New Grad: Top 3 Money Moves When Entering the Workforce
I’m going to be 100% real with you, I had no idea what any of these things were when I was walking into my first job. I came from a background where my mom made her livelihood cleaning houses and didn’t have access to a 401K through an employer. My parents lived paycheck to paycheck and money was a scarcity growing up. As I prepared to enter the workforce, I had absolutely no understanding how to set up my 401K investment account, much less negotiate my salary. So amiga, here are the top three things you should do as a new graduate entering the workforce.
High Yield Savings Account
First things first, make sure that you are starting your finance game strong with a high yield savings account. Dile adios to the days that we accepted bank accounts with poor annual percentage yields. It’s time to take yourself (and your money) seriously! You’re going to be working hard for your money, so why not have your money work hard for you? Check out my blog post on why you should open a high yield saving account here. Here is my all time favorite high yield saving account.
Negotiate
New graduate? First in your family to have a white collar job? First job experience? No Problem! If there is one thing you gain from this blog post, it should be that YOU DESERVE TO GET PAID WHAT YOU ARE WORTH! Even if it’s your first job out of college, even if you don’t have much experience, even if your GPA isn’t the best…. You still worked your booty off to get that degree or certification, and that my love, is worth money.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you have no negotiation power, because you absolutely do. The fact that they even brought you in for an interview means you are a potential candidate for the position. Don’t sell yourself short. You deserve to get paid what you are worth. Learn more on how to negotiate and how to prepare for negotiations.
401K Basics
They might as well call it a 401- ¿Que?, because of how confusing they make it seem. I promise, 401K accounts are not hard to understand. Also, you should absolutely be investing into your 401K when you start your job, even if only the company match. Don’t tell yourself, “I’ll invest later”. PORFAS! Do yourself this favor and read about why investing is crucial in creating wealth. Check out some books for beginners here.
I hope this blog post gave you the basics for ways to prepare yourself as a new graduate entering the workforce. If you have any questions or want to learn about a certain topic, just contact me and I’ll be more than happy to help!
