Most college students are in their early twenties, making them very inexperienced when it comes to finances.
Unfortunately, this lack of experience can lead to some common money mistakes that can have a lasting impact on their financial future.
In this post, we’ll take a look at nine of the most common money mistakes made by college students, and we’ll provide some tips for avoiding them.
30 Seconds Summary
1. Not Establishing Credit
One of the biggest mistakes that college students make is not establishing credit. Many college graduates (and even some high school students) are offered credit cards, but they don’t feel like they need them or can afford them.
The problem is that it’s almost impossible to rent an apartment, buy a car, take out a loan or even get a job without having some kind of credit history.
So, even if you don’t think that you need credit right now, it’s not something to avoid until later in life.
2. Failing to Budget
Another common mistake that college students make is failing to budget. It’s easy for young adults to spend every dollar they earn since most of them are just out of school and haven’t acquired many responsibilities yet.
Unfortunately, this lack of financial discipline can cause big problems down the road, so college students need to develop the habit of budgeting as early as possible.
3. Being Unprepared for Emergencies
Emergencies happen, even to college students. Unfortunately, many young adults are unprepared to handle emergencies because they don’t have any emergency funds set aside.
That’s why it’s important for students to start working on an emergency fund as soon as possible.
4. Not Prioritizing Debt Reduction
Debt is a major problem for many college students. Unfortunately, they often don’t take the necessary steps to reduce their debt as soon as possible.
Instead, they try to ignore it and hope that it will magically disappear by itself. That’s why it’s important for college students to prioritize reducing their debts, especially credit card debt.
5. Not Saving Enough for Retirement
Retirement is a long way off for most college students and young adults. Unfortunately, many of them don’t start saving for retirement until much later in life.
College students should try to contribute as much as possible to their employer-sponsored retirement plan and they should also take advantage of any available matching contribution programs.
If they don’t have any idea where to invest or how to save money for retirement then they can choose Mutual Fund and start investing on a monthly SIP basis. Groww is one of India’s leading platforms for investing in mutual funds. One can start from ₹500 rupees as monthly SIP.
6. Focusing on Saving Money Instead of Earning Money
Many college students focus on trying to save money by cutting back on expenses, but they forget that the best way to achieve financial security is by increasing their earnings.
Earning more money can help young adults pay down debt, build an emergency fund, and save for other goals like retirement or buying a house.
7. Not Living Within Their Means
Many college students try to live like they’re already grown up while they’re still in school.
Unfortunately, this often involves trying to keep up with their friends and peers by buying expensive clothes, cars, and other unnecessary items.
Living within your means requires discipline and self-control, but it can help college students avoid money problems in the future.
8. Being Afraid of Investing
Investing can seem like a scary and confusing task, especially for college students who don’t have any prior experience. But the truth is that it doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming.
If you start investing early on, you’ll be able to take advantage of compound interest and your money will grow at a faster rate over time.
9. Not Understanding the Consequences of Defaulting on a Loan
It can be tempting to skip out on paying your student loan, but there are serious consequences that you need to know about before you decide to just stop making payments.
Defaulting on a student loan will result in damaged credit, wage garnishment, and tax refund seizure among other things, so it’s important to always pay your student loans on time.
So, these are some of the most typical financial mistakes made by college students. Most of these money problems are preventable, especially if young adults start working on them while they’re still in school.
Here are some easy ways to avoid making the common money mistakes that college students often make.
(i) Developing the Habit of Following a Budget
If you want to avoid common money problems like not having enough money for emergencies and living beyond your means, the best thing you can do is to develop the habit of following a budget.
As soon as you get your first paycheck, make it a priority to sit down and come up with a realistic weekly, monthly, and yearly budget.
(ii) Creating an Emergency Fund
Creating a savings account that you can use for emergencies is a great way to avoid money problems. The sooner you start saving, the better.
If you’re trying to avoid common money problems like not having enough money for emergencies and living beyond your means, it’s important to build an emergency fund as soon as possible.
(iii) Avoiding Debt
Credit cards can be a great tool if you use them the right way, but they can also be a source of major problems if you let them get out of control.
For college students, credit cards are often the root cause of money problems like high-interest rates, monthly payments, and debt.
So unless you want to end up with a mountain of debt, it’s best to avoid using credit cards altogether or at least use them sparingly.
(iv) Prioritizing Retirement Savings
If you start investing early on, you’ll be able to take advantage of compound interest and your money will grow at a faster rate over time. This is why it’s so important for college students to prioritize retirement savings instead of spending all their extra income.
(v) Ensuring You Have Adequate Health Insurance
Health care costs are rising, which means health insurance premiums can take a big chunk out of your income. If you don’t have health insurance, make getting it a priority.
(vi) Understanding the Risks of Investing in Stocks
the stock market is a great way to grow your wealth, but it’s also important to realize that there are risks involved. Not understanding these risks can lead to some serious money problems including not being able to retire when you want.
(vii) Avoiding Keeping All Your Money in One Place
It’s important to diversify your savings, which means you should never keep all of your money in one place.
Spread out your money by investing in multiple assets, which will reduce your risk of losing everything in an economic downturn.
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Thanks for reading till this point. Hope you understand that as a college student what you need to do & what don’t. You can view related articles like this in Finance Section. Have a great day!!