Justin R. Poore

Congratulations!

A lot of planners focus on what you should do, and not how to actually do it. Having worked with many college graduates, and starting this profession out of college myself, here are some value “How To’s”

1) Stop buying drinks when you go out to eat! They cost $2.5 every time, and water is free. Typically college grads spend close to $30 a month in soda. Take that $30 savings put it in an on-line savings account like ING where it automatically comes out from your checking per month, and you can watch it grow!

2) Keep your cell phone for a few years. Many people, not just college grads, want the latest and greatest! Keeping you cell phone for two years can save you as little as $200 a year on top of plan charges. Check your carriers for discounts when you get your new job, and watch your bill to see if you can reduce cost based on usage. Typically there is another $10 you can save per month there.

3) Claim ZERO on your tax W-4 at your employer. This is basically a forced savings to the government. You will be withholding more of your money per pay check and can get quite a bit of it back when you go to file taxes. At that time, you will have a lump sum to be used for retirement savings, car payoff’s, bill payoff’s, savings, or if you played your cards right, a small trip.

4) Eliminate the Car loan – OR – keep the car you have. Too many people get a new job and run out to buy the new car. This comes witha pricey interest rate for college kids with little credit history – sometimes upwards of 7%. drive the car you have, eliminate the loan payment and then start to pocket that monthly for a little while. Once you have that savings – then adjust for looking at the car you really want to drive versus just something new.

Those are just a few items to help you understand the How’s of What you should do.

All the Best!

Typically you will want to go with a fixed rate in this environment regardless of the value of any ARM options based on interest rate. you will also want to weigh the value of the points you may pay when refinancing and how long it will take for you to pay that money back to the loan, and how much interest the reduction in interest rate will save over the life of the loan.

Just because an interest rate is low, doesn’t mean it costs the same – hence it is best to determine the cost to re-finance, the over all interest savings on the proposed loan over its lifetime, and how long it will take to “recoup” that cost.