Dear Graduating Class of 2019

It's time to give some more life advice to the early-twenty-somethings out there with brand new college diplomas.....

To the graduates of 2019:

It's probably difficult for you to go a day without seeing a news story about the crushing amount of college debt that most of you now have.  I can think of two exceptions to this: Some of you were lucky enough to have had your college paid for you by a parent or other family member or scholarship, while some others simply never read the news.

For many of you -- not all, but many -- there's a good chance that the main reason for this debt is you.  You probably could have studied harder in high school, creating a better chance for scholarships.  You probably could have studied harder in college, and completed it sooner.

Try not to ponder why you have this debt.  Your generation isn't about to blame yourselves for your own (in)actions anyway.  Better to focus on how to eliminate it.  I'm here to help.

1)  Get a job and start making money.  Any job.  No waiting for the job you want.  Listen to my (stolen) old saying:  If you wait to take the job you love, you'll never work a day in your life, because you are never getting that job.

2)  Work hard, and keep working hard.  Find a way to be indispensable, and you'll be fine.

3)  Stop spending money you don't have.  This may be a hard habit to break, because it's essentially what you've been doing throughout college to create the debt you have.  The living-on-credit monster doesn't need to be fed, it needs to be starved.

4)  Don't worry about saving for retirement now.  There are financial advisors out there who will try to convince you that saving now means you won't have to save as much later, which is true.  But it's also stupid, because eliminating high-interest debt is more important, and gives you more bang for the buck.  Also, let this be your first lesson that advisors mostly only care about giving advice that makes money for themselves.

5)  Repeat.

That's it!  You'll have your college debt paid off in no time, and have learned good life-long habits.  Of course, one alternative to all of this is to move back in with your parents.  Don't do it.