PF Advice for College Students

[daredeke]

I’ve just about made it through college and am about to start my senior year! I’ve had a fun time at school and still have a good sized chunk of change in the bank, something that makes me think I’ve got this whole money thing down pretty well. I’ve been thinking lately about my money and what led me to do so well with it. I’d have to say it boils down to three "skills" for me, if you can call them that. They are:

• The discipline to save 10% of everything I made for emergencies
• The discipline to give 10% of everything I made to those less fortunate
• Being able to distinguish (most of the time) between wants and needs

With school just about to start back up, I was wondering if anyone else had a take on what top three personal finance skills they would recommend that college students try to master?

[bjl584]

Probably one of the biggest issues that I can think of for college students is the temptation to run up credit card debt while in school.

[moneysma]

I would say to keep living like you are broke. When I was in college, senior year people started to spend money (go into credit card debt) as if they already had a high paying job. The old saying, don't count your chickens before they hatch comes to mind here.

Also, while it's great to save 10%, I would suggest increasing that amount each year by at least 1%. You want to get to a point where saving 25-30% of your income each month is comfortable for you.

[ua_guy]

Live below your means whenever possible. With your first job out of school, it will be tempting to want to buy things and start living life like you've got a good income. Relax, save as much of it as possible. Don't spend like you're automatically going to move up the pay grade.

Giving away money is a personal decision. I've found that giving away talent, labor, or time accomplishes my goals of helping the underserved/unfortunate. Does it add up to a dollar figure? Sometimes. But I can do more with that 10% than just give it away in the form of money.