431-How a 22-Year-Old College Grad Should Prioritize Their Steps Towards Financial Independence

Radical Personal Finance

Joshua J. Sheats, MSFS, CFP, CLU, ChFC, CASL, RHU, REBC, CAP

Self-improvement, Business, Education, Investing

4.2 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2017

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today I answer this listener question:

Hi Joshua,

I am a 22 year old recent college graduate. I have since landed a job and have been working for about 4 months now. Prior to graduating college, I was much less educated on money matters and hardly mindful about my personal finances. Upon graduating, I realized that I knew next to nothing about budgeting, saving, investing, and growing wealth. Additionally, many technical terms and aspects of finance confused me. Since I was going to be getting a "real job" soon and making more money than I ever have before, I decided to self-educate and rid myself of financial ignorance. I began reading books, blogs, watching YouTube videos, and listening to podcasts. I now find myself in a much better position to make sound monetary decisions.

Here is my current situation:
I live at home with my parents rent free.
I am extremely fortunate to have no debt from college.
I have no debt.
I work a full time job and save virtually all of that money. I work a part time job and use that money as my "spending money."

Essentially, I am blessed to have a blank slate coming out of college.

The downside of my equation is that my full time job does not pay particularly well ~$31,000 a year and I live in an area with a high cost of living (northern VA).

Do you have any advice for someone like me who is just getting started in the real world and wants to begin a path to financial independence?

I do realize that a huge step would be to find a better paying job – I am working on that. However what would you suggest that I do in the meantime to add additional income and begin my journey to FI?

My goal is not to make this all about making more money, but rather to position myself in such a way that I can live life the way that I want. ALSO I want to be in a position where I can easily provide advice and assistance to those who are less well off than I am.

Thank you in advance for any advice that you can provide!

Enjoy!

Joshua

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Today in Radical Personal Finance, a 22 year old new college graduate writes in asking for advice on how she can set up a plan for financial independence.
0:10.0	Kielin writes in and says, I'm a 22 year old recent college graduate. I've since landed a job and have been working for about four months now.
0:17.0	Here's my current situation. I live at home with my parents, rent free. I am extremely fortunate to have no debt from college. In fact, I have no debt at all. I work a full-time job and save virtually all of that money. I work a part-time job and use that money as my spending money.
0:34.0	Essentially I'm blessed to have a blank slate coming out of college.
0:38.0	The downside of my equation is that my full-time job does not pay particularly well,
0:42.0	perhaps about $31,000 a year, and I live in an area with a high
0:45.8	cost of living, Northern Virginia.
0:48.6	Do you have any advice for someone like me who is just getting started in the real world and wants to begin a path to
0:54.8	financial independence.
0:56.5	I do realize that a huge step would be to find a better paying job.
1:00.2	I'm working on that.
1:01.4	However, what would you suggest that I do in the meantime to add additional income and begin my journey to financial independence?
1:08.0	My goal is not to make this all about making more money, but rather to position myself in such a way that I can live the life the way out
1:15.9	that I want.
1:17.4	Also I want to be in a position where I can easily provide advice and assistance to those who
1:21.8	are less well- off than I am.
1:24.0	Thanks in advance for any advice that you can provide.
1:27.0	Kielin. Well, Kielin, let's start with the fact that you are in a position already to provide advice and assistance to those who are less well off,
1:35.2	which is probably about 98, 95 plus percent of the world's population.
1:40.2	And I want you to approach your life recognizing that. You are in a remarkable situation and you've done a remarkable job of establishing yourself for a very bright future.
1:53.1	So let's talk about some ideas and suggestions that I think will help you.
1:57.7	First we need to begin with financial independence.
	...

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