Money after Graduation, 101

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/common-money-mistakes-new-college-grads-make/

'Tis the season to be spending lots of money, on gifties and textbooks for spring semester. But what happens next year or so? After you graduate, you get a job... it doesn't even have to be a "great" job, because anything above a "fries with that" paycheck is a lot more than you're making now. Your money worries are over!

Okay, first you've got to get the job. But then you'll have to rethink your financial strategies. Here's a great article that suggests first steps, places where you might pay special attention in the first year, to get yourself launched and pointed toward a satisfying economic future.

In addition to smart strategies for repaying loans and living on a budget, there's my favorite tip: #7. Retirement. Yes, I know you are too young to start thinking about that seriously. But I am eternally grateful to my Generation-Ago-Self for having started chunking money into a retirement account when I got my first real job after grad school. Because I started with my very first paycheck, it didn't "hurt"--I never saw a drop in my income. I increased the amount over the years. 

And 25+ years later, I'm not chewing my nails about whether I'll be surviving on canned catfood... I'll leave it to the cats. Plus, it's difficult to find vegetarian catfood. And eating catfood would place a serious dent in my plans to become a Crazy Cat Lady.

Thanks and a tip o' the Twitter hat to @trenttsd!