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He'd hop inside and set it for 1999. The 25-year-old would cannonball back and have a conversation with his younger self . . . his New York apartment-searching, terminally clueless younger self.

And he'd take Cap & Compass, the Connecticut company he works for, with him. It hosts seminars for graduating college seniors who are about to enter "the real world."

"Every time we do our 'finding an apartment' seminar, I start off by telling everyone my little story of trying to find an apartment in New York, this six-month debacle that was my apartment search," he says. "It took me six months to find a place. I didn't do any kind of research beforehand. I didn't know what I was up against. I'd tell myself a thing or two."

Such as? Get a bank account in the city before you move. Secure references. Ask your friends already living there to help you find a place. Do lots of research online to check rent prices -- and realize the high costs are the rule, not the exception.

It's a classic case of "if I only knew then what I know now." But there's a twist: Ferguson now imparts his experiences and advice to eager college students. Cap & Compass offers primers on what life is like outside the ivory tower: how to act at a business dinner, file taxes, pick an engagement ring, make investments in the stock market -- or in a 401(k).

"To be honest, I've been surprised at how little people know," says Jesse Vickey, the company's founder, "how much trouble some students have gotten themselves into. One girl said she had $20,000 of credit-card debt. She wanted to know what route to take, to get rid of it. . . . A couple of the students said, 'Oh girl, you're in big trouble!' And she said, 'I know. I have student loans on top of that.' "

Vickey, 27, graduated from Palm Beach Gardens High in 1993, studied economics at Duke University, became a trader on Wall Street . . . and, like all twenty-somethings, learned about life and money along the way -- the hard way.

"I didn't learn any of these things in school," he says. "When you're in college, the academic subjects are stressed, but not the practical skills. I found I was learning a lot of things on my own, through trial and error, through talking with friends, talking with parents. I figured there had to be an easier way."

When Vickey looked, he found that help for grads is a relatively untapped market. "There are books out there," he says. "But what I found is, almost without fail, they're either preachy -- 'You're doing this wrong. You should be doing this better' -- or had some kind of religious angle. 'Try to find your way with God after graduation.' It's all well and good, but . . . I wanted it to be practical."

After spending six months researching the topics and chatting with college administrators, Vickey made the leap, quit his Wall Street gig and began creating his company. He and his wife, Nicole, officially launched Cap & Compass in 2000.

Since then, he and Ferguson (who was hired in the summer of 2001 after answering a want ad for "Quirky Entertainer") have spoken at about 20 colleges, mostly on the East Coast. The trio has written a book titled Life After School. Explained. They sell them to colleges and students.

For $1,400, Vickey or Ferguson (usually Ferguson, who used to be a stand-up comic) will host two seminars. College administrators can choose from five topics, including "The Least You Need to Know About Taxes," "Translating Day 1 at Work" and "Love Your Money."

At the seminars, the speakers use multimedia computer programs, handout guides and youth humor to get their message across. The company's target audience is kids who grew up in the '80s, and the 45-minute, no-nonsense seminars are peppered with Vanilla Ice, Back to the Future and other pop culture references from the decade to keep the soon-to-be graduates entertained and interested.

Even their advertisement fliers are quirky. Take the one for the "Love Your Money" seminar: "Love it! Squeeze it! Kiss it! Your money deserves better than a cheap motel room. Give it roses by learning about investments, loans, credit cards . . . "

But don't think Cap & Compass is a trio of slackers hamming it up for silliness' sake. There's a method to the gladness.

"We did not want this to appear amateurish," Ferguson says. "Being younger people starting our own business, you have to have a very professional element to it. I think we're professional enough -- and down-to-earth enough -- that it connects with the students. But we make sure our jokes aren't offensive or even close to offensive. We don't want to give anyone an excuse not to use this, because the bottom line is, it's really good information."

And the information spawns questions. Students who can recite Shakespeare or crack calculus problems are often shockingly helpless in real-world matters, Vickey says.

What's a mutual fund? What is savings-account interest? What do I do when the waiter brings the wine? Do I HAVE to pay my credit-card bills?

Duh! What are they teaching in college these days?

For more information about Cap and Compass or Life after school. Explained., call (203) 483-7005 or visit www.CapandCompass.com.
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