For any student that is on the verge of graduating very soon, life is already a dilemma as the aspect of getting a good job and getting established financially looms over. Things seem too difficult and the financial insecurities you currently experience are not welcomed by you. Being at a great financial position at the time you retire depends on what you do now to get going and although this might seem very difficult right now, it is not yet entirely unattainable if you do the right things and make the most out of every opportunity you have. Strengthening your financial base requires planning and determination to not move out too much from those plans.
Here are some ways in which you can start strengthening your financial base right from the beginning after your graduation:
Invest in Yourself:
You should not stagnate your skill set after you graduate and end your learning curve with your convocation ceremony. Any investment you make in yourself today will outweigh all the financial plans and savings you start making now. Saving is a great option for anyone who wants to feel secure financially but saving just makes your money safe for the time, it doesn’t make it grow and even if you are earning interest on your savings, you are far better off investing that money on yourself and making yourself worth more. Any increase in your skill set is bound to shake up your current earnings towards north. Make smart career changes and keep learning, you are the best asset you have.
Savings Don’t Matter, Planning does:
A lot of people who have achieved great financial and career success have a single thing in common, i.e. they all had a plan in place. A plan helps you align yourself towards behaving in such a manner that will help you actualize your plan. Let’s say your plan is to own a two storey house in the sublime suburbs of your city when you retire. Now that you have a plan on what you need to do, you will start devising small milestones in order to actualize that plan. Let’s say you ascertain that in order to buy that house adjusted for inflation 30 years from now, you need to start saving 10% of your monthly income in an interest based account and save 5% of your income and invest it in stock options. This will allow your mind to be goal oriented instead of just dreaming up of things. This is a sure fire way of achieving your financial goals i.e. to have a plan in mind of what and how you want to achieve something.
The Mindset:
Saying all of these things is quite easy but achieving them through vigor and intention at your command is something entirely else. The main thing you need to develop to do all of this to build your mindset. At the start of your career, accustomed to living in frugality during your student years when there was a cash crunch, you will start to experience a phenomenon known as excessive cash flow which stems from your initial income being much higher than your current spending habits. The tendency to start spending right away is very strong, as you have all those unfulfilled desires like buying your first car or your first expensive smartphone, resulting in you accumulating debt right from the start which is a very bad omen for your financial stability later down the road. You need to develop a mindset of thoughtful spending where you spend only on those things which carry a certain value for you and not just for the heck of it. You need to prioritize your goals and instead of paying the first installment of a shiny new car, see if you have an unsettled student loan and start paying it off by gathering information regarding you can manage your student loan through your current income. Lesser debt means higher ease of investment, your money instead of going into something unproductive and depreciative, goes into something that has value and makes your credit standing better. Mindset is absolutely necessary for developing a great financial standing. You need to inculcate these habits, no matter how painful or stressing they might seem today but they are guaranteed to pay you dividends in the future.
