 Aloha, and welcome to Money Talks. My name is Raeanne Chavez, filling in today for Shonda Park as your host. So thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. We call our show Money Talks because we just love talking about money. I think it's very important, especially today, to pay attention to our financial resources. Because if you think about it, all the decisions that we make and everything we do is related to money. And most of us, like myself, have no formal education with money. And in fact, that's how I was introduced to the financial industry. That's how I got into and started in the financial industry because I wanted to learn more about how money works. And so throughout our life, you think about what are the most costly things that we spend money on or allocate our resources to. And the top three things are, number one, our home, our mortgage, especially here in Hawaii, where you're talking about a single family home. The median price is almost a million dollars. So that's a lot of money. Number two, there's also our retirement. And number three, college education, whether that's for ourselves or for our children. And so today, I'm very honored and privileged to be talking about the third one, which is college planning with an individual who is no stranger to the show. He has been on money talk several times. And he is a college consultant, very knowledgeable. And I think because a lot of it has to do with his own personal experience. And so without further ado, I would like to introduce our guest today, Mr. Brandon Luresco. Wonderful. Hi, Brandon. Thank you so much for joining us today. And welcome back to Money Talk. Aloha. Thank you for having me again. It's so great to be here. How are you, Raeanne? Great. How about yourself, Brandon? If you don't mind, I know for some viewers, it may be their first time meeting you today. And so can you just share a little bit more about your background and introduce yourself? Yes. So I have been a part of the financial industry for seven years now. And I graduated with a marketing degree and a minor in finance. But I'm so glad to be back to talk more about getting an education abroad. So I have actually have experienced helping families from myself first since 2012. I graduated in high school in 2016 from helping families in the last seven, eight years with the college realm of selection, career guidance, and funding. So I'm so glad that we can spend more time talking about this experience. I hope everyone gets to do. Absolutely. I just want to share with everyone this past weekend, I actually attended one of your seminars, Brandon. And so I actually have two boys. I have a five-year-old son and a 20-year-old son. And during your seminar, I got so much value out of that. I learned so much information on how we can start planning for our five-year-old. Because I think most families don't know that you can actually start planning as early as kindergarten, five years old. And also at the same time, understanding some of the opportunities that is available for my older son today. And so the last show you talked about your experience with studying abroad, can you share a little bit more about that today, the opportunities with studying abroad? Yes, so I did share about my total experience. So I did get nearly $100,000 in awards I got to use first school that included full tuition to my university on Island, as well as covering my two semesters abroad going to Korea two different times. But there's so many opportunities available for many ages. And the best time to travel, I believe, is there as a student. So when we think about the opportunities, you can go to many countries. There's different programs available. But we do have those available for number one, a high school student. They can be as early as a freshman to a senior. They could also be a college student. And they could also be post grads. So they could be a recent graduate of high college. And they could go into a service project or get an internship abroad. But yes, there are so many opportunities. And I'm so glad that we have the time to talk about those resources and the funding for it. So Brandon, I don't think I ever asked you. What inspired you to study abroad? What inspired you or motivated you to do that? Yeah, so I believe it's during my high school education. So when I was in high school, I graduated from Campbell Class of 2016. And we have this program called International Baccalaureate. And it's a widely recognized, globally recognized classes. But it was with those students in the program, they did this extracurricular club called PAC. So I have a first flight to show what this program is. So PAC is a Pacific and Asians Affairs Council. And you can read that it's gonna be a high school program that has recognized global leaders, growing global leaders and talking about how we can tackle different issues. And it's so great to see that from when I started doing PAC, I saw the last statistic, they have given out $1.4 million in scholarships to nearly a lot of different opportunities to travel to Japan, China, Vietnam, as well as going to either in other places like New Zealand and Tahiti. But thinking about my first time, my first time I was exposed because of that high school program. But it was my friends who went to Japan, Korea, Vietnam doing service projects, taking classes, talking about how can we tackle human trafficking. And it was those friends and classmates of mine who inspired me, okay, maybe I should start considering studying abroad and having an education abroad. How could that come into my college planning? I see. So whenever you're choosing your major does that or does your major have anything to do with the fact that you would study abroad? So that's kind of what I wanna talk about. Because I think that could be a misconception, that you have to be a specific major to study abroad. I would automatically, or I would think, okay, if I'm studying that specific language that then maybe it would make sense for me it is to go to that country and study abroad. So can you touch up on that? Does your major matter? Because like you mentioned, there are opportunities for high school students, but also what are some misconceptions that people have when it comes to those opportunities? Yes. So we can be any major, but there are specific majors that would have specific programs that could maybe fit with the degree plan. It all depends on to how early you plan, what kind of programs are affiliated with the school, what they have offered and approved, but you can always get it considered to get approved. I would say many programs. There are many programs that you don't have to be a specific major to get it. I was a business degree, but I didn't need to learn another language for my degree. We can also talk about other misconceptions such as the timing. Some are afraid, how long will I be away from home? How long will I be in another country? So you could do maybe one academic term or semester, which is like four to six months, which is what I did. You could do an academic year, so 12 months, even more than that, as well as short-term. You could even do like winter or summer break. So if you want a taste of that, you could try it out and we don't have to worry about the last myth or the misconception of learning the language, right? I think maybe some of us may be scared to go to another country and like, oh, how can I function over there? How could I go out and buy my food? But they offer classes and you could learn a native language in that country or you could have the professors there teach that subject in English. So they do have enough available courses where you could choose from it. That's really good to know, Brandon. Those two things that you brought up, the duration, right? Because for some people, even going away to school in the mainland can be a huge deal and now we're talking about going abroad internationally, right? So the fact that you can go maybe for, maybe your winter break or summer break are good opportunities just to kind of get your feet wet, right? And not having to know the language because they actually speak English. So I think that would inspire people to at least be more curious about looking into a program going abroad, right? So what would you say, Brandon, is the experiences that led up to today or the fact that you went and studied abroad, how has that impacted you and led to some of the experiences that you have today? Yeah, so I think I wanna talk about there are many opportunities first to get the chances to go abroad. So the next slide, we can look at the chances of getting an exchange program or a partner school where the funding, you don't have to worry about the tuition because you're paying your own home tuition and you'll pay the living expense of somewhere else. But on the slide here, it shows affiliated programs. So you can look at different opportunities that are available to you that's not approved by the school in exchange or partner, but they may work with this program, such as SIT, CIEE, Education Abroad. So there's so many opportunities that are not just with the school, but you can check out other private or public organizations and try to get that approved with you. But I had a great first experience going to Korea. I believe, I went during my fall of 2017. I was owning a sophomore. I was actually the youngest person there, one of the youngest. And I have a slide to show maybe some pictures of my first university. It was in the country. I had 12 roommates, or 12 of us in total in that picture. Yeah. So you're like- So it was sophomore in college or sophomore in high school, Brandon? Sophomore in college. So sophomore college, nine Koreans, one Chinese, two Americans. And it was amazing because I planned early enough to get that to work with my degree plan. I took things like calligraphy. I learned Korean. I didn't need to, but I wanted to. And I also did international trade and finance and took some classes online for home. But I made it work. I had so much fun. And I think the best part was the funding. That school had a great program called the cultural ambassadorship where I was an intern. I interned. I had to worry about was my tuition was paid for by the school because I had enough scholarship to go to HPU. I didn't have to worry about my home university tuition. I had to worry about their cost of attendance of this new school. So going to Korea, this program has told me just get my way there. Try to get there, do these other documents. I don't need to worry about the dormitory it's covered. I don't need to worry about my flight later on because it's reimburse as well as I got a hundred dollars stipend every week. And that can go a long way in Asia. So I had enough time to learn some good courses and curriculum for my program and my degree but still have fun and meet my friend's family and build lifetime friendships. That's really great to know because I think in terms of college, the number one thing I think the number one thought that families have or they think about is the financing, right? Just even to get themselves to college. But the fact that, you know, and now we're talking about studying abroad. So a lot of people think additional expense but with what you shared, I think that's amazing, you know and you talk about the opportunities of funding and of course making sure that you choose the school that also will help to make that even more possible, right? So tell me a little bit more about your program that you went to in your first experience. Yes, I think that deals a lot with the college selection. So pre-planning, how do I choose a school? If you want to fit college or going to a college that can help you study abroad, how do I do that? So it started off when I was in high school. Before I chose a college, I went to college fairs. I went to websites. I emailed people. I asked them two questions. How many chances or how soon can I study abroad? And then how many times can I go out? And it was funny, you know, most colleges tell you you have to be a senior, maybe a junior. So that means I can only go once. And I was like, okay, you know, I want to have more chances. If I can do it sooner and earlier, what universities can do that? And I found the universities on Island had great opportunity. I can go straight after my freshman year, I could go in the summer term, I could go as a sophomore. So I chose White Pacific University because my family went there. They had great study abroad programs and they also gave me a lot of scholarships. Working with them, I got full tuition. So it was icing on the cake to say, okay, I'm going there. At least I can travel. And, you know, not only I get to have an education here, but I could also have one abroad. I think, you know, you said a really key point there, Brandon, that college selection is very important in terms of if you're considering going to study abroad, right, that's one of the things that you have, looking at the school that you are choosing will make a huge impact of you being able to study abroad because a lot of these programs are part of the school. Is that correct? Yes, so I did an exchange program. So there's a partner schools, but if you ever wanted to try other programs that are not with your school, you could do those affiliated ones. So you guys could always go back to the show, rewind, and take a picture of the slides and look up those other organizations. So there is, yes, that slide is where we can study abroad many, many different programs. And you could always work with your study abroad coordinator or advisor and try to get that approved. Okay, and, you know, last time, Brandon, you shared that, so you actually went to Korea twice, right? Yeah. You shared a little bit about your first experience. What about your second experience? Because I believe you went to a different school, different programs. So why did you choose a different program and, you know, maybe speak to people who are looking for to be able to go more than once? Like you did. Yeah, so, you know, the funny thing is I, first of all, I actually didn't want to go to Korea right away. I actually want to go to Japan. You know, being an OE, living here, born and raised, we have such great interactions that influence from Japan. But even though I had language experience in high school and middle school, I didn't have that language requirement that fit my school's expectations. So I couldn't go to Japan. So Korea was a next best option. And when I went there, I want to stay for one year. I loved it so much the first time. I was gonna extend, but I came back to go with my family on a company vacation. But yes, I went the second time. It was, actually, it came down to what fit with my program, what fit with my degree. So I ended up choosing this school on the slide, which is Sungkyung Kwan University. It's actually in the city and it is highly recognized, maybe I think top five in their nation and top in the global business world. So it was a great program. I still had a hard time adjusting. You know, I thought I would have, I would enjoy myself right away, but I still had to give myself time to readjust being the only person from Hawaii traveling there. But I still had fun. And I think there were still great programs that I did from both of those times. You know, I think studying business, it really fit with my degree plan because I actually got to do company tours with my school. So they took me to the two biggest conglomerates of Korea, which is Samsung and Hyundai. So I got to see the motor and the vehicles being built. But it's funny, when you go to like Samsung, for example, it's not just electronics, I would think, but they do so much more like financial services. Oh, really? Like construction or building, yeah. So, you know, I think if you work really well with our counselors or our study abroad advisors, they want to do their best job and helping you choose schools that can fit with your major. And if not, they'll try and make it work. So I think it's always best to go with your advisor, your coordinator and see what can work with you. If you're really serious, I say, go really early. Go as a freshman. If it's too early for you to travel, at least you're getting your plan started and you can work with the counselors and say, okay, I'm ready to travel when you allow me to. So your first time then was not related to your major, but the second time it was related to your major? The second time it was actually related to my major, but it was more of the higher level courses. And I would get to say, yeah, it was the higher level courses of business. I even took like accounting over there. That's when I found out, okay, this is hard because I did international accounting, American standard, the classes were hard because it was because it was a recognized school, highly recognized. I was struggling a little bit with the classes, but I made it work. And they're very good with working with the international students. And I think it's all about, okay, you got to know also, just like as choosing a college for American standards, when you choose a college abroad, not only does it fit with your program, but are you okay with going to a school that may be more rigorous? Harder for you with the programs that they have because everyone still has their standards. And I know Korea takes their education pretty seriously too. And it was a great taste to understand the education system there and be opened up. So how would you say that traveling abroad, how did it help build your character? Because your first time you were in the country, your second time you were in Seoul and with much more challenging courses to take, how did that build you up as an individual while you were in a college student and now as a professional? And why do you think that students should consider studying abroad? Yes, because when we study abroad, I believe we really improve in a maturity right away. We grow so fast. Both times I went, I had other classmates in the program who had friends or they had people who were from their same home university. But for me, I was by myself from Hawaii. Both times I still had to readjust both times. So I really had to go out of my comfort zone to really experience and embrace the culture. And then when we know that people coming here are traveling to learn something new to build an experience. But that's why I was so proud to, and really tried to make friends. But when we think about the chances or how this can really build you up, I see number one, it really builds you in the job market. There's a statistic that I found. It's somewhere around about 97% of students find employment within 12 months of graduation from studying abroad. Yes, and about 25% of them get a higher salary than those who have not studied abroad. So I think it's amazing to see how you could be very competitive into the job market because I see, even for myself, people value that you've done a new experience, that you're challenging yourself, that you are trying to build up your discipline and you're showing that you're open minded to new ideas and working with different people. So for my experience, I think it has worked out really well in what I do today. It has opened up my mind to meeting new people and being and making friends. And just like from those past two experiences, I still keep in contact with my friends, with my roommates, they tell me what's going on. And when they have life moments, like one just got married recently because I was so far from age, they get to tell me what's happening in their life. And I'm so excited to just be a part of it, to have friends that I not only make from Korea, but also made from different states too, who all of us went to that same university. States and countries, right? Cause you mentioned there were children, or students from other countries as well. And I think that's wonderful because I think now, you went and saw different parts of the world. So you have a much different perspective. And I think that that's why it's no wonder those students are more competitive in the job market and they're paid higher salaries. I think that's incredible information. And so Brandon, I just, in closing, can you just share maybe just some resources about studying abroad, or just maybe just college planning in general, because I know that's your area of expertise. That's where you have a lot of passion because of your personal experiences. What are some of the resources available today where people can go and really start to benefit themselves? Yeah, so when we think about funding and the planning for study abroad first, I would always mention, talk to your study abroad coordinator, talk to the advisor of that university. Once you've chosen university, start to work with them, like how I was able to work with them early on. I was still a freshman, but you still have to choose a college to study too, you have to choose a program that you're gonna be working with and maybe work on the funding. So the first time I found a great program that has gotten me enough scholarship, as well as the university themselves, Holy Pacific University gave me a scholarship just for studying abroad. So that was great. The university gives you help. You can find programs that work with you that you already have money, you already have scholarships and grants, they can apply. And my second time, because it was a different university, I actually did have to take out some loans just to do some extra costs for the cost of living there. So you couldn't use your money that you get from FAFSA or the student aid report from each university. So things can be applied, but of course it comes with early planning. I think I also wanna mention that when you think about studying abroad, there is actually a lot of scholarships just for those who want to go out from public and private organizations. Those who want to help you because you're learning like a critical language that needs to be developed, they want to help you fund your experience. So I want to start or end this off with the preface of studying as a college student, I believe is the best time for anyone. That is also the best time financially because there's so many awards available and opportunities from scholarships and grants, not just from the US, but globally. And other universities who want to sponsor you to come in and visit them. So you can look up many resources. I also, I was glad that to see your son come to our scholarship workshop. So we do have seminars to talk about college planning that we do at no charge. So people can visit our financial center. People are more than welcome to see my contact information that will show, which is you're more than welcome to text me, call me to maybe talk about my experience or what you're looking for, have a conversation, or you can even email me to see, okay, how could I get added to those updates or maybe newsletters of when is our next workshop? When is our next session and seminar? It's free to the public. You want to invest in people's time and give them the opportunity and the resources to say, hey, if we have, I want to make sure that I can give people the opportunity to travel. I want people to get the experience to get more funding than me. And if I could do that with you, I'm so happy and I've done my job. So I'm thankful to be here and be open to share more about my experience with anyone. And I also believe the last thing I'll say, we have recorded or done great time, great amount of time talking about these in our money talk episodes, right? We've done the last one was on understanding and college scholarships. The other one was college financial aid, how we can do FAFSA planning. So you guys are more than welcome to go to the ThinkTechHoy website, go to the YouTube. You can search up money talks and then maybe look up college scholarships and you guys can see more of one information at your fingertips. So I'm so proud to be here with ThinkTechHoy and Rian to talk more about my experience and the different ways that we can get education, not just locally and in the US, but also abroad. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for reminding folks that they can go back to the previous money talk show. I think you are just such a wealth of knowledge, Brandon. So we really appreciate your time. And scholarships, I think a lot of people, there's so much money's available, we just don't know about it, right? So I just, again, thank you so much for your time and encourage people to go listen to those because we all are in different situations and you just never know what might be available for you and your family. So to all our viewers, thank you for spending your afternoon with us and we will see you again next time at our next money talk show. Have a wonderful evening. Thank you so much for watching ThinkTechHoy. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.