With this in mind, the FTC has issued a list of 10 ways for recent high school and college graduates to guard themselves against potentially dangerous mistakes and scams.
The FTC’s first tip is to keep all information related to identity – passwords, credit card numbers, mail – safe. They also recommend that kids keep their information to themselves when using social media like Facebook or Twitter, and to never post any information related to their finances. There are also many scammers that will “phish” for personal information via email by posing as a bank or internet service provider.
The list also recommends that students be wary of offers that sound too good to be true. Weight loss products that promise results rarely work, cheap vacation offers can often be scams and any company guaranteeing it can find a student a scholarship after an up-front payment isn’t reputable. Similarly, there are a number of so-called job placement services that will ask for money before placing you in a dream career, but unfortunately those that do are usually bogus companies trying to bilk the naïve out of their money.
One thing the FTC recommends is that young adults go out of their way to learn about credit. Students shouldn’t load up on credit cards, or indeed even take on credit, until they can pay for the costs themselves.
A recent study in the Journal of Consumer Affairs said that financial literacy is low among young adults. Less than one-third possess even basic knowledge of run-of-the-mill financial concepts like inflation, interest rates and risk diversification.
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