Words of wisdom for your graduating college senior?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>About four years ago someone started a thread here with advice for graduating hs seniors. It began with a woman posting a beautiful letter she’d written to her daughter related to an English assignment her daughter had. It evolved into a thread where parents posted things they had told or would tell their kids as they headed off for college. They ranged from “You are about to embark on the most mind-blowing four years of your life” to “Don’t have children until you finish your education” to “Don’t drink the punch! Who knows what people put in those things??” I loved it and literally cut and paste my favorite sections into a letter I sent to DS#1 when he was a college freshman. (I ended up re-sending the letter each year–the advice always seemed still relevant.)</p>

<p>Well four years later we’re approaching our first college graduation (YEAH!). I’d like to send another, similar letter, although focused more on making this oh-so-important transition. I’ve found CC to be an amazing repository for sound wisdom and advice.</p>

<p>So, parents–what have you said/will you say to your child graduating from college? I promise to cite anything I steal. ;)</p>

2

<p>Leave the kitchen sink clean every night. Otherwise, the dirty dishes will grow to outrageous proportions.</p>

<p>Don’t take any wooden nickels.</p>

3

<p>^^Can already tell that first one is going in the letter, VeryHappy!</p>

4

<p>Life isn’t always fair. Get over it and move on.</p>

5

<p>Figure out fast what is a need and what is a want.</p>

<p>Then have fun after that!</p>

6

<p>Don’t lose touch with your college friends. </p>

<p>In this transitional time, you can be an important support for each other – even if you are scattered around the country.</p>

7

<p>Don’t get married too soon. Enjoy that awesome feeling of financial freedom. Answering to no one and having plenty of money before mortgages, braces and home repair invade!</p>

<p>Then…save a significant amount, fully fund your 401k! NEVER buy anything you can’t pay cash for except for a house!</p>

8

<p>Congratulations-now you are off my payroll!!!</p>

9

<p>You can come home.
But, the line between dependent and independent will always be blurred.</p>

<p>I also want to tell them something I’ve believed for a long time, but don’t quite have the words for yet: it’s important to have fun in your 20’s, before mortgages, a love commitment and family responsibilites take over, but, with only rare exceptions, this is your one time to get started on your career in meaningful ways that enhance your future opportunities. Aim for balance.</p>

10

<p>Fund your 401K, at least up to the company match if there is one.</p>

<p>Don’t run a balance on your credit card, pay it off every month.</p>

11

<p>Live well below your means so that you can save for those inevitable rainy days and build a rainy day fund so that you can survive and thrive, even when unexpected things happen. Unexpected things will occur, time and again.</p>

<p>If you learn from your mistakes, you can avoid repeating them.</p>

<p>Bad stuff and unfairness is part of life–get over it & move on.</p>

<p>Trust in Allah, God or whomever, but tether your camel.</p>

<p>Life is not a dress rehearsal, live it and enjoy it!</p>

<p>Take time to smell the roses.</p>

<p>Tomorrow is another day.</p>

<p>Stay below the radar whenever possible.</p>

<p>Keep valuables out of sight so as not to tempt anyone.</p>

12

<p>Your first job won’t be your dream job, even if it’s in your dream industry. We all start at the bottom, doing the things no one else wants to do. But it’s in your power to earn that dream job. Work hard, be reliable and available and bright, do more than they’re paying you to do. They’ll notice.</p>

13

<p>If you have to live at home to manage expenses, it is not the end of the world…but, yea, those dishes…</p>

14

<p>If you can’t do what you want, do what you can.</p>

15

<p>^^like that one…it will go in my letter (which I wasn’t thinkingof writing until I started reading this thread)</p>

16

<p>Stay in touch with your college friends. You’ve been through an important time together.
Take your boundless enthusiasm for life, which you’ve shown since you were tiny, and apply it to your life’s work.
Find a partner who appreciates you, but don’t rush into anything.
Always stay young at heart.
Vow to be financially responsible in every way.
As an only child, keep your many cousins close to your heart.</p>

17

<p>If you believe in the advice to enjoy your 20’s…what do you say if your “college about to grad in May” announces during Senior year they are getting married at the end of summer…before you had a chance to write, let alone, deliver that letter of advice?</p>

18

<p>I found this a number of years back and send it out to recent graduates in the family.</p>

<hr>

<p>Dear Graduate,</p>

<p>You did it! You’re a college graduate! Congratulations!</p>

<p>Just as you’re about to enter “The Real World”, I’m well into my 40s. And let me tell you, I kick myself about things I could have done differently when I was your age. Now that you’re no longer a student, I want to share with you some of the things I wish someone had told me about money. Consider this advice as part of my graduation gift to you. Hopefully, it will prove more valuable than any check I could ever have written.</p>

<p>I. DEBT IS YOUR ENEMY. </p>

<p>If you don’t have the money, don’t buy it. When you are younger, you think you have all the time in the world to pay things off. It’s much more fun to get what you want now — new car, the latest electronics, new clothes, vacation trips — and then pay for it later. Life is all about socializing and it’s easy to ignore how the drinks, partying, dinners and trips add up.</p>

<p>Debt is your enemy because it’s a trap. It’s hard to get out of it. If you can only afford to pay the minimum balance, debt can very easily spiral out of control. It can take away your freedom to make the best decisions for yourself.</p>

<p>Now that you are one of the millions of students who graduated with debt in the US in 2012, do everything you can to get out of it - QUICKLY. According to reports, students are facing an average “debt sentence” of 10+ years, and 35% will postpone starting a family, marriage, or buying their own home by an average of six years.</p>

<p>II. SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN. </p>

<p>It’s critically important to live within your means. It’s not enough to just stay out of debt. You should be saving some of your money every month as soon you start your career.</p>

<p>Time is your friend (for now). In your early 20s, it’s hard to think about retirement. That’s a lifetime away. But right now, you have a unique chance — one that is weakening a tiny bit every year — to take advantage of a miracle. It’s called the Miracle of Compound Interest. This is a fancy financial term for saying that when you save your money in an interest-bearing account, you not only earn interest on the money you save, but over time you also earn interest on the interest paid in previous months and years. Your money increases exponentially. In fact, your money is working for you.</p>

<p>But to get maximum benefit from this financial miracle, you need to start saving as soon as possible. LIKE NOW. As this is a miracle, there’s another positive aspect of it. If you start now, you don’t have to save a lot each month. In fact, it can be just a small amount - something that you’re not even going to notice missing from your budget. Aim for 10% of your gross pay — will you really miss that?</p>

<p>The longer you wait to start saving, the more you will have to put away later to reach the same financial target - A LOT MORE. And, that’s much harder to do when you’ve got the mortgage, the kids and other ‘grown-up’ expenses. Start now. Open a savings account and set up an automatic deduction so you don’t even notice it happening. </p>

<p>III. WISELY INVEST YOUR SAVINGS. </p>

<p>Once you have built up a balance in your savings account, you should invest it in other financial instruments offering higher long-term rates of return and positive tax advantages. That could be in stocks, bonds, real estate, or any number of other investment types. As you continuously do this over your life, your net worth will grow - subtantially.</p>

<p>Building and growing your own nest egg means that you’re in control of your financial future. As long as you have a sizeable bankroll, you will never have to worry about whether the government has enough funds to pay out or whether you will burden your children, relatives or friends to supplement your income in your old age.</p>

<p>Before you do anything, it’s important that you educate yourself about personal finance. Learn the time-tested strategies for building wealth and steer clear of “get rich quick” schemes. Build your knowledge base so you can make better decisions about your financial life. </p>

<p>IV. SUMMARY</p>

<p>Consider these three tips as the building blocks to your financial future. Start out with them and, in not to many years, you will see the difference it makes to your net financial worth and life in general. Don’t fear that I’m recommending you turn into some kind of Scrooge, counting every penny and being miserly. I’m not. </p>

<p>As in many things in life, you want to find a balance between spending and saving. Continue to grab every opportunity to enjoy life to the fullest (that is, to the extent that you can afford it). Just make sure that you don’t have a substantial price to pay later in life.</p>

<p>Again, congratulations on your gradutation and good luck with your future endeavors!</p>

<p><signature></signature></p>

19

<p>Live in a cash economy. Save for the things you need.</p>

<p>Do one thing that is just fun every month.</p>

<p>Remember that our home will always be yours too…if need be.</p>

<p>We love you.</p>

20

<p>The “don’t incur debt” advise should be given BEFORE freshman year, not after senior year and the student loan boat has already left the port.</p>