Expert offers financial planning tips for new college grads

foxbusiness.com:

FOX Business Ashley Webster talks to diners in The Villages, Florida about retirement as a Northwestern Mutual survey claims it will take $1.46M to retire comfortably.

The arrival of spring means a new group of college graduates will soon be entering the workforce in earnest and facing financial choices that will impact their futures.

Between planning for retirement, saving for other goals like purchasing a home or raising children, dealing with student loans and managing their credit, new college graduates who may be inexperienced in handling their finances will have to proceed strategically, or they may have to regroup to meet their financial goals.

«There's a plethora of students that really struggle financially because a lot of them are graduating with debt, a lot of them don't come from affluent families,» Abbe Large, senior vice president at Lenox Advisers, told FOX Business.

«I think it's a very small percentage of people who are able to just right out of the gate start doing all of these things,» she added. «Just identifying short- and long-term goals and keeping loan debt in perspective is just one component of everything we're talking about here. You've got to think about the financial responsibilities to yourself and to any people who depend on you.»

MAJORITY OF US COUPLES DO NOT HAVE AN ESTATE PLAN, STUDY FINDS

College graduates entering the workforce face a variety of financial decisions as they start their careers. (iStock / iStock)

Large discussed a range of financial issues facing recent college graduates as they enter the workforce in an interview with FOX Business.

Read on for her insights on investing for retirement, managing credit and debt, as well as saving for other needs and goals:

«At the end