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You’ve happy-danced your way out of the dorms, walked across the stage at graduation and have maybe even moved into your own apartment, but that doesn’t mean class isn’t in session anymore. It’s time for Money Management 101.
Unless you want your 20-something years to be defined as the decade you drowned in debt, you must be proactive about how you handle your finances.
A major part of stepping out of college life and into adulthood is taking control of your cash and setting up financial goals — for the not-too-distant future and the decades ahead.
You won’t get very far if you ignore your finances, says Gail Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling in Washington, D.C.
“Not having years and years’ worth of financial experience under their belt yet, (millennials) really may be quite confused and not know what to do,” she says. “And often when that’s the case, people tend to just look the other way.”
But pretending the money issues don’t exist won’t do you any good.
“I’ve never seen a financial problem resolve itself,” Cunningham says.
While you work on getting your finances off to a good start, avoid the following five mistakes.
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