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Obtaining you college degree is one of the most important milestones of your life. You have just graduated, and even if you’ve landed your dream job, learning to manage you money is your next step. So if you’ve just graduated from college the following tips will be very useful.

Set yourself a budget – work out what you want and need to spend your money on and structure your spending in such a way so that you can enjoy life, but also start saving for your future – and your future credit report. It may be tempting to go spending your hard-earned money on gadgets, toys and trips, but set yourself a monthly entertainment limit.

In order to keep your credit clean you need to be careful to live within you means. As a recent college graduate you may find that obtaining credit is easier than you might have thought. That doesn’t mean you should respond to every credit card offered to you! Consider how much you can realistically pay back in a month’s time before you go tacking on yet another monthly credit card payment.

Save money! When you are young, and especially if you are single, is the best time to save money. If you already have a decent steady job you can put away money in case of financial hardship. In today’s economy having that soft-fall will make a massive difference if you should suddenly find yourself out of work. Furthermore, if you ever want to get married or have a family you will have a nest egg set aside and growing to help cover related expenses.

Humble yourself a little! Thrift stores and discount stores are not just for those earning lower incomes and many have great merchandise. There is no need to spend more than you need to on certain durable and semi-durable items. In fact, used or discounted items are available as alternatives to every purchase you plan to make. Find an economical cell phone deal. There are actually plan out there that can cost $50 or even less. There is no shame in pre-paid phones either, and the rates on those are becoming more and more reasonable.

To help you calculate your budget; follow these guidelines. Generally speaking, the amount you spend on housing should be about a third of your income. The amount recommended you save monthly is about 10% of your income and you should try and keep transportation costs at about 15%. For clothing, entertainment and other miscellaneous expenses you would set aside between 5 – 10 % of your total monthly earnings. Remember that you are only young once and when you are young it can be hard to thinks in terms of the future. If, however you take the advice in this article to heart, you will be less likely to find yourself 10 or 20 years from now wishing that you had saved more, or invested instead of spending too freely.

Invest a portion of your money. Over and above your savings, it is advisable that you invest a minimum of between 2 and 5 % of your monthly earnings at this time in your life. If you procrastinate, you may find that you’re not in a position to do this in the future, so do it while you can. If you have questions on what types of investments would best suit you, it’s recommended that you contact a professional financial adviser, or at least thoroughly research your options using books, financial magazines and the internet.

On the flip side of saving – there is no need to be so rigid with your money that you can never have any fun – life IS for living. It’s also good to help others after you have made your own finances secure. Aside from that, just continue to make choices over the years that you know you will reap rewards from and refrain from choices that have negative consequences.