So, I am kinda sorta relatively out of college and have learned A LOT when it comes to being thrown into the “real world”. I mean I left home to live at my university in an apartment, but for some reason leaving away from both parents’ house and college for good really makes you feel some type of way. It hits you hard with what to really do and how to go about everything. Through experiencing it, reading about it, and watching YouTube videos on it, I feel somewhat seasoned dealing with how to best set yourself up for the transition and smooth sailing for your life. There’s a lot to leaving college, everything from finding a good job, a location to move to (obviously job can force that), how to handle personal finances, you name it. I am by no means a financial advisor, but I think I am currently starting to get a hang with adulting and leaving the college world. Here are some tips that you should take advantage of to start off rolling.
- Open up credit cards. I am a huge believer in credit cards and the fact that everyone should have one. I can talk more about this topic in another blog post but the main benefit of having at least one credit card is it is an easy way to help build up your credit which is very important for you moving forward. The sooner you can open one the better. The main knock on credit cards is that if you don’t pay your bills on time, you can build up some serious debt issues. My response to that is you are either going to be good with paying your bills on time or bad no matter what method you use to pay for things. The habit overall isn’t going to change and if you do trust yourself to pay your bills on time, then there is no reason to not have a credit card and start building up your credit score.
- Figure out your transportation situation. Find out for wherever you are moving too if they have reliable public transportation, if your work is walkable or if you need a reliable car for those longer commutes. You need to have a plan in place for what will work best for your mode of transportation, especially for to and from work. This allows you to know if you need to get a car if you already don’t have one and maybe a newer car that is more reliable so you don’t have to worry about it breaking down weekly. Or if you plan to live in the city, it may be best to sell off your car and use that money elsewhere.
- Have a Budget system that works for you. Everyone has their own preference for what works best for them, which is how life should be in most aspects, but it is very important to have a method in place to keep track of your money and your expenses. For example, I currently have an updated list with when my bills are do and track my overall expenses to make sure they net out to a number I like from my income. It is very basic but allows for me to see the overall picture if I am overspending. Personal recommendation too is to keep track of your paychecks from work in a spreadsheet to see what you actually make after taxes and to ensure the payments look correct just in case there are any mishaps from the company you work for. Budget wise though, you can create whatever format you want from categorizing every category of spending (if you love numbers) or even just noting your bill payments to see what these fun utility companies are actually charging you yearly. Search in Google for good budgeting templates and there are many free ones that you can download and use.
- If you still don’t have a job, apply literally everywhere. What worked well for me to find my current job was applying everywhere and through a lot of different job posting websites. This includes sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, Company Websites, etc. It really is a full-time job to apply for jobs and takes a while to find a good fit but many argue against applying all over and through websites like Indeed where there seems to be a lot of other people applying. My argument why you should, is that it worked for me and it allows you to build up your market research knowledge of what jobs are out there and what the qualifications are. This allows you to tailor your resume to these jobs knowing what they are looking for (since you have gone through a lot of postings of course) and other companies that are similar that you may not have even thought of applying to. If you don’t have the direct connections, best way to find a new job is to play the numbers game where the more times you apply, the more chances you have of finding a good job that fits you.
- Don’t be afraid to stay at your parents’ house for a little while. This point really hits home to me (pun intended). I started off living from home right after college while having an internship near by (I was doing my MBA at the time) and this saved me a ton of money from rent to even food if your parents are kind enough to still provide that for free. This allows you to have a mini transition and more preparation time to find your job and what location best fits for you. It also allows for you to better prepare when you do leave with your finances. My advice with this too is do not plan to stay too long since you will have to leave sooner than later and you don’t want to be that person that stays until you are 35 (of course if you are taking care of your parents, that is a completely different story).
Hope you enjoyed the quick read of some helpful tips to help prepare to adult right out of college. Please when you have a chance to like and follow as well as check out my other blog posts.
Thanks everyone,
Mike M.
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