Students comprise a majority of the population of the youth, and most of them don’t have any work or income. They focus on their studies, and they rely mostly on their parents for money, food, and resources in general. Before stepping out of the classroom and into the real world, these students may have experiences with money despite their young situation. Although their role is to learn and secure knowledge and experience in order to thrive in the real world, some students take it up a notch and actually work at the same time. However, this article isn’t solely for working students or for students who don’t work at all.
Rather, this article aims to talk about what to do with the money students have regardless if they have a stable income or if they get allowances from time to time. Because of that, this will be a general guideline that you could follow (if you’re a student) in order to be financially wise, secure, and knowledgeable at an early age.
Although it depends on their age, some of these students could open up bank accounts. They could already have credit cards registered to a Chase Ink promotion or savings accounts that have been set up by their parents. Whatever the case may be, let’s learn about the different ways a student could handle his or her money in order to be better with it in the future.
Build an emergency savings deposit. Building an emergency fund would be one of the best things you could do with your money when you’re still a student. Such a savings account could actually help you a lot in cases of unexpected events, such as medical emergencies or failure within your system of tools (e.g., cars, houses, etc.).
As young as you are, saving your money for unexpected situations would not only teach you how to be wise with money but also help yourself in cases of emergencies. A general tip is to save at least three months’ worth of living expenses, whether that’s by your standards or your family’s.
Invest in your education. As a student, you could help invest in your education by paying for your own tuition and other school expenses. This type of activity lets you appreciate just how much resources it goes into schooling. Other than the typical brainpower and your presence in classes, there are a whole lot more things that one needs in order to fulfill his or her education.
Moreover, you could also choose to improve your educational situation in the very first place by applying to different things. Joining workshops, seminars, conferences, and other events that would give you new skills and knowledge of a certain area is a big bonus that you shouldn’t pass off. Such opportunities are best tackled at the age where your sole purpose in life is to learn, and your responsibilities revolve around learning.
Save for the future. Other than emergency funds, saving for the future is also a wise thing to do. There’s no such thing as too early to savage for the future. Set aside a small portion of your money that you’re willing to never touch again for a very long time. That way, you’d learn the value of long-term savings, patience with money, and a general wiser insight on handling money. As young as you are, you could actually open a retirement account to further secure your future.
Another way to do this is to open a savings account that has a high-yield opportunity for your money. The thing is, the earlier you put in the work, the more time your money would have to grow through interest. By the time you’ll actually need it, you’d be very financially secure and covered to the gills so that you don’t have to be stressed by debts. Loaning money in times of necessity is what leads people to the debt.