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Insurance is one of the things that most people don’t like to think about but need to purchase. For students attending college, most of the insurance is provided or paid for by parents or the college.

Upon graduating, however, it is time to think about and purchase your own insurance since the insurance provided by the college will lapse, and your parents will probably want you to purchase your own policies. Insurance can be what stops you from having a financial crisis before you’re even up and running financially. We here at the Lending Club blog want to help you understand the major types of insurance that you should consider.

Health Insurance

Health insurance often includes dental and prescription coverage and will most likely be provided by your employer. Talk to the HR department and they will provide you with the necessary information and options. You can also read this government guide. If you’re self-employed or the company does not offer insurance, you can purchase your own. Research sites like BankRate.com or eHealthInsurance.com are helpful. There are many different options and choices to make when selecting health insurance coverage, so make sure to do your research before purchasing. But don’t delay, because your health is the most important thing you have.

Auto Insurance

Auto insurance is required in all states to operate a vehicle. Comprehensive or “full coverage” covers your car and any liability, while “liability only” plans cover only the damage that you might cause. There are many options with auto insurance, so make sure to talk to an agent who can answer your questions before buying a car or making changes to your current coverage. Read this guide from Kiplinger for some valuable tips.

Life Insurance

If you have any financial responsibilities after graduating from college (those college loans), make sure to look at term life insurance. This is an inexpensive way to purchase a lot of coverage for a “term” or a time period (10 years, for example) during which you can better your financial position.

Renters Insurance

Renting an apartment might expose you to different risks to your property; purchasing renters insurance can reduce some of those risks. It protects your property while you are a renter. Nobody expects to be robbed or have to have his or her apartment broken into, but it happens. Here’s an excellent article explaining why you need renters insurance.

There are other types of insurance out there, but this covers the basics. It might seem like insurance costs a lot, but when something goes wrong (and many times it does), you will most likely be saying that you should have purchased more of it.

You have graduated college, the school is booting you out of the dorms, and you can’t move back in with your parents, or don’t want to, so it’s time to find your first apartment. Where to start? Here are some tips to help you along.

1. Start with pen and paper – define what you need. How many bedrooms and bathrooms? Do you need one bedroom and an office, den or studio? Define specifically what you are looking for in terms of rooms and space.
2. Decide what is a deal killer and deal maker – if there are certain things that you must have or must not have, list them. If you don’t want to use stairs, list that. If it has to be close to bike trails or close to work, note this. Must the living room have enough space for your grand piano?
3. Don’t use your apartment for storage – there are cheaper self-storage facilities that you can rent instead of allocating one room for your junk. Or, you can see if the apartment building has small storage units that you can rent at a much lower cost.
4. Determine your budget – figure out what is the most that you can afford to pay for an apartment. This includes all utilities, rent and any other fees that might be set, such as fees for parking or a security deposit.
5. Set your timeframe – most apartment complexes require a one-year lease. If this will not work for you, consider finding a room you can rent from somebody else or looking at places that will allow month-to-month renting.
6. Don’t buy furniture – there are too many unknowns when buying furniture before you have a place that you will live in for many years. It could be that the apartment has a built-in dining area or bookshelves. Once you do move in, buy a comfortable mattress and put a word out to friends, relatives and craigslist for what you need. There are many people who would love to get rid of extra furniture sitting in their garage who don’t want to throw it away.
7. Think conservative and small for your first place – once you move in, you will narrow down your tastes and learn what works and what doesn’t without being committed for a very long time. After your first apartment, you will have a better understanding of where you want to live and the type of residence it will be.
8. Look for your apartment – start with asking your friends and relatives. They know you and might be able to direct you to a place that you will like, and this will save you time. Also try Craigslist and other websites like apartments.com.

Renting your first apartment should be not scary and should not break the bank if you approach it correctly and do your planning and preparing ahead of time.

Let’s be real. Thinking about bank accounts while actively involved in school is something that very few college students do on a regular basis. So what happens is that most of them end up overdrawing their accounts – not just once, but many times.

Most students that are new to banking are not informed about how banks work, especially how a bank can charge fees (around $30, but this varies) each time they make a purchase without sufficient money in their accounts to cover it. If you walk to the local gas station and buy three items (Coke for $2, chips for $3 and gum for $2), and you only have $1.50 in your account, this shopping trip might end up costing you $97 and not the $7 you initially wanted to spend. The extra $90 is from three overdraft fees that the bank assessed before covering the $7 you charged.

The one rule that will save you thousands while you are attending college is this: Open a checking account that has no fees and no ability to overdraw the account. This last point is crucial. You want to have the guarantee that if there are no funds in your account, the bank will deny the transaction and not charge you any fees for doing so.

There are at least two such banks you can look into: ING Direct’s “Electric Orange” checking account and Schwab Checking. Both of these accounts have no monthly or usage fees and no overdraft fees. With the Schwab account, you’ll have to ask them to turn off the overdraft protection. These are just two examples, and there might be others out there worth looking into.

A friend recently confessed that almost every month he “had more month than money” and constantly overdrew his account. He showed me his bank statements from the last six months and we counted 17 overdraft fees. His bank charged $27 per overdraft, which meant he paid $459 to the bank in fees in the last six months. I recommended that he switch banks as soon as possible.

There are options available if you find yourself in this same situation, and paying for overdraft fees should no longer be tolerated. With the money you save, you can start an investment account or pay down any credit card debt you may be carrying.

Knowing where you are financially is always important, and more so during big changes in your life. Graduation is one of those times. When you graduate, many things change, including the role money plays in your life. While going to college, your focus was on your education; being out of college, one of your primary goals should be to put together a financial plan and start paying off your student loans.

Your first step in putting together a financial plan is to find out where you stand now. You will want to find out your net worth, which is probably negative. Include all of your bills, loans and the amounts you have to pay monthly for each. Also list any income you have, from a job or other sources.

Once you have a picture of where you are now, the next step is to determine where you want to be. Don’t plan out a full year-by-year plan towards your retirement, but make some realistic guess as to where you want to be in one or two years. This will give you something to work towards. Make your goal simple, such as saving enough money for a down payment on a house or paying off a certain amount of debt.

With your current financial analysis and your goals, you can put together a monthly plan for how much money you will need to allocate towards different expenditures. If your goal is to save money for a down payment, you might consider putting more money into a savings account instead of accelerating your loan repayments. Having a simple plan will make sure that you are not impulsively spending money, but instead are actively working on your financial future.

If you are new at your job, many employers have outside advisers that can sit down with you and help you even more with your plan. Ask your HR department if your company offers such a service. If not, you can find a local financial planner and buy several hours of his or her time to go over your plan with you and make sure that you’re on the right track.

Putting together your financial plan is one of the most important pieces of paper you can produce, and it will go beyond just giving you a grade, and possibly secure your financial future.

Better jobs and brighter futures top the list of reasons that students give for going to college. College is a very important step and should be done with some planning, because not only can it increase your debt for a certain time period, but it can also provide for a lifetime of higher earnings. Obtaining a job after college is one of the first critical steps in a person’s financial life, and here are five tips to help you with it:

1. Think ahead. Many college students find it hard to think ahead a few years because of all of the pressures that are facing them in the current moment – everything from studying and completing homework to partying and other social activities. That’s why deciding on a lifetime career when just starting out in college doesn’t make sense, unless you’re set on a particular professional career. What you should do is seek small experiences in a variety of fields around your major. Pick the interesting ones. Look for volunteering opportunities, internships or even a chance to be an aide to somebody you look up to. These experiences will help you once you’re ready for a real job.
2. Utilize all available resources. Universities and colleges have entire “career departments” that are tasked with helping students with every area of job searching. Most will help with resume writing, interview skills, class selections, internships and everything else that you might not have thought of. Call up the help desk of your college and they’ll direct you to this department. Or search for “(Your College Name) career department.”
3. Focus on your interests and what you like. Put aside what other people tell you to do, and focus on what you like naturally and would do as a hobby if it weren’t a career. You will find that you will be able to study easier and everything will seem not like a “job,” but play time. And when interviewing for positions in areas that interest you, your enthusiasm will come through without any effort.
4. Network and build up the social circle. Many times, just by interacting with the alumni or other social groups around the college, you will come across opportunities that you might have missed. And because people know you, this will give you bonus points toward being offered the job first. Sign up for p2p sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to network.
5. Don’t be a nobody. The Internet is becoming critical to every industry, so make sure to have your schoolwork or projects discoverable by search engines. The first step for many employers is to Google your name and check what comes up; you don’t want “No results” to come up, as that might be a negative sign.
6. Bonus: Make sure to interview the boss as much as you will be interviewed. Your boss will have the biggest impact on how you perform at your job, as well as how you progress in the future.

When planning for a job or actively looking for one right now, keep in mind that there are many resources and people out there that can help you find the perfect one for you.