May 19, 2025 • 5 mins
CBS News Business Analyst and host of Jill on Money Jill Schlesinger joins us to discuss her biggest tips for those recent college graduates.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is West Michigan's Morning News. Steve Kelly and Brett Makita.
Let's talk about the grads in your life. Jill Slessinger
has some great advice. CBS News Business analyst, host of
Jill on Money. Thank you for doing this.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
As always, I love doing this because then I don't
have to explain what a Moody's downgrade really means for
you and me. But I'll do that if you want to.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Well, we were going to talk about this last week
and then we got all in the weeds about tariffs,
which was important too. Exactly, so you say track you're
spending first when you talk about kids that get out
of college, and what do you mean specifically.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, what I mean is that when you get out
of school, hopefully you have a job, although it's tough
out there, so just let me be clear, don't wait
for your dream job, take a job. That's a very
big piece of financial advice right there. But what I
mean by that is if you look at every single
financial goal, a long term goal, a short term goal,
it all comes down to what is the amount of
(00:55):
money that is coming in the door and what is
going out the door and whatever's leftover can fund your
future goals. And that may mean fund the goal of
moving out of your parents' basement. It could mean funding
the goal of buying a car, It could mean funding
the goal of actually being able to buy a home
someday down the road. So knowing where your money is
going is important. You don't have to live on some
(01:16):
severe budget. I'm not a budget fan, to be honest
with you. I just think that they sort of like
diets on December twenty ninth, diets there seem really good
in that moment, and then three weeks later you forget
what you've done. Just know where the money is going.
And then once you have that, the next step is
to kind of look at what's called your balance sheet,
what you own and what you owe. So usually it's
(01:36):
what you own is zero and what you owe is
a lot. So if you are a student graduating with debt,
get your arms around those loans. If you are looking
at a federal student loan, then go to studentaid dot gov.
You got to figure out the amount of money you
owe because a lot of people have different loan amounts
and different interest rates associated with those loans. So take
a look at that and say, what are the payment terms.
(01:58):
If your plan payment is too high relative to your income,
which is quite low when you start, you may want
to consider something called an income driven plan that will
reduce the monthly payment amount, but of course it's going
to extend the term of your loan. Whatever plan you choose,
to repay your debt, automate, automate, automate. You don't want
to be late. You don't want to miss a month.
(02:19):
The government is really cracking down on late payments right now,
so if you miss a month, it's going to dig
your credit score. So that is really where we start.
You know what's coming in, what's going out, what do
you owe, and then you start building that balance. You
you create a safety net. You want to build up
a savings account, just a little bit of money so
that you start every single month getting in the habit
(02:39):
of saving. You can do that in a savings account.
You'll find that online interest rates are usually higher, so
you can go to aggregation sites, deposit accounts dot com,
bankrate dot com. All this is to say, these things
are habit forming, and the more you can get into
the habit, the better off you're going to be.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Oh bingo right there and Jill. That's what I want
to say for all the parents out there that have
like me, you know, one that's that's done with college,
one that's in high school, started in high school, or
whenever they get their first job, right, Because the funny
thing is when they start to actually look at their
paycheck and what they get as far as net income
compaying to what Uncle Sam takes away as a starter
(03:18):
to your point, I mean, that's the thing that really
gives them that education tool of what they need to
do and how much they really need to save.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Absolutely, I never forget when I said to my father,
I had like a job. I had the worst job
in high school. Truly. It was like I was a
refereeing games, which about those parents are rough, including my
own father. So you get your first paycheck from like
the municipality, and I said to my father, who's fika,
Yeah exactly who's that? He's like, Oh, that's your tax bill.
(03:45):
That's like you're paying into I said, what why do
I you know? And so it is really it's like
one of those things where it's a great lesson. Even
if you think about your high school kid and doing
some dumb summer job which are great. I mean terrible
summer jobs out there. I love them all because you
learn something. But you know, just getting in that habit
and saying, oh, you know what, save a little bit
of money here, you're going to need it in college,
(04:07):
or you know, you really said you want to buy
a car. Eventually, this is how you have to start.
Everyone starts somewhere now. Of course, if you're lucky and
you're rich, and you start off with more than like
maybe you don't have debt, then you can do even more.
You can say, all right, I'm going to start saving
money for emergency reserve. I'm going to start saving in
that retirement account because I can afford to do so.
But be smart. I promise you your older self will
(04:29):
thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
And if here's my advice, if you're born on third base,
don't think you're a triple hitter.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, listen, I've encountered many of those people my entire life,
and I always say, you know, it's good.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
You don't want to.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You know, when people say to me, like, well, you know,
what was the best thing that happened to you as
you graduate, I said, I didn't have debt because I
had grandparents that thank god, but I would rather be
there and start. But don't squander that opportunity either. Don't
think you got there on your own, but also don't
squander it. You're lucky, so make the great of it
and do something great, just like
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Jill Schlessinger's CBS News Business analyst is to our audience,
have a great week, Thank you, take care,
This is West Michigan's Morning News. Steve Kelly and Brett Makita.
Let's talk about the grads in your life. Jill Slessinger
has some great advice. CBS News Business analyst, host of
Jill on Money. Thank you for doing this.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
As always, I love doing this because then I don't
have to explain what a Moody's downgrade really means for
you and me. But I'll do that if you want to.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Well, we were going to talk about this last week
and then we got all in the weeds about tariffs,
which was important too. Exactly, so you say track you're
spending first when you talk about kids that get out
of college, and what do you mean specifically.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, what I mean is that when you get out
of school, hopefully you have a job, although it's tough
out there, so just let me be clear, don't wait
for your dream job, take a job. That's a very
big piece of financial advice right there. But what I
mean by that is if you look at every single
financial goal, a long term goal, a short term goal,
it all comes down to what is the amount of
(00:55):
money that is coming in the door and what is
going out the door and whatever's leftover can fund your
future goals. And that may mean fund the goal of
moving out of your parents' basement. It could mean funding
the goal of buying a car, It could mean funding
the goal of actually being able to buy a home
someday down the road. So knowing where your money is
going is important. You don't have to live on some
(01:16):
severe budget. I'm not a budget fan, to be honest
with you. I just think that they sort of like
diets on December twenty ninth, diets there seem really good
in that moment, and then three weeks later you forget
what you've done. Just know where the money is going.
And then once you have that, the next step is
to kind of look at what's called your balance sheet,
what you own and what you owe. So usually it's
(01:36):
what you own is zero and what you owe is
a lot. So if you are a student graduating with debt,
get your arms around those loans. If you are looking
at a federal student loan, then go to studentaid dot gov.
You got to figure out the amount of money you
owe because a lot of people have different loan amounts
and different interest rates associated with those loans. So take
a look at that and say, what are the payment terms.
(01:58):
If your plan payment is too high relative to your income,
which is quite low when you start, you may want
to consider something called an income driven plan that will
reduce the monthly payment amount, but of course it's going
to extend the term of your loan. Whatever plan you choose,
to repay your debt, automate, automate, automate. You don't want
to be late. You don't want to miss a month.
(02:19):
The government is really cracking down on late payments right now,
so if you miss a month, it's going to dig
your credit score. So that is really where we start.
You know what's coming in, what's going out, what do
you owe, and then you start building that balance. You
you create a safety net. You want to build up
a savings account, just a little bit of money so
that you start every single month getting in the habit
(02:39):
of saving. You can do that in a savings account.
You'll find that online interest rates are usually higher, so
you can go to aggregation sites, deposit accounts dot com,
bankrate dot com. All this is to say, these things
are habit forming, and the more you can get into
the habit, the better off you're going to be.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Oh bingo right there and Jill. That's what I want
to say for all the parents out there that have
like me, you know, one that's that's done with college,
one that's in high school, started in high school, or
whenever they get their first job, right, Because the funny
thing is when they start to actually look at their
paycheck and what they get as far as net income
compaying to what Uncle Sam takes away as a starter
(03:18):
to your point, I mean, that's the thing that really
gives them that education tool of what they need to
do and how much they really need to save.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Absolutely, I never forget when I said to my father,
I had like a job. I had the worst job
in high school. Truly. It was like I was a
refereeing games, which about those parents are rough, including my
own father. So you get your first paycheck from like
the municipality, and I said to my father, who's fika,
Yeah exactly who's that? He's like, Oh, that's your tax bill.
(03:45):
That's like you're paying into I said, what why do
I you know? And so it is really it's like
one of those things where it's a great lesson. Even
if you think about your high school kid and doing
some dumb summer job which are great. I mean terrible
summer jobs out there. I love them all because you
learn something. But you know, just getting in that habit
and saying, oh, you know what, save a little bit
of money here, you're going to need it in college,
(04:07):
or you know, you really said you want to buy
a car. Eventually, this is how you have to start.
Everyone starts somewhere now. Of course, if you're lucky and
you're rich, and you start off with more than like
maybe you don't have debt, then you can do even more.
You can say, all right, I'm going to start saving
money for emergency reserve. I'm going to start saving in
that retirement account because I can afford to do so.
But be smart. I promise you your older self will
(04:29):
thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
And if here's my advice, if you're born on third base,
don't think you're a triple hitter.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, listen, I've encountered many of those people my entire life,
and I always say, you know, it's good.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
You don't want to.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You know, when people say to me, like, well, you know,
what was the best thing that happened to you as
you graduate, I said, I didn't have debt because I
had grandparents that thank god, but I would rather be
there and start. But don't squander that opportunity either. Don't
think you got there on your own, but also don't
squander it. You're lucky, so make the great of it
and do something great, just like
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Jill Schlessinger's CBS News Business analyst is to our audience,
have a great week, Thank you, take care,
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