Greetings! It has been a long while since I last shared a post. The reason being, as I am often a late comer, I realized that I could get as much exposure of my posts going directly to LinkedIn or Facebook than I could through my own blog that had very few followers. That said, over the summer one of those followers asked me why I haven’t posted in a while, and I gave him the explanation I shared above. To which he replied, jokingly I think, then I would like my money back for signing up for your blog posts. Since they are free, I gladly agreed to pay him back every dollar that he spent.
So here we go.
As the unofficial end of summer has occurred with the celebration of Labor day last weekend, many of our young people are now transitioning into their full time jobs or beginning their job search in earnest. It would be very easy to put together a list of 10 financial commandments for recent college graduates entering the workforce, as there are likely many more than just 10. But like the actual 10 commandments, there are one or two that stand above the rest. Love God above all else and love your neighbor as yourself. It is said that all the other commandments depend on these two.
The same is true for financial commandments. Some of the most common financial recommendations include creating a budget, building an emergency reserve fund, start investing for the future with your first paycheck, maximize your employer sponsored retirement account, limit or eliminate personal debt including student loans, learn about markets and taxes, set financial goals, and many more.
While these are all important, I would propose that there is one financial commandment that is above all the rest, and if followed, will make all the other recommendations more achievable…Spend less than you make!
It could be said that all the other financial commandments depend on this one. If you follow this maxim, all the other recommendations can more easily fall into place.
And another piece of advice as you begin your career. If you want to succeed yourself, help others succeed. In other words, love your neighbor as yourself!
Good luck and Godspeed!
P.S. This, and all past and future posts can also be found on my LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinmurphy1/) and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/FIRE45)
Proverbial Living 