SoFi Blog

Living as an engineering student for years, on a student budget, requires a very special set of financial survival skills. Ingrained habits like living frugally, postponing major expenses, and maybe not looking too hard at your debt balances while your loans are in deferment are necessary for getting through when money is tight.

As a newly-minted engineer, you should enjoy the rewards of completing this stage of your education, because you’ve certainly earned it. But don’t let the frugal mindset that propelled you during your college years start to withdraw as those first hefty engineering salary paychecks roll in. Even if you don’t see yourself becoming a big spender, when the transition from student to full-time employment happens, it’s easy to just tear up your student budget without creating a new one.

Other than your love life, finance might just be the last topic you’d ever want to discuss with your parents. Not only could it potentially open you up to unnecessary and unwanted criticism (ahem, like comments about avocado toast), but financial advice from a baby boomer can sometimes feel a little irrelevant. The financial climate has changed considerably since your parents were in their 20s or 30s. The cost of higher education has gone up 1,120% in 30 years, and millennials (i.e., you) are carrying majority of the $1.2 trillion in student loans Americans currently owe and are paying back.

It’s law school graduation season, which means the newest generation of lawyers has officially entered the playing field. If you’re anything like me after I graduated from Northeastern, you’re probably spending every waking minute studying for the bar exam and daydreaming about the moment you see your name on the pass list. While you might not feel like you have room in your head to think about anything else, managing your finances in advance of your first post-bar paycheck is one of the most important ways to set yourself up for financial success as a new attorney.

Entering the working world among an MBA class of ambitious post-grads can be like the Hunger Games. I’ve been there: Desperate former students scramble to not just score their dream job, but figure out how to pay for their—let’s not beat around the bush—very expensive education. Going to Columbia Business School was definitely a worthwhile investment, giving me a big-picture view of how companies work that would help me pursue my future goals in marketing. But, after two years of $60K tuition, I was over $100K in debt—which was pretty overwhelming, to say the least.