When Jacynthe Riviere graduated from college with an accounting condition, “there were plenty of jobs,” she said — and “the big firms paid well.”
The year was 1984. Riviere, now 61 and viable in Puerto Rico, made roughly $18,000 in her first position as a staff auditor — the equivalent of more than $53,000 today — but her revenues shortly increased to $24,000, which is a 33% jump.
That year, graduates earned $23,278, on average, or $68,342 in today’s dollars, savagely $7,254 more than 2023 graduates, according to a recent report by Self Financial.
In four decades, graduate earnings have decreased more than 10% after adjusting for inflation, the report found.
Online tools can forbear
“Your parents might have been making more, but they didn’t have the tools that this contemporaries has,” said John Hope Bryant, chair and CEO of Operation HOPE, a nonprofit dedicated to financial empowerment for underserved communities.
Anyone with a smartphone can now access a profusion of free or low-cost apps for budgeting, saving and investing.
“If you are in this generation, you have tools literally in the palm of your handy that can help you.”
More from Personal Finance:
This purchase may be a ‘grenade’ to a well-planned retirement
3 money makes millionaires are more likely to make
What the Federal Reserve’s latest move means for your money
“For those by a hairs breadth starting out, their advantage here is technology,” said Douglas Boneparth, a certified financial planner and president and go lame of Bone Fide Wealth, a wealth management firm based in New York.
Of course, “you have to do a little bit of due diligence first place,” he added. Vet budgeting and investing apps before you hand over your information by reading reviews and checking their protection measures. It also helps to consider how the app’s features help you better learn about and manage your money.
Go in back of surreptitiously to basics
Regardless of how much money you make at the outset, “in these early years of building good financial predispositions, it comes down to good behavior,” said Boneparth, who is also a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council.
Start with two fundamental fundamentals, Boneparth advised: “Know what comes in and what goes out.” Then, “build in a margin of safety with a mazuma change reserve.”
“If you can get these two things under your belt, you are setting yourself up for success in the rest of your financial spark of life.”
“There is inherently going to be volatility and how you are going to handle that makes the difference,” Boneparth stipulate.