In another alarming article, the FT outlines the financial problems facing the 600,000 students graduating over the next few months.
Students were previously seen as sponging layabouts, scrounging from the state and wasting it all on beer and nights-out (I can get away with saying that as I’ve been one!). But it seems that now they face a very uncertain financial future, with graduate incomes falling in relation to non-graduates, rising post-university debt and the growing struggle to get onto the property ladder.
…it’s really important to get your finances in order from the very beginning of your working life.
Dax Harkins, senior savings strategist at National Savings and Investments
The article points out the top 3 financial priorities for graduates:
- Pay off credit card debts – in most cases the most expensive money we borrow.
- Start a pension – don’t think that because retirement is a long way off that saving for it can wait. The earlier you can start a pension the better.
- Start making savings, where possible, to build up money for the big things in life, such as a house, a car etc.
In a lot of cases, the pay back of student loans can be put on the back-burner, as they are a relatively cheap form of debt – however, it needs to be remembered that once you cross a certain threshold of income, you will be obliged to start paying off your student loans.
I seem to have been making a lot of posts about the debt crisis facing the younger generations recently, and although I hope to be able to post more up-beat news and positive ideas, I think if anything, the information in these posts should act as a wake-up call as to why we need to think more carefully about our finances from an early age.