Starting a Financial Life: Advice for New Graduates

Congratulations, 2013 graduates. You did it! Now it's time to learn something really useful.

Having conquered all those classes, now you can move on to mastering the practical skill of managing money. Luckily, the economy is in better shape than it was a couple of years ago, and the overall unemployment rate for college grads is roughly half that of the total U.S. population, boding well for your job prospects.

If you learn to manage a paycheck, spend less than you earn and stash away some money for later, you can put that education to good use, no matter what you choose to do.

Here's some advice to get you on the right path.

• Be nice to your parents. In addition to giving you a place to stay until you find a job, they might pay for your health insurance. If you have insurance under a student plan, it probably will end in mid-August. If you're not going to get coverage through a job by then, start working on other plans right away.

Under the Affordable Care Act, young people can stay on a parent's health-insurance plan through age 25, but they need to re-enroll if they've been on a student plan. After you're hired for a job, it could take three months to qualify for insurance, so a parent's plan or a short-term health plan can be an option. (Short-term plans typically don't cover pre-existing conditions.)

If your parents aren't a fallback, you might need to buy a short-term policy until January, when individuals will be able to buy conventional health insurance through new marketplaces, federal or state-run exchanges that offer standard health-insurance plans from various carriers. Open enrollment begins in October.

Whatever you do, don't skip getting insurance. Even those who are young and healthy need it, since a car accident or unforeseen illness can put you in a giant financial hole.

• Reduce debt. An estimated two-thirds of today's graduates will leave with student loans, and the average borrower balance is almost $27,000. Debt is such a burden that it's worth scrimping for a few years, and even delaying graduate school, to pay off at least some of the debt. That will save you in interest costs and give you far more flexibility in your later twenties and beyond.

Consider $20,000 in 10-year federal loans at 6.8% interest. The total monthly payments would be $230, and total interest would add up to about $7,600 over the loans' life. Paying just $20 a month extra will shorten the repayment period to nine years and save you $900 in interest over the life of the loans. Paying a total of $400 a month─what a car payment might be─will pay off the loans in five years and save more than $4,000 in interest.

Because loans are generally made for an academic year, grads might have several and at different interest rates. Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Edvisors.com, a student-marketing company, recommends paying off the loan with the highest interest rate first and notifying the servicer that the payment is an extra one, not an advance on the next payment.

In addition, paying through automatic debits from your bank account could reduce your interest rate by 0.25 percentage point, according to loan servicer Sallie Mae SLM +1.61% . Just make sure you have enough money in your account to cover the payments.

How do you balance all these needs? Stretch your dollars by buying a cheap used car instead of new one. Get a roommate and take your lunch to work. Before committing too much to debt payments, be sure to have at least $1,000 in savings for emergencies─or three months of expenses in the bank if you never want to move home again. If your employer offers a match for a retirement-plan contribution, contribute enough to get at least some of that so you don't pass up free money.

• Know your credit report. Employers might care less about your grades than your credit record, which shows how well you manage your obligations. So before you apply for a job or a car loan, go to AnnualCreditReport.com and see what your credit report looks like. You can check each of the three big credit bureaus' reports for free once a year.

If you didn't have your own credit card in college or didn't use it, you may not have much of a credit record at all. In that case, a landlord might not lease you an apartment without your parents cosigning. (That's another reason to be nice to them!)

To build a credit record, you should have one or two credit cards and use them at least every couple of months to show you can pay your bills responsibly. Paying student loans on time also will help build a good credit history.

• Avoid unnecessary fees. To make your budget work, look for free checking accounts at a local credit union or an online account. Avoid automated-teller-machine fees and link your savings account to your checking account so that you'll never pay an overdraft fee. Pay your bills on time to avoid late fees and in full to avoid interest.

• Use your social network. Your friends are used to sharing information, so take advantage of each other's knowledge. Don't post your bank balance or salary online─that's tacky─but don't be shy about asking other recent grads what they pay for rent, car insurance or Internet service. Remember what you learned in college: It's good to be friends with someone who did the homework.

给应届毕业生的理财建议

祝贺你们，2013届的毕业生们。你们顺利毕业了！现在该学点真正有用的东西了。

在攻克了所有那些课业难关之后，现在你可以接着掌握理财方面的实用技能了。幸运的是，如今的经济状况比几年前好了，大学毕业生的整体失业率大约是全美总人口失业率的一半，这对你的就业前景来说是一个好兆头。

如果你学会了管理薪水，量入为出，存一些钱以备将来之用，你就可以将所受教育学以致用了，不管你选择做什么工作。

下面是让你走上正确之路的一些建议。

1. 善待父母。父母除了在你找到工作之前给你一个安身之处以外，可能还会为你的健康保险买单。如果你买的是学生险，保险可能会在八月中旬到期。到时如果你不能通过就业获得保险，你要马上开始购买其它保险。

按照现行的《平价医疗法案》(the Affordable Care Act)，年轻人一直到25岁都可以纳入父母的医疗保险计划，但是如果他们曾经保过学生险，那就需要重新登记。在你找到工作以后，可能需要三个月以后才有资格享受保险待遇，因此你可以选择参加父母的医保计划或者一个短期的医保方案。（短期方案一般不会承保投保前已有的疾病。）

如果你的父母不能做你的靠山，你可能需要买一份保期到一月份的短期保险，到了一月份个人就可以通过新市场、联邦或州经营的交易所购买常规医疗保险了，这些交易所可以提供各家保险公司的标准医疗保险计划。报名开放的时间是在10月份。

不管你选择做什么工作，都不要遗漏了购买保险。哪怕是年轻、健康的人也需要它，因为一起车祸或无法预见的疾病都会让你陷入巨大的财政困难。

2. 减少债务。估计今天三分之二的毕业生离校时都会身背学生贷款，借款人的平均负债额接近27,000美元。债务是一个沉重的负担，因此好几年时间的节衣缩食，甚至推迟念研究生的计划来偿还至少部分的债务，都是值得的。那样会节省你的利息成本，让你在后二十年甚至更长的时间里有更大的灵活性。

看看一笔利率为6.8%的20,000美元的10年期联邦贷款吧。如果每月的月还款总额是230美元，那么贷款期间支付的利息总额累计会达到7,600美元左右。如果每月多还款20美元，还款的年限就可以缩短到九年，整个贷款期间可以省掉900美元的利息。如果每月还款总额为400美元──可能也就是偿还汽车贷款的数目──五年就可以还清贷款，节省的利息会超过4,000美元。

由于贷款通常是以学年为单位发放的，毕业生们可能会有好几笔不同利率的贷款。学生营销公司Edvisors.com的出版人马克•坎特罗威茨(Mark Kantrowitz)建议先还清利率最高的那一笔贷款，并通报贷款服务机构，这是针对利率最高那笔贷款，不是针对时间排序为下一笔的贷款。

此外，据贷款服务机构学生贷款市场协会(Sallie Mae)介绍，通过你银行账户的借记卡自动还款可以让你的利率降低0.25个百分点。你只需确保自己的账户里有足够的钱支付还款就行了。

对于这些需求，你怎样才能做到收支平衡呢？要精打细算。买一辆便宜的二手车而不要去买新车，与人合住房子，自带午餐去上班，在承担过多的债务还款之前，一定要保证至少有1,000美元的积蓄，以备不时之需──假如你再也不想搬家了，你就要保证银行里有三个月的家用开支。如果你的公司缴纳与你自己所缴金额等额的退休金计划缴付款的话，你要尽量多缴，好让自己至少得到老板认缴的部分养老金应缴款，这样白拿的钱可不要错过哦。

3. 熟悉自己的信用报告。雇主可能更在意你的信用记录而不是你的学习成绩。信用记录可以显示你管理自己债务的好坏程度。因此，在你求职或申请汽车贷款之前，到AnnualCreditReport.com网站看看自己的信用报告是什么状况吧。三大信用机构的报告你都可以一年查询一次。

如果你在大学期间没有办理信用卡或者没有使用过信用卡，你可能根本就没有足够多的信用记录。在这种情况下，如果没有你父母的共同签名，房东可能不会租房给你。（这是另一个要善待父母的理由！）

要创建信用记录，你应该拥有一两张信用卡，并且至少每几个月要使用一次，以此证明你能够以负责的态度支付账单。按时偿还学生贷款对于建立良好的信用记录也会有所帮助。

4. 避免不必要的开支。要让你的预算得以实施，你可以到当地信用社或通过网上账户获得免费的支票账户。尽量不要产生自动提款机手续费，把你的储蓄账户与你的支票账户相关联，这样你就不用支付透支的费用了。按时支付账单，避免产生滞纳金，全额支付账单，避免产生利息。

5. 利用你的社交网络。你的朋友们习惯于共享信息，因此，要互相利用别人了解的信息。不要在网上贴出你的银行存款余额或工资──那样也太傻了──但是也不要羞于启齿问问其他最近毕业的学生他们的房租、汽车保险费或上网费是多少。记住你在大学期间学到的这一点：与做了功课的人为友是件好事。