Parents: Your College Grad Needs Financial Advice

blossom
Mon, 20 May 2019 18:43:00 +0000

I think many of today’s 20 somethings missed the message on “everything in moderation”. So if they get home from work too tired to cook because their team is pushing on a deadline- they order delivery. Terrific. Better than going hungry. But that becomes a habit- so it’s delivery EVERY night, and after two months they are shocked to see their credit card bill. Or the team leader takes them out to a cool new restaurant to celebrate after the deadline is met, and they eat something special and fabulous- that becomes the benchmark. Why make pasta at home and invite your friends over for beer and spaghetti when you can get a reservation at the special and fabulous place? And then they see that one meal at “special and fabulous” is their entire recreation budget for the month- but since they don’t believe in budgets, that goes out the window as well.

I have young men and women working for me who are proud that they never learned to iron. I’m not sure this is as liberating as it feels to them, since they routinely spend more on dry-cleaning in a month than I spend in a year (yes, my parents taught me to iron). It takes less than four minutes to iron a top/shirt/blouse so it’s work appropriate; it “only” costs $5 or $6 to have it dry-cleaned, or $3 for a shirt laundered. That’s a lot of “only’s” unless you work in a place where wearing a ratty Grateful Dead T-shirt is considered office attire. This is the generation that loves to ferment their own kimchi and bake their own sour-dough bread, but the daily tasks of living and running a household (whether for one person or multiples) seems beyond them.

Giving your kids some practical skills (save time AND money!) will help them down the road!