Hello graduating class of 2013 and congratulations! I know you are disappointed that President Obama had to cancel as your commencement speaker, but I will do the best I can to fill in.

If you have a good job, kudos are certainly in order. While it may be tempting to live the carefree life of the young, don’t forget to start saving.

Retirement may seem unreal and a lifetime away, but whatever you save now will be much more impactful than money you save in the future. This is particularly true of money you save in a qualified retirement account. The reason is that the money saved grows tax-free at a compound rate; the money that would go to taxes in a non-qualified account instead gets reinvested.

Money invested in a Roth 401(k) or a Roth IRA can be particularly effective for a young person. This is because there is a decent chance that the account-holder will be in a higher tax bracket in retirement but will be able to pull money out of the Roth without paying taxes.  The difference between a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA is that Roth contributions are made with after-tax money; no deduction is available for the contribution, nor are taxes paid when a qualified withdrawal is taken.  A traditional IRA provides an upfront tax deduction but taxes are paid upon distribution.

If you don’t yet have a job, take heart. The economy is getting better and employment is improving, albeit slowly.

Remember your parents are there for you. Sure it’s better to be on your own with a fabulous job, but your parents are probably possibly happy to have you at home – for a while. After all, this is the generation of helicopter parents who never felt entirely comfortable leaving their kids on their own in college. Another way your parents can help you is by providing health insurance. Thanks to the Affordable Health Care Act, young adults can stay on their parents’ health care plan until the age of 26.

Some experts say that taking a low-wage job dooms workers to years of economic under-achievement. But with student loans and rent to pay, what choice is there? Once upon a time employers expected workers to stay for a number of years. Now they have scant loyalty toward their employees, and most no longer expect employees to stick around for any length of time. So if you take a job beneath your skills, start looking for something better right away.

One thing to consider: if you can only get low-paying positions, there may be an incentive to take more risks. If I were an employer, I would be more impressed with someone who started a business on eBay or a dot-com than a graduate who toiled at a supermarket. Or for those who have the skills, perhaps consider a job teaching English overseas. These experiences will broaden you and could make you more interesting to employers.

This is an era in which it pays to be entrepreneurial, in everything from starting a business to investing in your skills. If you decide to go to graduate school, though, be realistic about your field of study. Do you really want to have an advanced degree in a field that is shrinking and/or hypercompetitive? Law schools are churning out more graduates than can find work, for example. If you are going back to school to escape the job freeze, aim for something that will get you out of it.

Being a scrappy entrepreneur may be easier these days if you have technical skills. If you lean more toward the humanities, maybe you can team up with your technically savvy friends and work on marketing or content production in a joint venture.

Remember also that you can do well by helping others. Not long ago, if you were planning to be a school teacher, you were seen as noble and giving, willing to give up a lucrative corporate life to serve the greater good. Now, with stable, middle-class jobs harder to come by and harder to keep, the prospect of a tenured job that comes with a pension is very attractive. Of course, this fact has not gone unnoticed and these jobs have gotten much more competitive. Non-profits also present an attractive career option, but the best jobs go to high-achieving students.

Welcome to the real world.