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What do you wish someone had told you before you entered the real world? Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Life after graduation: How do you build a financial future?

Marketplace Contributor Jun 1, 2017
What do you wish someone had told you before you entered the real world? Spencer Platt/Getty Images

College graduation is an exciting and scary time. It’s often seen as the start of adulthood, when 20-somethings get to grips with the realities of living alone, paying rent and making big life decisions. 

While millennials in the class of 2017 are thinking about all of this new “life” stuff, the economy is also watching them. Millennials are currently the largest generation in the U.S., and so there’s pressure on companies and business owners to chase the millennial dollar. That said, millennials are also coming of age, having lived through one of the worst economic downturns in U.S. history. And according to the latest Marketplace-Edison Research Poll, 18- to 24-year-olds (so millennials and Generation Z) are feeling pretty stressed about the economy. 

So next week on Marketplace Weekend, we’re offering a little help to recent graduates as we delve into life after college and how to build your economic future. We’ll explore how businesses such as  The Sill are springing up around the needs of millennials. We’ll have job advice from Ask a Manager’s Alison Green  (details on how to submit a question below), a conversation about housing and we’ll talk about building your personal brand, because doesn’t everyone want to live a life worthy of Instagram?  We know, the answer is no.

So what do recent grads need to know about making it as an adult? What advice do you wish you were given when you graduated? What’s the most valuable lesson you’d like to pass on to the Class of 2017? And if you’re a recent college graduate, what questions do you have about your financial life?

Email us with your questions at  Weekend@marketplace.orgYou can also record a voice memo for us to use or give us a call: 800-648-5114.

We’ll be talking about all of this on Facebook, and you can also find us on Twitter.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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