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Starting a Financial Life: Advice for New Graduates給畢業生的理財建議 Congratulations, 2013 graduates. You did it! Now it's time to learn something really useful. 祝賀你們，2013屆的畢業生們。你們順利畢業了！現在該學點真正有用的東西了。 Having conquered all those classes, now you can move on to mastering the practical skill of managing money. Luckily, the economy is in better shape than it was a couple of years ago, and the overall unemployment rate for college grads is roughly half that of the total U.S. population, boding well for your job prospects. 在攻克了所有那些課業難關之后，現在你可以接著掌握理財方面的實用技能了。幸運的是，如今的經濟狀況比幾年前好了，大學畢業生的整體失業率大約是全美總人口失業率的一半，這對你的就業前景來說是一個好兆頭。 If you learn to manage a paycheck, spend less than you earn and stash away some money for later, you can put that education to good use, no matter what you choose to do. 如果你學會了管理薪水，量入為出，存一些錢以備將來之用，你就可以將所受教育學以致用了，不管你選擇做什么工作。 Here's some advice to get you on the right path. 下面是讓你走上正確之路的一些建議。 • Be nice to your parents. In addition to giving you a place to stay until you find a job, they might pay for your health insurance. If you have insurance under a student plan, it probably will end in mid-August. If you're not going to get coverage through a job by then, start working on other plans right away. 1. 善待父母 。父母除了在你找到工作之前給你一個安身之處以外，可能還會為你的健康保險買單。如果你買的是學生險，保險可能會在八月中旬到期。到時如果你不能通過就業獲得保險，你要馬上開始購買其它保險。 Under the Affordable Care Act, young people can stay on a parent's health-insurance plan through age 25, but they need to re-enroll if they've been on a student plan. After you're hired for a job, it could take three months to qualify for insurance, so a parent's plan or a short-term health plan can be an option. (Short-term plans typically don't cover pre-existing conditions.) 按照現行的《平價醫療法案》(the Affordable Care Act)，年輕人一直到25歲都可以納入父母的醫療保險計劃，但是如果他們曾經保過學生險，那就需要重新登記。在你找到工作以后，可能需要三個月以后才有資格享受保險待遇，因此你可以選擇參加父母的醫保計劃或者一個短期的醫保方案。（短期方案一般不會承保投保前已有的疾病。） If your parents aren't a fallback, you might need to buy a short-term policy until January, when individuals will be able to buy conventional health insurance through new marketplaces, federal or state-run exchanges that offer standard health-insurance plans from various carriers. Open enrollment begins in October. 如果你的父母不能做你的靠山，你可能需要買一份保期到一月份的短期保險，到了一月份個人就可以通過新市場、聯邦或州經營的交易所購買常規醫療保險了，這些交易所可以提供各家保險公司的標準醫療保險計劃。報名開放的時間是在10月份。 Whatever you do, don't skip getting insurance. Even those who are young and healthy need it, since a car accident or unforeseen illness can put you in a giant financial hole. 不管你選擇做什么工作，都不要遺漏了購買保險。哪怕是年輕、健康的人也需要它，因為一起車禍或無法預見的疾病都會讓你陷入巨大的財政困難。 • Reduce debt. An estimated two-thirds of today's graduates will leave with student loans, and the average borrower balance is almost $27, 000. Debt is such a burden that it's worth scrimping for a few years, and even delaying graduate school, to pay off at least some of the debt. That will save you in interest costs and give you far more flexibility in your later twenties and beyond. 2. 減少債務 。估計今天三分之二的畢業生離校時都會身背學生貸款，借款人的平均負債額接近27,000美元。債務是一個沉重的負擔，因此好幾年時間的節衣縮食，甚至推遲念研究生的計劃來償還至少部分的債務，都是值得的。那樣會節省你的利息成本，讓你在后二十年甚至更長的時間里有更大的靈活性。 Consider $20, 000 in 10-year federal loans at 6.8% interest. The total monthly payments would be $230, and total interest would add up to about $7, 600 over the loans' life. Paying just $20 a month extra will shorten the repayment period to nine years and save you $900 in interest over the life of the loans. Paying a total of $400 a month─what a car payment might be─will pay off the loans in five years and save more than $4, 000 in interest. 看看一筆利率為6.8%的20,000美元的10年期聯邦貸款吧。如果每月的月還款總額是230美元，那么貸款期間支付的利息總額累計會達到7,600美元左右。如果每月多還款20美元，還款的年限就可以縮短到九年，整個貸款期間可以省掉900美元的利息。如果每月還款總額為400美元──可能也就是償還汽車貸款的數目──五年就可以還清貸款，節省的利息會超過4,000美元。 Because loans are generally made for an academic year, grads might have several and at different interest rates. Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Edvisors.com, a student-marketing company, recommends paying off the loan with the highest interest rate first and notifying the servicer that the payment is an extra one, not an advance on the next payment. 由于貸款通常是以學年為單位發放的，畢業生們可能會有好幾筆不同利率的貸款。學生營銷公司Edvisors.com的出版人馬克•坎特羅威茨(Mark Kantrowitz)建議先還清利率最高的那一筆貸款，并通報貸款服務機構，這是針對利率最高那筆貸款，不是針對時間排序為下一筆的貸款。 In addition, paying through automatic debits from your bank account could reduce your interest rate by 0.25 percentage point, according to loan servicer Sallie Mae SLM +1.61% . Just make sure you have enough money in your account to cover the payments. 此外，據貸款服務機構學生貸款市場協會(Sallie Mae)介紹，通過你銀行賬戶的借記卡自動還款可以讓你的利率降低0.25個百分點。你只需確保自己的賬戶里有足夠的錢支付還款就行了。 How do you balance all these needs? Stretch your dollars by buying a cheap used car instead of new one. Get a roommate and take your lunch to work. Before committing too much to debt payments, be sure to have at least $1, 000 in savings for emergencies─or three months of expenses in the bank if you never want to move home again. If your employer offers a match for a retirement-plan contribution, contribute enough to get at least some of that so you don't pass up free money. 對于這些需求，你怎樣才能做到收支平衡呢？要精打細算。買一輛便宜的二手車而不要去買新車，與人合住房子，自帶午餐去上班，在承擔過多的債務還款之前，一定要保證至少有1,000美元的積蓄，以備不時之需──假如你再也不想搬家了，你就要保證銀行里有三個月的家用開支。如果你的公司繳納與你自己所繳金額等額的退休金計劃繳付款的話，你要盡量多繳，好讓自己至少得到老板認繳的部分養老金應繳款，這樣白拿的錢可不要錯過哦。 • Know your credit report. Employers might care less about your grades than your credit record, which shows how well you manage your obligations. So before you apply for a job or a car loan, go to AnnualCreditReport.com and see what your credit report looks like. You can check each of the three big credit bureaus' reports for free once a year. 3. 熟悉自己的信用報告 。雇主可能更在意你的信用記錄而不是你的學習成績。信用記錄可以顯示你管理自己債務的好壞程度。因此，在你求職或申請汽車貸款之前，到AnnualCreditReport.com網站看看自己的信用報告是什么狀況吧。三大信用機構的報告你都可以一年查詢一次。 If you didn't have your own credit card in college or didn't use it, you may not have much of a credit record at all. In that case, a landlord might not lease you an apartment without your parents cosigning. (That's another reason to be nice to them!) 如果你在大學期間沒有辦理信用卡或者沒有使用過信用卡，你可能根本就沒有足夠多的信用記錄。在這種情況下，如果沒有你父母的共同簽名，房東可能不會租房給你。（這是另一個要善待父母的理由！） To build a credit record, you should have one or two credit cards and use them at least every couple of months to show you can pay your bills responsibly. Paying student loans on time also will help build a good credit history. 要創建信用記錄，你應該擁有一兩張信用卡，并且至少每幾個月要使用一次，以此證明你能夠以負責的態度支付賬單。按時償還學生貸款對于建立良好的信用記錄也會有所幫助。 • Avoid unnecessary fees. To make your budget work, look for free checking accounts at a local credit union or an online account. Avoid automated-teller-machine fees and link your savings account to your checking account so that you'll never pay an overdraft fee. Pay your bills on time to avoid late fees and in full to avoid interest. 4. 避免不必要的開支 。要讓你的預算得以實施，你可以到當地信用社或通過網上賬戶獲得免費的支票賬戶。盡量不要產生自動提款機手續費，把你的儲蓄賬戶與你的支票賬戶相關聯，這樣你就不用支付透支的費用了。按時支付賬單，避免產生滯納金，全額支付賬單，避免產生利息。 • Use your social network. Your friends are used to sharing information, so take advantage of each other's knowledge. Don't post your bank balance or salary online─that's tacky─but don't be shy about asking other recent grads what they pay for rent, car insurance or Internet service. Remember what you learned in college: It's good to be friends with someone who did the homework. 5. 利用你的社交網絡 。你的朋友們習慣于共享信息，因此，要互相利用別人了解的信息。不要在網上貼出你的銀行存款余額或工資──那樣也太傻了──但是也不要羞于啟齒問問其他最近畢業的學生他們的房租、汽車保險費或上網費是多少。記住你在大學期間學到的這一點：與做了功課的人為友是件好事。
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