Students are that category of people who always have an income-expense mismatch. Their expenses are most of times more than their incomes as a result of which they end up borrowing money from their friends/family at the end of the month.
As students most of the times have an income-expense mismatch, money management for students becomes very important. Moreover, it is at this age that students learn the art of money management.
If you can’t manage small amounts of money at this age, how will you manage your money when you have big fat pay-checks or when you are the founder of your own start-up?
In this article, I would be highlighting some of the most important ways through which students can manage their money better.
Money Management Tips for Students
Here are the Top 10 Money Management Tips for Students which will help them minimise their expenses and live a financially happy life:-
- Create a Budget
Budgeting is the process of estimating in advance the expenses which are expected to be incurred in future. It entails preparing in detail, how much expense is expected in future. It is highly advisable for students to prepare a category wise budget like Food Budget, Telephone Budget, Travel Budget etc.
- Keep a track of all your Expenses
It is very important for any person to know where the money is coming from and where it is going. Keeping a track of your expenses will help you identify your over-spend and wasteful spend areas. Once your over spend and wasteful spend areas have been identified – you should try reducing them.
You may maintain an expense sheet on Pen and Paper or on Excel. If you have a smart-phone you can also use various Money Management Apps to create budgets and keep a track of your expenses.
- Keep a track of amount lent/ borrowed from Friends
Lending/ Borrowing is very common among students. Many a times, it happens that a student has borrowed money from a friend and when that friend asks for that money back – we don’t have money to give it back to him.
So keep a track of your liabilities and keep adequate provisions to pay them back. Always separate your Income/Pocket Money from the amount that you have borrowed from friends as you don’t have to give back your pocket money but you always have to give back the amount you have borrowed from Friends.
- Separate wants from Needs
You should classify all your expenses into expenses on necessities and expenses on luxuries. The necessity expenses have to be incurred in any case but the luxury expenses can be deferred depending on your cash position.
- Resist Peer Pressure
A lot of spending nowadays is happening because of peer-pressure. Most of the people are buying phones, phone accessories, gaming tools not because they need it but because all their friends have it.
It is very important for students living on a fixed low budget to resist such peer pressure which will help them save out on a lot of cash.
- Try to buy Books, Stationary etc in Bulk
Books, Stationary etc form a major expense for Students. This can be very easily minimised if the students buy books in bulk.
All the store-owners give a discount if the Books are bought in bulk. As most buy books at the same time, it is better to buy them in bulk rather than buying them individually.
- Look for Discounts Online
The product sold online on e-commerce sites are most of the times cheaper than the products sold in stores. This is because most the physical stores have to pay a hefty rent for land which is not there for e-commerce stores.
As the cost for operating an e-commerce store are much lesser as compared to a physical store, the products sold on an e-commerce store are most of the times cheaper than physical stores.
- Take advantage of Student Discounts
Many outlets like Starbucks, Dominoes, Apple etc offer additional discounts for Students. Money saved is money earned and students should try to make the maximum of such offers. Keep you student i-card handy as these stores will ask for your student identity card.
- Make Investments on yourself
The Investments that yield the maximum returns are not the investments which you make on others but the investments that you make on yourself.
Making Investments on yourself basically refers to taking a soft skills course, or a Course on Improving your Presentation Skills or attending some seminar or conference. These investments may not give instant returns but will help you get better salary pay packages and more clients for your own start-up.
- Learn about Investment Opportunities
After making all your expenses and investments on yourself – if you still have some money left – don’t keep it idle. Start investing it somewhere which will not only yield you good returns but also help you understand about various investment products.