ShareThisBy KARA McGUIRE
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
Monday, May 21, 2007
Most college-commencement speeches instruct graduates to follow their dreams and to make a difference in the world. Inspirational as those addresses are, wouldn't it be great if they ended with a few practical financial tips about juggling debt and building a credit history?
In honor of graduation season, here are the 10 financial "to-dos" for grads entering the "real world."
1. Save something. Stop with the excuses about being too poor, and automatically put at least $20 a month into a savings account. Then, when your car needs repairing or you must fly to an out-of-state wedding, you won't reach for the credit card.
Then there's retirement. It's a long way away, but start putting money into your 401(k) at work, especially if your employer gives you free matching money. Or open a Roth IRA.
2. Insure your stuff and your body. You may think you have nothing of value, but think about the cost of replacing your TV, computer and closet-full of clothes. Renter's insurance will set you back roughly $10 to $15 a month.
Buying health insurance if you're healthy may seem like a waste of money, but without it, a broken leg or appendicitis can put your finances on life support for years. Depending on the coverage, you can find a health-insurance plan for less than the monthly cost of a fancy Internet and cable TV package.
3. Bye-bye school, hello loans. If you find it hard to make your student-loan payment, don't ignore those bills. Talk to your college financial-aid office and your lender about options such as consolidation, changing your repayment plan or applying for a deferment or forbearance. (Generally, the last two allow you to postpone repayment.) Remember: The longer it takes you to pay off your loans, the more expensive they become. See www.finaid.org.
4. Pinch pennies with your peers. You're not the only recent grad living on a shoestring. Instead of trying to hide that from friends, make it a group goal to spend less than you make and still have fun.
5. Keep tabs on your spending. Track how you spend your money for a while to get a sense of how much your new life costs. If noting every penny spent sounds tedious, pick an area such as eating out or shopping, where money often flows like drinks at happy hour, and focus on it.
6. Have a plan for debt. If you graduate with credit-card debt, waste no time in coming up with a plan to pay it off and don't let it grow. Consider transferring your balance to a zero-percent interest card.
7. Check your credit reports. Everyone is entitled to one free credit report yearly from each of the three big credit bureaus. Visit www.annualcreditreport.com, or call 1-877-322-8228.
8. Read the fine print. It's boring, you have to squint and it's written in mumbo jumbo. But you could pay dearly for not taking the time to struggle through the terms.
9. Take a homebuyers class. Many nonprofits offer such classes, which cover everything from hiring an agent to budgeting for a mortgage payment.
Sitting in class is probably the last thing recent graduates want to do, but shouldn't you take as much time learning about buying property as you did learning about ancient Greece?
10. Get some goals. It's much easier to be smart with your money when you're on a mission, whether it's saving $1,000 or reaching a loftier ambition -- like paying for a master's degree.
