Generation Y

If you've just graduated from college within the past five years or so, you are part of Generation Y. This demographic group is making headlines for their unique way in which they seek jobs, choose life paths after college, and behave towards other generations such as the baby boomers.

Knowing the way in which your generation is characterized might also help in dealing with creating a budget and picking a way in which to manage expenses while living on your own. Brazen Careerist blogger Penelope Trunk has noted that Generation Y is generally conservative, playing by all rules and succeeding within the parameters they are given. One example of this is that the some of the top employers for Generation Y include PWC, Deloitte, and Accenture, which are all large accounting and consulting firms.

However, aside from this, Gen Yers are also looking for flexibility, good coworkers, and stability. Other characteristics include a great deal of involvement from your parents, a great deal of teamwork, achievement and overachievement in all fields, from careers to volunteering. Are these characteristics accurate of you? If so, how can you leverage them to help management of your finances? There are several ways.

1. Parental involvement: If you constantly turn to your parents for advice, use this in a positive way. If your parents are good role models, ask them how they maintain their monthly budget. Get tips that you can use for saving money, for keeping track of your bills, and for keeping miscellaneous spending under control. Think of them as a free financial advisor!
2. Team players: Have you been involved in many group propjets in college? Did you usually ask classmates for homework help, and continue this trend in the workplace? Use your group skills to get help with your bill management skills. Do you have friends that seem to be extremely successful at managing money matters, or that are really good at setting up equation spreadsheets? Do you have a buddy in business school right now? Ask for their "professional" opinion on budgeting. This can turn into a sensitive issue if real amounts of money are involved, so ask them to approximate. Sometimes the best advice spreads by word of mouth.
3. Hard working: Were you involved in five different honors classes in school, five different clubs in college? Continue your hard work and let it pay off into your bill management skills. Take a personal finance management course at a community college. Commit to reading financial blogs such as Get Rich Slowly, Ramit Seth's I Will Teach You To be Rich, or, especially for women, SavvySugar daily. Read the Wall Street Journal, particularly the Personal Journal Section to get a sense of general trends in the economy. There are also usually good investing tips. Both the real world and the internet have a wealth of information that will teach you how to budget and make smart financial decisions in the future. The key part is sticking to being well-informed day in and day out.

They key take-away is that if you just graduated and are part of Generation Y, don't feel lost. As part of hard-working generation, you have a great deal of tools at your disposal to help you succeed.