I am by no means financially savvy. But come November 21st I will be joining the thousands of other recent graduates and start clipping coupons, putting just 10 dollars in my tank at the gas station and paying back my student loans as my 6 month grace period has ended.
Adulthood comes with a lot of responsibility, and while I did just buy my own (and first) vacuum, I don’t know how ready I am for financial independence. With just 38 days until I write my first student loan payment, I could either let intimidation overtake me and complain to my mom or buck up, read up and take my finances into my own hands. I’m deciding on the latter.
Searching on through the “Category” feature on Compete.com I found the category “General Loan” in the Financial Services Industry.
The General Loan category on Compete.com received over 12 million unique visitors for the month of September. Looking further, the category consists of websites for managing loans and receiving loans. The top websites receiving traffic are:
With so many students, accruing so much debt I wonder how accessible these sites are? How many 18-24 year olds are actually checking these sites? When twenty-something’s get to these sites are they helpful?
I looked first at SallieMae.com. While I faithfully checked my loan balances every Fall and Spring it seems that only 14% of people that visit the site are between the ages of 18-24. Looking at the scholarship site Fastweb.com, we can see that 18-24 years olds are 20% of the site traffic to fastweb.com.
Still 13% of the site users are in the 18-24 year old range. With such a low percentage, it seems that I might not be the only twenty-something a little intimidated by financial independence.
Finances are stressful for everyone involved. From the Occupy movement, national debt and economic crisis it seems that the average twenty-something needs more resources at their fingertips so that we don’t become more of a problem, but rather part of the solution.
What websites do you use to manage your finances? What resources have you found helpful in educating you about the economy?
