12 Things I Wish I Would Have Known After Graduating from College
Anyone else think it’s wild that you can graduate from college with a whole lot of knowledge, some of which is relevant and some of which isn’t, and still struggle in the immediate months and years after?!
There’s so much about money and finances that we don’t learn in college and definitely don’t learn in high school. This results in basically a crash course in life 101 immediately following graduation.
What’s a grace period?
How do I find out how much I owe in student loans?
How do I make payments?
What if I can’t make payments?
There are so many questions! And those above barely begin to scrape the surface.
If you’re a recent grad or even someone that has been out of school for a while, I wanted to share the things I wish I would have known after graduating so that others will hopefully be able to start off on a better foot.
What I Wish I Would Have Known After Graduating from College
Take the time to understand how much student loan debt you have before you walk across that stage and get your diploma
Who are my student loan lenders?
What’s their website?
How much do I owe?
The 6 month grace period goes quickly. Even with a “big kid job”, don’t get too comfortable with having x amount of dollars each month (aka keep your lifestyle in check). Once the grace period is up and you realize how much your monthly student loan payments are, there’s a good chance your monthly disposable income will drop significantly.
In college, everyone is living on practically nothing. Once folks graduate and start working, everyone will be at different starting salaries. Let go of the need to compare and compete with others, there’s no way to know what others are working with!
If you don’t have a budget and track your spending, you’ll be surprised at how quickly your money is gone.
There’s no shame in moving back in with your parents for a brief time while you figure out another plan. If your parents offer, seriously consider taking them up on it. The amount you can stash away in savings instead of pay rent is mindblowing!
Use credit cards as a tool but pay close attention to your spending tendencies. Building credit can be very useful but getting in a mountain full of debt can be destructive.
Start building an emergency fund. During your 6 month grace period is a perfect time to start building up an emergency fund. Whether you decide on $1,000 or $5,000 or somewhere in between, you will be thankful that you were proactive with your savings down the road.
You can negotiate your salary! Often times companies have a range that they are able to offer potential employees and they won’t offer in the higher end right out of the gate. Do some reading and research on negotiating and potentially increase your income right away.
Spend money on the things that are important to you. This is the time to have experiences that might be more difficult to have at other times in life (i.e., traveling). Don’t deprive yourself of these experiences!
Open a savings account if you don’t have one yet. This will be beneficial forever.
Gaining knowledge about finances and investing is invaluable! There is so much knowledge to be gained from books or on the internet.
Practice living within your means. This is a great time to be thinking about what’s important to you and what you value. This helps you decide where you want to splurge within your budget and where you can cut back and save.
Final Words
Life after graduation can be difficult, exciting, and a whole lot of other things all wrapped up into one. There are many things that we don’t learn about finances during college that may result in a rude awakening once we leave. Through research and reading there is so much we can learn! I hope these tips encourage some of you and provide some insight into life after graduation (whether that be college, high school, or graduate school).