Before entering college, you think how rewarding it will feel to earn a degree. With a solid education under your belt, you feel like the skies are the limits. You can be anything you want to be, pursue your passions, and live a life of purpose. However, what isn’t considered is the financial burden you’ll face once you graduate. Between student loans and credit card debt, most young adults enter the “real world” with more debt than they can handle.
While it takes some Americans decades to pay their debts in full, recent college graduates take a different approach. They’ve begun implementing financial management strategies to help them tackle debt early on so they can live out their dreams. Continue reading to learn more.
Debt Consolidation
Using credit cards throughout your college years is common. Although some students have jobs and financial assistance from loved ones, it often isn’t enough to cover everyday expenses. As a result, they’d use credit cards to pay for everything from school supplies and tuition payments to transportation and entertainment. By the time they graduate, they have several credit cards with high interest and high balances and no effective means to repay them.
Rather than waiting for things to get out of hand, young adults turn to service providers like Brice Capital for assistance. This is a financial agency that offers debt consolidation loans to eligible applicants. The process allows cardholders to lump their account balances into one convenient, affordable loan payment.
Income-Based Student Loan Repayments
Most student loans provide borrowers with a 6-12 month grace period before repaying their loans. Applicants also have options to defer their payments or request forbearance if they’re struggling financially. While these lifelines can be helpful, most people don’t realize that delaying or putting off student loan payments doesn’t stop the interest from accruing. Eventually, you end up owing several thousand dollars more.
Today’s college graduates aren’t taking a chance. They’ve opted to sign up for income-based repayment plans offered by student loan agencies. The monthly amount is essentially determined by how much the student is earning at their place of employment. As long as they stick to this plan, it prevents them from defaulting on the loan or paying more than necessary in interest. Making continual student loan payments can also result in students qualifying for forgiveness programs in a few years.
New Businesses
Finding a job in your field of study that pays well and speaks to your talents and interests isn’t always easy. As such, recent college graduates have backed away from applying to major companies and have decided to be the boss. Although becoming an entrepreneur comes with many obligations, responsibilities, and sacrifices, today’s students are thinking outside of the box.
In today’s technical climate, starting a business is more accessible than in times past. There are plenty of stories about individuals with nothing more than a computer and internet service that have gone on to launch successful businesses. College graduates are establishing themselves in the world of business by walking to their own drum beat. They’re tutoring, consulting, monetizing blogs, launching podcasts, and providing many other products and services online. Believe it or not, many of them have been able to earn more as an entrepreneur than they would have earned with an employer.
Financial Management
Seeing how millions of Americans are dealing with ruined credit, upside-down mortgages, bankruptcies, and other legal trouble, college grads are taking preventative measures to keep their finances intact. Other than restructuring their debt and launching businesses, they’re creating a solid foundation with their finances. Young adults are doing everything from utilizing budget and saving apps to creating emergency savings and investing to ensure that they can sustain a decent lifestyle.
Graduating college is supposed to be an exciting milestone for young adults. Unfortunately, it’s often quite the opposite. Though they’ve obtained the necessary education to conquer the world, they are held back by thousands of dollars in debt. Rather than fall into the debt cycle like many adults before them, today’s students are taking charge. By utilizing resources like BriceCapital.com for debt consolidation, developing a strategy to make payments on student loans, starting businesses, and managing their personal finances, they’ve created an opportunity to pursue a life of purpose.
