🎯Keeping your finances in check as a college student

It’s not easy to be savvy financially as a college student. With expenses for tuition, room and board and textbooks adding up, it’s all the more important that you have a sound financial game plan. Not only will it keep you out of the red financially, but it’ll reduce the money stresses that can derail any college experience. Here’s 3 tips to help you stay on track:

🗿Build a rock-solid emergency fund

If you’ve been working all summer and have built up a bit of cash, it’s important to set aside a chunk for the unexpected expenses. I’m not talking about when your college roommate asks if you want in on their 2am Domino’s™ order. Here I’m referencing the uncontrollable large “rock like” expenses like an unexpected auto repair or medical emergency that would otherwise set you back. Keep at least 3 months of expenses in a separate “do not touch unless necessary account” to ensure that they won’t be forced to call your parents for a loan or put an expense on a credit card when the unexpected occurs.

🦅Be hawk-like with tracking your spending

Increased spending awareness is the number one trait to helping you budget better. Set a weekly reminder to review the spending on your debit / credit card. Not only will this ensure fraudulent charges aren’t being placed on your card, but it will also help you to understand your spending habits and review where the money is going. The more informed you are, the better prepared that you’ll be to cut down on unnecessary spending.

📋 Prioritize to get organized

There’s some expenses you can’t eliminate: textbooks, groceries and transportation fall into this bucket. Set aside a monthly allotment each month towards these necessary expenses to ensure that you won’t run short on the essentials each month. What’s left over? That’s the amount that you can allocate towards “fun money” or the discretionary spending throughout the semester. This will ensure that you won’t come to the end of the month surviving on ramen. The result? You'll stress less over your financials so you can spend more time acing your courses!

Have questions on the best ways to stay on track financially while on campus?

CLICK HERE to book a time to chat.

All the best,

Andrew Holmes, Certified College Planning Specialist™

Andrew@PlanWithFPS.com

617-630-4978

Financial Planning Solutions, LLC (FPS) is a Registered Investment Advisor. Financial Planning Solutions, LLC (FPS) provides this blog for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this blog should be considered investment, tax, or legal advice. FPS only renders personalized advice to each client. Information herein includes opinions and source information that is believed to be reliable. However, such information may not be independently verified by FPS. Please see important disclosures link at the bottom of this page.