Personal Finances | John J. Bowman Jr

September 15, 2019

Personal Finance for College Students

You’re finally living on your own, attending classes and joining new clubs and organizations. In college, it’s easy to overlook personal finance when focusing on your studies, but proper money management is vital for a successful future. If you’re new to college and money management, here is some personal finance advice.

Consider Your Credit

Swiping a card is convenient, but that money has to come from somewhere. If you’ve fallen victim to overspending on your card, try to set up a system to evaluate your spending habits. Perhaps you could limit card spending and use more cash. Or, perhaps you need to change your card limit to dissuade yourself from making unnecessary purchases. In addition, you should keep track of when your credit card payments are due—missing those payments can harm your credit score, which can be difficult to improve later down the line.

Search For Perks

Many colleges and surrounding businesses offer benefits to students. From dining halls to student discounts, you’re bound to find ways to save money. For instance, shops close to your school may offer student discounts, allowing you to pay a set percentage less for meals and clothes. In the same vein, your school may offer textbook rentals as opposed to purchases, which can save money. Or, if you can find those books online at Amazon or from other e-commerce sites, you may be able to save bundles.

Build a Budget

Understanding and implementing a budget can have positive long-term effects. If you’ve struggled with overspending or other money-related issues, budgeting can be a huge benefit. Calculate the amount of income you’ll make in a given month, including rates for on-campus jobs, and figure out your expenses. You’ll want to save a percentage of that income and avoid going over it. The sooner you establish a budget and learn to stick to it, the sooner you’ll save money and build your personal finances.

Find a Job

Colleges often have part-time jobs available for even the busiest of students. From cooking in the dining hall to operating an office desk to providing prospective students with campus tours, student jobs abound in academia. Taking on a job for just a few hours each week can help you better understand time management while generating income. If you want to earn academic credit while you work, internships and work-studies can be a great use of your time. Plus, any campus job is a terrific resume-builder for your post-grad job search.

July 22, 2019

Why You’re Overspending (And How to Stop)

Compare your monthly income with your monthly spending. Do you notice a glaring discrepancy? Are your earnings in the red? Can’t figure out how you spent hundreds on groceries? You aren’t alone. Overspending is easy to do, and purchases can accumulate in the blink of an eye. Here are some reasons why you’re overspending and advice on how to stop.

You’ve fallen into a bad habit

Do you buy lunch at the deli down the street every day? This is just one example of a bad spending habit. It may be comfortable and convenient to make a daily or weekly purchase, but ten dollars per day, five days a week, four weeks a month equals $200 each month just for lunch.

The best way to remedy a bad spending habit is to ease yourself out of the habit. For the lunch example, try packing a meal most days each week, and only go out once a week or so as a special treat. You don’t have to quit anything cold-turkey, and easing yourself towards a better spending habit might inspire you to be more mindful of what you buy.

You ignore automatic payments

This one is easy to notice, especially if you subscribe to magazines and newspapers that clog your mailbox. Still, with the rise of streaming services and other digital subscriptions, you may not be keeping track of all the services you subscribe to. It’s easy to let automatic monthly payments slip through the cracks, but those payments are also an easy way to lose money.

Each month, carefully study your credit card statement. Write down the names of subscriptions you used during the month, whether that means watching a movie on Netflix or flipping through a copy of Sports Illustrated. Next to that list, write down the subscriptions you didn’t use. Unsubscribe from the ones that you didn’t touch. You’d be surprised how much money you can save annually just by paring down your subscriptions.

You haven’t disciplined your spending habits

It’s hard to find someone who hasn’t disciplined their spending habits. Whether you fall victim to impulse buys at the checkout line or fill your gas tank before it hits the halfway mark, everyone has a spending vice.

No two people have the same income, interests, and habits, which can make disciplining your spending habits difficult. The key is to figure out what you’re buying and why you’re buying it. It helps to break purchases up into categories, such as “loans,” “food,” and “entertainment.” Not only will this show how much you’re spending, but it will also reveal what exactly you’re spending your money on.

October 17, 2017

Top Couponing Tips to Help Save Money

When it comes to saving budgeting and personal finance, one of the first things people think of is groceries. If you’re in a household with a spouse and kids, a monthly grocery bill can be quite expensive. On top of other bills that need to be paid, you want to find ways where you can cut back on certain things. Couponing is a great way to help you make ends meet. Here are some tips to help you in your couponing efforts.

Look for specific coupons from your local store. You can get on a subscriber list and they and post weekly deals. This is a good way to get updates and even download online coupons for the register to scan during your checkout. See if you can get a loyalty card to save even more money. This will really help with the budgeting process.

Make sure that you check the mail for deals. Some stores still do things the old school way and give you printouts of sale items. Carry this with you so you can scan the barcode and get good discounts off select items. Check any newspapers or coupon books during the week to take advantage of any deals.

Always keep in mind that coupons have an expiration date. Certain discounts may only apply for a week. Other discounts last a year. It’s important that you mark these dates down so that you don’t end up losing on a good discount that helps you with your personal finance.

These are a few tips to make couponing more successful. This helps you save more and spend less to increase your quality of life.

August 5, 2016

How To: Setting Financial Goals

In order to attain a desired financial security and status, there is a great deal of planning that goes into it. This is where detailed financial goals come in. Goals allow you to set realistic end points and then develop an action plan to achieve them. Before you go setting goals there are a few things you need to consider. The steps below take you through the steps of how to create realistic financial goals that you can achieve both now and in the future.

Set Guidelines

Guidelines are the first step of setting your financial goals. Guidelines will keep you accountable, but also keep you from putting things out of your reach. There are a few parameters you will want to keep in mind.

First, be specific. Vague goals only muddle the process and will distract you.

Then, you will need to make sure the goals you set are measurable. If there is nothing to gauge your success of off, how will you know when you’ve gotten there?

Be honest with yourself. Set goals that are attainable. Lofty goals are great, but a lofty goal should still be possible with enough tenacity and planning.

Finally, have time constraints. If you do not set a deadline, nothing will get done. It’s in our nature to work harder for goals that have a reasonable, concrete deadline.

Identify Financial Goals

Now that you have guidelines in place, it’s time to think about what your goals actually are. What do you want to achieve? When identifying goals, ask yourself the tough questions about your finance to see where improvements can be made.

Here’s a few things to get your wheels turning:

How much would you need to save to stop working?
Are you happy with your spending habits or could you make a change?
Do you want to retire early? If so, what will you be comfortable living off of per year?

Once you have given your financial situation proper attention, it’s time to come up with goals. Your goals should range from short term to long term. Some goals should piggyback off each other. They will make a road map on your way one ultimate financial philosophy. For most people, this means financial independance.

Long Term vs. Short Term

Once you have a list of defined goals, you’ll need to label them long term goals or short term goals. Short term goals should be things you can achieve in a year. They will often be the stepping stones for long term goals. You will never be able to declare you’re debt free without paying off things like credit card debt.

Prioritize

Now that you have made a distinction between the goals that are more urgent than the others, we need to take it a step farther. Prioritize the short term goals in order of the most urgent and possibly damaging. If you have many credit cards that are maxed out, they are a financial burden and also detrimental to your credit score. Something of this nature will certainly be put at the top of the list.

Similarly, you will want to prioritize long term goals. If you have a goal that is going to take more aggressive measure of saving or investing to achieve, then this will be your top priority. Labeling each goals in an order of importance, will provide you will clarity and direction to achieve your goals.

Periodically Evaluate

Goals are set with the purpose of signaling when your hard work has paid off. Periodically check in on the progress you are making on your goals. If you are ahead of where you thought you would be – great! If you are behind, you now have the chance to work harder or reevaluate your situation. No matter what, it’s imperative to know where you are and how far you have to go.

John J. Bowman Jr

Tag: Personal Finances (page 2 of 2)