It’s easy to get overwhelmed as your responsibilities mount, but try to relax and enjoy yourself. Getting started career-wise, socially, and financially might be unsettling, but once you’ve lived on your own for a while you’ll become savvy and streetwise—and do just fine.
Mom and Dad, Where Are You?
Finishing college is a milestone, and, for many new graduates, figuring out what to do after college is the biggest initial challenge. Our society has this expectation that when somebody graduates from college, she’ll find a job, move out on her own, and begin advancing her career. But it doesn’t always work like that. Studies show that most college graduates do not make a seamless transition from student to employed person living on their own. If their degree is not in a field where employment is readily available, it can take a while to find a job. If there’s no job, there’s no money. Having no money delays the process of getting out into the world on your own. As a result, more young people are moving home with Mom and Dad after graduating from college or having been away for another reason. The U.S. Bureau of the Census reported that in 2002, 55 percent of men and 46 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 24 were still living at home. Among 25- to 34-year-olds, 14 percent of men and 8 percent of women still lived at home. Not having to pay rent, or paying just minimal rent to parents, gives recent grads a lot more money to save—or to spend. Many of these stay-at-home grads are the ones with the fancy electronic equipment or sport utility vehicles. Others, though, use the money they save on living expenses to pay back college loans or to put into a fund for a down payment on a house. If you have a job, but are living rent-free, or nearly rent-free, at your parents’ house, realize that you’re in a great position to save money.
