Get credit card while still in college: there are special offers for students, once you graduate it'll be harder to get a first card with no history.
DO get a credit card. Establishing good credit is important.
DO put some expenses on the credit card every month, this helps build positive credit.
DO NOT spend anywhere near your credit limit, that hurts your credit rating.
DO pay your credit card bill in full every month. This establishes good credit, and avoids the pitfalls of credit cards. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, because mounting credit card debt can quickly dump you into a hole that's hard to climb out of.
If you can establish enough credit card credit that you're not using on monthly expenses to equal the size of your emergency fund, sock the money away somewhere tough to get at that earns a bit of interest (but no penalty for withdrawal), and plan to use the card to pay for emergencies and pull the money out to pay it back by the end of the billing cycle. If you can't, DO NOT put the money somewhere hard to get at: if it's an emergency, you might well need that money NOW, not in 3 days when you can get it to transfer. Learn to be responsible about not dipping into it for "emergencies" which are really "I want this thing" instead.
Car costs per mile are more than most people think...gas is maybe half the cost, wear-and-tear, insurance, and cost of buying the car in the first place add up to a significant amount. If you're doing the math, include all of those (estimate how much you'll use it over lifetime for purchase cost, and per time-period for insurance...wear-and-tear is pretty much dependent on how much you use it).
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DO get a credit card. Establishing good credit is important.
DO put some expenses on the credit card every month, this helps build positive credit.
DO NOT spend anywhere near your credit limit, that hurts your credit rating.
DO pay your credit card bill in full every month. This establishes good credit, and avoids the pitfalls of credit cards. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, because mounting credit card debt can quickly dump you into a hole that's hard to climb out of.
If you can establish enough credit card credit that you're not using on monthly expenses to equal the size of your emergency fund, sock the money away somewhere tough to get at that earns a bit of interest (but no penalty for withdrawal), and plan to use the card to pay for emergencies and pull the money out to pay it back by the end of the billing cycle. If you can't, DO NOT put the money somewhere hard to get at: if it's an emergency, you might well need that money NOW, not in 3 days when you can get it to transfer. Learn to be responsible about not dipping into it for "emergencies" which are really "I want this thing" instead.
Car costs per mile are more than most people think...gas is maybe half the cost, wear-and-tear, insurance, and cost of buying the car in the first place add up to a significant amount. If you're doing the math, include all of those (estimate how much you'll use it over lifetime for purchase cost, and per time-period for insurance...wear-and-tear is pretty much dependent on how much you use it).