Congratulations, graduate -- you're hired!

If you're among the 50 percent of high school seniors who plan to head straight into the working world, those are golden words. That first job can be your ticket to freedom. You can move out, maybe share an apartment with other working stiffs like yourself. Get a car. Get a life. Live a little!

Well, someday maybe. The fact is, making it today on an entry-level wage takes a cunning money manager. Starting out with some basic financial management mistakes and a lot of those years of making money will do little but service debt. So here's your final, final class. Hey, while you're here, have mom and dad take it, too!

Credit cards
Having a credit card is handy. Knowing how to make it work for you is even better.

"They need to know when to stop, basically. They need to know what a safe level of debt is," says Dara Duguay, executive director of Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy. "The general rule is that you should never have more than 20 percent of your net income be debt payments, excluding mortgage. Your car payment, insurance, credit card payment and student loans combined should never be more than 20 percent of your net income."

Which doesn't leave you much room. If you're in an entry-level job, you might be taking home $1,000 a month net. By that rule, $200 is your maximum debt payment per month. If you have a car, your car payment could easily be $200 a month. Here's the bottom line: If you're carrying debt, pay it off before you charge more.

"If a young person doesn't know that just making those minimum monthly payments means that that credit card may never be paid down, they can quickly get into difficulty," warns Robert F. Duvall, president and CEO of the National Council for Economic Education.

Your credit report
Next to your high school diploma, your credit report may be the second most important piece of paper in your life during the next 10 years. It's simple really: Pay your bills on time and there'll be no problems, but skip a few and they'll come back to haunt you. Like your diploma, your credit report is your ticket to loans, specifically car loans and home mortgages, although you could land (or lose) an apartment or other rental because of your payment history. Employers frequently look at credit ratings when considering who to hire these days, another reason to keep yours spotless.

It's not unusual for beginners to think that credit is compartmentalized; that is, car payments only affect your ability to get a car loan, credit card payments a credit card, etc. Not so. Any time you're late on a credit payment you run the risk of a ding on your credit report.

"Everything surrounding your credit is very, very important because there is so much easy access to it today," says Duguay.

"Credit is a great thing," agrees Don Blandin, president of the American Savings Education Association. "It's the mismanagement of it that's the problem."

Getting a budget grip
Before you get too excited about moving out, a word of advice: Get used to budgeting your money. That way, you've got some experience with it before you leave the nest.

"Except for perhaps a credit card or phone bill, when you're living at home, the things you spend your money on are basically wants -- entertainment, movies, going to the mall," says Duguay. "It's a really difficult adjustment when you move out and you suddenly have needs in your budget. It's hard to realize that you've got to pay the needs first, and then if you have any money left over, then you can pay the wants. Learning to do a budget is the easy way to know what your limitations are."

Before you make the big leap, take a look at what you're getting into. Most first-timers are shocked to find that, in addition to coming up with first and last month's rent and damage deposits, they may also be asked for deposits to guarantee their phone, cable TV, electric, water and other utility services. Sometimes utilities will waive the fee if a longtime customer (i.e., your parents) will vouch for you.

Then there's the issue of roommates.

"When you have roommates, how do you deal with sharing the bills?" Duguay asks. "Does one roommate talk incessantly on the phone and you just split the bill down the middle? Does one roommate eat all the food? If you don't talk about these issues, they create problems."

Workin' for the living
Don't forget to budget for those work-related expenses. How will you get to work? Car? Bus? Will you eat out or take a lunch? And then there's the clothes issue.

"All of a sudden, if you get hired in a corporate environment, you're going to have to start a wardrobe and if you're going to have to wear suits, it can get very expensive," says Duguay. "Also, dry cleaning is a huge bill most kids aren't ready for."

At 18, we were all 10 feet tall and bulletproof. But having enough insurance, whether it be health, auto or home, is far cheaper than being caught unprepared.

Cars get crunched, apartments get damaged and you can get hurt. Be prepared.

"Kids think they're invincible; they think they're never going to die. The cost of even one night in intensive care can easily run $10,000," says Duguay. "In most cases, the things that can and do happen are astronomically expensive or have the potential to be."

Savings plans right there at work
Congratulations, you're an independent young American worker. To celebrate, you probably have a stack of forms to fill out, your official passage into adulthood. Your company will probably offer you a retirement savings plan where you can save money, and they may also put some of their own  money in.  Too often this savings safety net is ignored or misused by young people entering the work force. Don't shudder at the word retirement. This is a savings opportunity to turn every dollar you put aside into thousands and thousands of dollars during your working life.

"If you've never been educated about savings plans or the stock market, it's a very scary thing, after your probationary period, to be sent to personnel and they say, 'You have decisions to make. Which funds would you like to have in your 401(k) plan?' " says Duguay. "Most kids are stumped just filling in the exemptions on their W-2 form. They have no clue as to how to diversify a portfolio, that this fund is riskier, this fund is growth. All those things are over their heads."

They don't have to be. There's plenty of good information available right here and elsewhere on the Web on how to start a retirement savings program. The important thing is, do it if at all financially possible. Make that compound interest work for you by investing now and take advantage of that generous company match!

Stay the course
In all likelihood, you will have numerous jobs in your lifetime. When you leave an employer, don't make this common mistake:

"Nowadays, for kids to stay at a job for two years is a really long time, and what happens is instead of taking what's in their 401(k) and rolling it over into their next job, they cash it out," says Duguay. "They just continually cash, cash, cash all their 401(k) plans when they leave each company and don't realize they're losing about 50 percent of the value of their 401(k). They end up never growing any retirement fund."

Becoming a smart money manager doesn't come quickly or easily, especially when your needs exceed your income. But by mastering the art of budgeting, setting realistic savings goals, becoming familiar with investing opportunities and letting compound interest build your retirement nest egg, soon you'll begin to enjoy the fruits of your hard work.

And one very final word: Whenever you earn money, remember you are going to have to pay taxes. The best people to ask about your tax situation are your employer or the IRS.

Jay MacDonald is a freelance writer based in Florida
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-- Posted: Aug. 9, 2000