New Book: Older Generation Offers Life Advice To College Grads

NEW YORK (MainStreet) – Travel, don't work for money, make the most of a bad job. 

These are some of the life recommendations older Americans have for young Americans. What's the most important piece of advice? Get excited, because life goes by fast.

This month, college graduates will don their sheepskins and accept their diplomas in something of an anxious state.

Unemployment is rampant, with younger workers bearing the brunt of the jobless burden.

CNN reported that 86 million Americans were seeking work last year, but couldn’t find a job.

Of those, 20% -- about 17 million – were younger Americans aged 16-24.  And a study from Georgetown University reports that the jobless rate for recent college graduates with Bachelor’s Degrees “has been running at an unacceptable 8.9 percent.”

Furthermore, grads are hitting the job market with a huge albatross on their backs – huge student loan debt. 

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the average student loan debt is $23,000 this year, with a total of $870 billion amassed in such debt among 37 million student loan borrowers. Already, 27% of newly-minted college graduates are already delinquent on their student loan debt, the Federal Reserve reports.

All is not lost for college graduates. A new book out offers some sage advice from elderly Americans that might help take the sting out of a sour economy and groaning student loan debt.

The book, entitled 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans, was penned by Cornell University human development professor Karl Pillemer.