The Financial Makeover Event

Yesterday I went to a presentation at URI called "The Financial Makeover Event". It was held by the URI Women's Council for Development. Attendees included undergraduate, graduate, and PhD candidates at URI and alumna. The program discussed networking tips as well as great information about how to manage your finances. Panelists included employees from Money Management International, Ameriprise Financial, and URI professor Joan Gray Anderson, PhD.
They gave a lot of great information including the below list.


Top Ten most important things a recent college grad can do to ensure financial happiness.
Joan Gray Anderson, Ph.D

10. Create a spending plan and make it work; make friends with cash; track your spending; learn how to calculate your net worth (balance sheet) and enjoy watching your wealth grow over the years.

9. Buy a car that fits your budget (no more than 20% of your after-tax income for all transportation expenses including car or lease payment; gas; maintenance; insurance; parking and tolls).

8. Contribute to your company's 401(k) or other retirement plan; take all the match your can get- it's free money. Set up a Roth IRA and contribute regularly; put the money in an index fund and forget it for the next three of four decades.

7. Think twice before you commit to a major purchase; most contracts are a lot easier to get into than out of student loans, credit cards, mortgages, car loans.

6. Do it yourself: brown bag, potluck dinners, use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.

5. Worry about your credit history and your credit score.

4. Be sure you have adequate disability insurance.

3. Be sure you have adequate health insurance.

2. Pay off all your credit cards in full every month; use credit cards as a convenience not an additional source of income.

1. Spend less than you earn. Recognize that you can't have it all right now.

For more information check out Money Managements website. www.moneymanagement.org They have a lot of great online resources. At the conclusion of the program they gave all attendees one of my favorite money books. Suze Orman's, The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke. Check it out.