So, you have finally landed yourself your dream job, and we are sure you must be super excited about it. After all your years of gaining theoretical knowledge, it’s time that you apply your learnings practically.
This also means that you have stepped out of your comfort zone of being sheltered by your parents and are ready to face the real world. While you may be tempted to spend your first salary treating family and friends, there are more important things that you should consider when you get your first job. Let’s take a look.
Table of Contents
1. Repay Your Loan –
The first and foremost thing is to chalk out your repayment plan for the student or education loan your parents may have taken to help you get a degree. The moment you get a job, you are expected by the bank to start repaying them. Delaying the payment can result in accumulating large amounts of interest and a direct impact on your credit score.
Also read – 7 types of loan options
2. Understand Your Salary Structure-
This is extremely important especially when you have just started working. You should gain a full understanding of how your salary is calculated and what’s the in-hand amount you are going to get. Your CTC is not what you get, there are mandatory deductions made by every employer like PF, income tax, professional tax to name a few.
Keep yourself up to date with the income tax slabs for the current financial year and declare your tax investments accordingly with your finance, because as per the government norms, a certain percentage of your income is deducted if you fall under the tax bracket.
3. Make a Budget-
Sit and list out all your essential expenses for the month like rentals, food, bill payments, transportation costs. Now add everything and deducted it from your salary, this should leave you with an amount that you can use for savings and luxury spending.
4. Start Investments and Savings-
If you think it’s too early to start saving, then you are wrong. Saving at least 20-30% of your salary will keep you covered during rough times. In fact, with not many financial commitments at this age, it should be easier for you to begin your savings plan. You can invest in mutual funds, SIP’s, bonds, or even in fixed deposits.
Also read – Invest in Funds Through a Life Insurance Plan Now!
5. Get Health Insurance-
Health is wealth, and getting a health insurance policy online in your early years makes sense because the premium amounts are much lesser. You can compare the premiums of various health insurance providers online, and make an informed decision.
6. Create a Strong LinkedIn Profile –
The moment you start working, go ahead and create your LinkedIn profile with all the basic details of your education and the new job title. Create connections with people who are from similar industries and stay active. LinkedIn is where professionals like to connect and build their careers, so utilize this from day one.
7. Acquire Additional Skills-
We know you have just started your first job, but we are sure in a couple of years you would aspire to move up the ladder. In today’s competitive world, acquiring the right skills is very important to get promoted, so start learning new things which will contribute to your career growth.
8. Pay Attention to Mental and Physical Wellbeing-
It’s very easy to fall prey to an unhealthy lifestyle when you start working. Those late-night meetings, stringent deadlines, erratic sleeping hours lead to increased stress levels, ultimately compromising your health conditions. So from the beginning make it a point to exercise regularly to stay in shape, and build a hobby to improve your mental health.
9. Build Your Circle-
Surround yourself with positive people and build a close friend’s circle at work. This will motivate you to go to work every day, and you know there is someone you can talk to when you feel stressed at work.
10. Chalk out Long Term Goals –
Getting your first job shouldn’t stop you from chalking out your long-term goals, you should have a better line of sight now. So introspect and write down where you see yourself in the next 10 years and take baby steps towards it.