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Old 06-09-2004, 07:27 PM
aephi alum aephi alum is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Crescent City
Posts: 10,063
I agree with a lot of the advice here.

Credit cards can be a good thing IF you control your spending and pay in full every month. If you've already fallen into the land of revolving debt, make the minimum payment on all your cards (as well as paying all your other bills), then throw some money at whichever card has the highest interest rate.

Be careful about consolidating student loans, because usually when you consolidate, the interest rate becomes fixed. You can get burned if your original loans had variable rates. Although, now might be a good time to lock in a low rate.

Try to have a cushion of savings that will cover you for about six months (one month might be cutting it a little thin, even as the economy starts to improve and companies start to hire again). Mortgage/rent, utilities, food, etc.

Save for retirement. Start an IRA, and participate in your company's 401k if they offer one. If you are self-employed you can set up a SEP-IRA.

Enjoy life! Just because you have a job and a stack of bills doesn't mean you can't go out and have fun once in a while.
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