The New Grad Gift of Choice: A Financial Planning Session?

Posted on July 19, 2007 by Jennifer Brady

This time of year lots of publications run advice columns about graduation gifts. Are they necessary and appropriate, and if so, what makes the most sense; what will be long remembered?

In this brief item from the TimesUnion.com this June comes a very interesting suggestion.

…give a grad an hour of two of face-to-face time with a financial planner, who charges by the hour and is offering advice, not products. It could be money well spent.

The story transported me back to a time when as a freshman in college I learned the invaluable lesson about the correlation between credit card use and real money. I learned it the hard way. On my own for the first time, enjoying what seemed like complete personal and financial independence, I went on a spending spree that evidenced absolutely no understanding between expense-to-debt ratios. I could have used this sort of graduation gift upon completing high school.

Of course, many online students have been there and done that as well. Still, the realities of financial planning only seem to become more rigorous as time goes by, our careers advance, and our economic responsibilities expand. Therefore, I'm a big proponent of this sort of graduation gift. Sure, the weekend of complete abandon in Lauderdale is appealing, but fiduciary responsibility may be a lot more rewarding in the long run, don't you agree?