Good Financial Habits from College
Fewer and fewer people in the United States have even $1,000 in their bank accounts. This is a trend that we, as Americans, should do better to reverse.
While some of that comes from a better economic climate, we can also do better to develop habits that put us in a better financial position. College isn’t the first place that many people would look towards to develop better financial habits, considering college students aren’t known for having supple, healthy bank accounts!
However, there truly are some wonderful traits that are typically found in college students that many adults could actually benefit from, and ones that they probably let slip away from them after they graduated from college! Here are some good financial habits we should all retain from college…
Cheap (or free) activities
As we said before, college students typically don’t have a lot of extra money to spend. Between the costs of tuition, books, rent, transportation, and general education expenses, it can be hard to find a leftover buck to see a movie, or spend on other recreational activities.
However, that doesn’t mean that college students don’t have any fun, when they’re not studying!
In college, we all used to be adept at finding activities and keeping ourselves entertained for very cheap, or even nothing at all.
As we graduate and get older, many of us fall into the paradigm where we believe that we need to be spending money to have fun. However, this isn’t something that we have to let happen.
Take more care to find ways to have fun that aren’t draining your bank account, and you’ll find yourself enjoying your financial situation, as well as having less guilt after doing recreational activities.
Young adults are less likely to use a credit card
Credit cards can get people into a lot of trouble. However, a lot of adults have a credit card that they use in certain situations.
While there are plenty of ways to use credit cards in a responsible fashion (here’s a useful article, if you’re looking to find out how), far too many people abuse them in a way that gets them into an uncomfortable amount of debt that continues to build, due to interest. On the other hand, young adults tend to be very distrusting of credit cards and credit card companies.
They’ve witnessed how credit cards affected their parents’ spending patterns, and are far less likely to take on a credit card than other adults.
Spend less on food
A college student in any major will know how to make a buck last to keep themselves fed. While college students might not always have the best eating habits (ramen noodles aren’t exactly nutritious), they can eat for a month on a negligible amount of cash.
This isn’t to say that you should starve yourself or negate a well-balanced diet, but recognize how much extra income you are putting towards food, when you could enjoy a similar meal for far less cash.
Lose the bad financial habits, as well
While this article is meant to look at the positives that can be derived from the financial habits of college students, it’s important to recognize that there are other common patterns of spending among college students that would be best to avoid.
For example, college students tend to binge drink quite a bit, which can be incredibly costly (as well as exceptionally dangerous). The party culture that is prevalent on many college campuses also leads to increased drug usage (driven by an increase of drug use among teens, as explained in this article series).
These factors can cause students to spend what little extra cash they have on activities that are dangerous, physically, mentally, and economically.
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Category: Financial Education
