Financial advice from the nation’s top grads
And, if you still don't think you're ready to start investing, think back to your college days.
On campus, students often felt empowered to question everything — from hard-to-understand lecture topics to the menu selections in the dining halls. That same curiosity should apply to personal finance and investing, said Tanya Louneva, who recently graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
If you don't understand something, speak up or ask questions. Louneva recently did that while helping her parents secure a new mortgage, and found it helpful.
"The best financial advice is to be a sponge," she said. "This is the time for us to learn."
That's an enduring lesson, even for those students who attended the top business schoools, said Tom Fazzio, a 26-year-old MBA student from MIT's Sloan School of Management. To be smart investors, it's essential for consumers to keep asking questions.
"You have to know what you don't know," Fazzio said. "I think that's real intelligence."