<p>June 10, 2006
Your Money
Advice to All You Graduates: Let’s Start With That Daily Latte . . .
By DAMON DARLIN</p>
<p>This is the season for giving advice to graduates as they enter the workplace. Instead of listening to yet another recitation of the usual admonishments to “change the world,” “carpe diem,” or “wear sunscreen,” those graduates unless they are already trapped on the nonpaying internship hamster wheel need to hear how to manage their paychecks…</p>
<p>Article Available at <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/10/business/10money.html?ex=1150862400&en=c9db386311a1f379&ei=5070&emc=eta1[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/10/business/10money.html?ex=1150862400&en=c9db386311a1f379&ei=5070&emc=eta1</a></p>
<p>All great advice. Wished I had followed some of it…</p>
<p>And don’t forget to add–“And don’t count on Mom and Dad dying and leaving you a pot full of money.”</p>
<p>People in the office (profs anyway) will see you as a loser if you pack your lunch unless you are in a sweatshop where you always eat at your desk. Much work bonding is done over lunch-out of the office. Drinking the office swill is a personal choice but I enjoy my little 10 minute Starbucks breaks. Get a nice stretch and everyone knows your name. Good way to get off the wheel for a few minutes a day.</p>
<p>Why save all those nickels and dimes when you are young on the uncertain chance you will need them later. You are only young once and that’s when things are most fun to do. The only important investment is a house which should be done ASAP. It will provide a higher return than the stocks probably will. Otherwise take some vacations with friends and have a blast. You’ll be working for a LONG time and once you settle down you won’t be having that much fun anymore. Ever.</p>
<p>I like the advice from the OP, and would like to dispel any notion that following some or all of it will turn you into a newt. 
Roughly half the folks in my office, from the maintenance guys to the legal staff to the brightest PhDs, brings their lunch. In my department, we get together in the cafeteria to eat every day, then we head outside for a 20-30 minute walk in the park that surrounds the office: it’s great bonding time. (We can do that almost all year long in California, yay temperate climate!) Several of us bring a thermos of home-brewed coffee, too. And oh yeah, they serve Starbucks as the “office swill”.</p>
<p>Vacations are good! Everyone should have one or more, every year. But everything in moderation. Maybe it’s because I saved all those years that I am comfortable financially (which is a great thing given 2 kids in/near college and retirement looming). I rather prefer to find ways to have fun and be frugal at the same time. I don’t believe in waste. And you know, I have almost as much fun now as I did when I was younger. Every year. (Except the bones and ligaments take a bit longer to heal when I abuse them now. 
) A lot depends on your attitude and your approach to fun, I guess. I’m sorry to think there are those among us who think frugal fun, saving, and even healthy home-packed food are for “losers”. I guess the rest of us will just have to have our fun together!</p>
<p>$tarbucks brew of the day can save some buck$ vs. those four word fancy $4 thingies…</p>
<p>bad advice to carry a months worth of ATM cash around…</p>
<p>Excellent advice in that article…let’s hope that new grads take it & actually enact some of the strategies mentioned.
And hey, some of the best times I had as a new worker were brown-bagging lunches & sitting and eating said lunches with co-workers. We had wide-ranging discussions (sometimes about work!), learned alot about each other (& our families/backgrounds) and became friends. It was a great first-job experience. I guess I was lucky that most of my office brought in their lunches…come to think of it…we were all so underpaid, we HAD to be economical!</p>
<p>Cafeteria?? I have not worked at a place with one of those since I stopped working at M&M in summers many years ago. I work in a downtown highrise environment with scores of places to eat within a 10 minute walk. I guess if I worked in some suburban office campus and had to drive to lunch it would be very different. As in dismal. We have 3 Starbucks in my building alone. Probably another 15 coffee shops within 3 blocks.</p>