An indispensable guide for any recent graduate that provides simple, easy-to-follow rules for making smart personal finance choices during the first decade of one’s career.

Having graduated from college with a degree, even the luckiest newly minted professionals-those who are able to quickly find a full-time job and support themselves-are often burdened with thousands of dollars in student loan debt. Many of these young professionals grow up hearing that they should not invest until their debt is paid off. Others fall too readily for investment scams or the siren call of instant entrepreneurship. Still others don’t invest at all.

From financial expert Michael C. Taylor comes a proposed means by which to not only pull oneself out of debt but to start building wealth from the first day on the job: adoption of modesty, skepticism, and optimism. The Financial Rules for New College Graduates explains that by embodying modesty, the opposite of status-seeking ostentation; skepticism, the ability to recognize scams, false promises, and the hyperbole and short-sightedness of financial media; and optimism, the belief that financial security can be yours with little to no risk, anyone can attain financial security. The early chapters address the role of interest rates, compound interest, and discounted cashflows, while the remaining chapters explore each of the most consequential personal finance choices that recent graduates will make in the first ten years of their career.

Demonstrates how simple choices, especially in the years after college, can guarantee (barring misfortunes such as catastrophic illness or drug addiction) a lifelong, healthy relationship with money

Illustrates how to apply the attitudes inherent in modesty, skepticism, and optimism to all financial decision-making, both upon graduating and in the future

Includes a math refresher for understanding the basic principles of interest rates, credit card debt, investment, and retirement savings

Demystifies without boring, simplifies without condescending to, and above all highlights the relevance and practical applications of financial planning during one’s first ten years out of school