High School Graduate Tips

By Kerrie Beene, CFP®

Freedom, Freedom, Freedom… that is how we all feel when we graduate high school, go out into the world, and finally become real adults! But since most 18 year old graduates don’t have a fully developed brain for a few more years, we thought we could share a few tips to help increase knowledge. These are tips for anyone, but especially recent and upcoming graduates.

1. Educate Yourself on Personal Finances. Whatever you do or do not know at this point is up to you. You can no longer blame your parents or your teachers for what you do not know. YouTube and Google can teach you all kinds of things. Educate Yourself, it is your personal duty to yourself.

2. Don’t sign up for a credit card because they are giving away free t-shirts and you want to feel like an adult. I know it is or will be important to build your credit but make sure you understand what that means and how to accomplish a good credit score. DO NOT get a credit card and start buying stuff and then not pay it off each month.

3. Avoid Student Loans if at all Possible. It is entirely too easy to get student loans. If you have to get a student loan, try to use it only for tuition and fees.

4. Start Saving Now. If you decide not to go to college or you are working in college, always try to save some money. Emergencies are not a surprise, things are going to happen in life that cost money.

5. Budget or at least monitor your spending. Learn how to control your spending. There are a ton of online tools and banking options that can make this easy. Mint is a great place to start for those who like technology.

6. Become friends with two words: Compound Interest. You need to make compound interest your friend and not your enemy. Compound interest works for you when you are saving money and against you when you borrow money. Here is a calculator that will show you how compound interest can help you when you begin to invest money. Here is another calculator that will show you how much compound interest will cost you on your credit card purchases.

7. Make Smart Purchases. Adulthood brings the ability to purchase big ticket items. Learn about how things are valued. Often a home goes up in value (appreciating asset) and a vehicle goes down in value (depreciating asset).

8. Exercise. Often students become less active once leaving high school. Exercise is a must to keep energy levels up and stress levels down.

9. Work. And Work Hard.

10. Fail. Do not be afraid of failure. Go out into the world and try new things. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they do not.

If you are interested in learning more about credit, we recommend Credit Karma.

If you are interested in learning more about compound interest, check out Investopedia’s Article and Video Here.