applying for graduate/law/med school while still paying off hundreds in college loans each month can be daunting.

Honestly, where does it stop?

How often have we all done this: prices at the nearest gas station are outrageously high today, so you cross town to get a deal, saving a couple cents per gallon.

But is it really a deal?

I do this compulsively. Besides driving the extra couple miles to save two cents per gallon for gas, I’ll skip over certain items while grocery shopping, then go across town to a store where I know I can buy them cheaper. That unfortunately sometimes leads to me not having milk or dish sponges for weeks because I’m not willing to spend an extra 50 cents.

Pointless, right?

Jean Chatzky, editor at CNN Money Magazine, shares a tip from Tim Ferris, author of the bestseller “The Four-Hour Workweek:” if you think you’re getting a deal by spending an extra few hours shopping for a deal, well, guess what — you may not be getting a deal.

Chatzsky recently spent days shopping for a flat-screen TV. When after all these hours she finally found one for $3,000, she couldn’t bring herself to buy it, wondering if she could find a better deal — if only she had shopped around some more.

After this experience, she writes:

It’s easy enough to measure how much money you can save by shopping around or by taking on an unpleasant chore, but most of us don’t run the numbers on our time.

There’s a quick, and enlightening, way to estimate that, Ferris explains. Say you make $100,000 a year. Remove the last three zeros ($100), divide the number in half and you get your approximate hourly rate, in this case $50. Unless you’re “making” that much by shopping for your TV or constantly combing the Internet for slightly higher CD yields (or whatever your time-suck happens to be), you’re losing money.

If you think you might be wasting time looking for the best deal, Chatzky suggests you log your hours. If you spend 40 hours to save $200, you have to question: Is my time worth more or less than $5 an hour?

She also suggests measuring your enjoyment while “shopping around.” If you enjoy spending six hours looking for the best deal on shoes, then there are intangible benefits to the experience. On the other hand, if you can’t wait to get out of the appliance store while looking for a lawnmower…

Good advice. I’ll remember this next time I go grocery shopping.

I recently moved out of my parents’ house and into an apartment.

And let me tell you, is it liberating!

Lots of college grads return home to the islands after school, like I did, and move right in with the ‘rents. It’s pretty great, really. You get your old room back, with all your stuff, a home-cooked meal every night and best of all — it’s FREE.

In Hawaii I think you find a greater percentage of young people living with their parents in the same house they grew up in than in other places. Convenience, as well as the high cost of renting your own place, are big factors.

Also, I think we can’t disregard the fact that the way we in Hawaii view living with parents might be different from how some folks on the mainland view such a situation. Our culture here is dominated by Asian traditions and cultural values, one of which is the importance of family.

Now, I’m certainly not saying that people outside Hawaii don’t think families are important, I simply think it’s most culturally acceptable in the islands to find several generations living under one roof.

However, despite the great situation it may appear to be at first, there are some downsides to living with parents, starting first with the fact that many college grads have gotten used to having their own place or living with roommates of a similar age who don’t necessarily question where you’re headed at night and don’t call the police if you don’t come home.

In college, you can go out anytime you like, you can come home anytime you like. With parents, that’s hardly the case.

When I came back from the mainland, it wasn’t that I wanted to go out every night, meet up with strange people and stay out past 3 a.m. In fact, nowadays, I’m usually in bed by midnight.

It’s the fact that IF I had ever wanted to, the freedom to do so simply wasn’t there.

I also truly believe (and this is from experience) that many of us who return from school and move in with our parents are putting ourselves at a disadvantage later in life.

With the exception of now working a job instead of going to school, our lives if living with parents aren’t that much different than when we were in high school. Sure, we may pay our own cell phone bills and gym memberships, but what about the water and electricity bills? What about shopping for groceries and knowing what to get?

When I moved out, I barely knew how to make more than ramen and rice (in a rice cooker). My roommate once ridiculed me for heating Ragu in the microwave.

Moving out helped me realize that living with my parents had really stunted my growth and maturity in many ways. Ultimately, it took packing up my stuff and getting my own place for me to understand that.

With rents skyrocketing, few young people I know feel they can afford to rent — let alone own — their own place. And with the option of living at home being so convenient, it’s difficult for many people to convince themselves that living alone would be worth an extra thousand dollars minimum in expenditures per month.

It IS a lot of money.

But I would argue that even if monthly rent makes a significant dent in your paycheck, you ought to weigh that cost with the cost of your sanity, and the benefits of freedom, independence and real world experience.

At 23, I’m not a kid anymore. My total income doesn’t consist of $10 allowance a week. It’s worth taking a look at your finances and weighing those financial costs with the benefits.

And in the end, go back to those local family values and think also of the benefits to your relationship with your parents. Mom and Dad will want to take care of you as long as they are able. But when you still have the needs of a child, there is a tendency for parents to treat you as such, and that’s not healthy for either you or them.

When your parents started giving you an allowance, they did it because they wanted you to learn. And I think my parents would be especially proud of all the learning I’ve done on my own in these last few months.