Hi everyone and welcome back to Money Girls Quick and Dirty Tips for a richer life.

I'm Laura Adams.

Congratulations to all the new graduates.

You made it through some tough academic years and now you're ready to reap the benefits of your school

work.

You've got a lot to look forward to, but I bet you're also probably

a little stressed out about your future at the same time. In this post I'll give new graduates

some money-saving assignments to accomplish as they say goodbye to academic life and move into the working world.

One of the first things you need to do after graduation is to set up high-yield bank accounts.

A checking account that you may have had while in school might not be the best one to keep going forward.

Now's the time to get serious about putting your money to work by opening up a free high interest checking and savings account

that'll learn a competitive interest rate.

I recommend that you visit checkingfinder.com as soon as possible to take a look at the best

options for your location. I really like that site because their offers have the

highest rates, or FDIC insured, have free online banking and refund up to $25 of your monthly ATM fees if you

use a machine that's out of network.

When I input the Orlando zip code and sort the results by rate. The top offer at checking finder.com

is an account with an annual percentage yield or APY that's 3.51% for

balances up to $25,000.

That's much higher than the going rate for a 5-year CD right now.

To get that awesome rate, you just have to meet three easy requirements each month. Make a minimum of 12 debit card purchases, have

one direct deposit or make one automatic bill payment, and receive your account statement

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