Give your millennial this financial guide

In 2016, there were an estimated 79.8 million millennials, according to the Pew Research Center. I wonder how many are truly prepared to tackle today’s financial issues.

Millennials want what most Americans want — a home, debt-free living and, eventually, a comfortable retirement. Yet, when asked, only 49 percent said they have a plan to live out that dream, according to Bank of the West. The survey also found that, in practice, millennials prioritize saving for travel over saving for retirement or a home.

This makes sense. They want new experiences and, in their minds, they have plenty of time to save.

I have a suggestion, which will double as this month’s Color of Money Book Club pick. It’s “Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties” (Touchtone, $16.99) by Beth Kobliner.

Kobliner starts with a chapter for readers who may be intimidated by a whole book about financial stuff.

If you give this as a graduation gift, tuck a card and some cash in the first chapter. In it, your millennial will find eight financial strategies that Kobliner says will put him or her on a solid path. They are:

■ Get health insurance. “It’ll help protect you if you have an accident or illness, and guarantee that you don’t bankrupt yourself,” she writes.

■ Pay off debt sooner rather than later. “You can usually ‘earn’ more by paying off a loan than you can by saving and investing.”

■ Ignore the feeling that you’re too young to start saving for retirement. “Saving money in a retirement plan is one of the smartest (and easiest) things you can do when you’re young.”

■ Maintain an emergency fund. “Have money automatically withdrawn from each paycheck and funneled into an old-school savings account.”

■ Invest in low-cost stock and bond index funds outside a workplace retirement plan. Don’t know what these are? Chapter 5 explains investing fundamentals.

■ Manage your credit score. “Think of your credit score as the GPA of your financial abilities, a numerical representation of how appealing you are to lenders. Unlike your GPA, however, your credit score is being recalculated all the time.”

■ Don’t rush to buy a home. “The decision about whether to switch from renter to owner involves more than simply comparing your monthly rent to the mortgage payment.”

■ Pay attention to your taxes. There are things you can do during the year to optimize your tax situation.

“Get a Financial Life” helps take the burden off you. Kobliner provides the needto-know stuff. And if your millennial follows even some of the advice, you can worry less about their financial success.