Skip to main content

Tag: investing

7 Best Tips to Become Richer in College

Written by Gavin Smith on . Posted in information. No Comments on 7 Best Tips to Become Richer in College

Why did you click on this blog? To become rich. To gain status, fame, or something else. Or maybe you are interested. Interested in whether I know something you don’t. Well, the only way to answer that question for yourself, is to continue reading.

Money and finance are interesting. We don’t get taught about it enough in school. In school, we are told we need to learn a skill, have the knowledge, and then work for a company that will pay us to do a thing, that uses the skills we’ve acquired to make them even more money. 

We never learn how to sell, how to invest, or simple financial skills that barely are to do with math and more to do with people. The culmination of all of this is, how we create value for people. Creating value for a customer means you can sell this value to them in return for, you guessed it, MONEY. 

In this article, I will be listing and explaining the top 7 ways to become richer in your 20s in college. 

  1. Invest, Invest, Invest

In today’s world, everyone is focused on instant gratification. There is seldom emphasis on the long, arduous journey of trials and tribulations to achieve success. Investing is exactly like this. By putting away a certain percentage of your income into an investment that will accrue interest and start to grow exponentially over time. 

The difficult thing about this route is that you must accept that you might not see any improvements for the first few years. If you stay the course and do the daily habits, you will see it grow and compound. Investing takes a lot of faith and trust in yourself. Learning how to trust long-term growth is very important to learn at a young age. 

2. Pay yourself first

Take out a percentage of every check you get and put it into a savings account then invest money from that savings account into whatever you like. You want to invest in things that have a higher interest rate compared to the rate of inflation. Most people receive their paycheck every month and go straight to paying their bills and fulfilling all their desires by purchasing expensive items and meals. I suggest when you get that paycheck, before you pay for any bills you take out 10% of the payment and put it straight into an index fund. You are putting this money into a fund that will give you a return on investment over time. Remember to always pay yourself first. 

3. Create good money habits

This involves budgeting, projecting and measuring what you spend. What gets measured gets managed. This method is very important to what you do. If you have a good eye on your expenses and income you will be able to build wealth. It’s very simple. Keep your income higher than your expenses every month and you will get wealthier. If you don’t believe me. Try it for yourself. 

4. Increase your earning potential 

Go and get a second job and earn more money. Your time is very valuable. Getting another job will increase your income. You may have to sacrifice a few pleasures to work more but the skills and values you learn by working harder will make you a better investor in the long term. If you do choose to work more hours, I suggest you be very smart with how you allocate your income from the extra jobs. Make sure that you start with the end in mind. Use the extra income and invest it so that you eventually can quit that job and work fewer hours and put more time into the things that you love. 

5. Start a side hustle 

Start a side hustle where you can make money right off the bat and learn to sell. Many people get caught up in trying to do things that other people have suggested on the internet or perfect agency models. The truth is that you are probably a beginner and don’t have many skills so I would suggest that you just buy something and try to sell it at a higher price. By doing this you will learn about what people want, how to sell and how to listen. Just go and do it, don’t wait. 

6. Invest in Self-education 

Learning more soft skills on YouTube is sometimes even more important than the knowledge you learn from college. This is the most important investment you can make. Invest in yourself first. By learning new skills in your own time, you will understand that you can use these skills to increase your earning potential either by starting your own business or becoming a part of a big corporation. 

7. Set Goals and be disciplined

If you have a goal, then you will have something to work towards and these slow and methodical improvements towards your goal will bring you a lot of joy and happiness. To achieve these goals, you must be disciplined and stick to your habits. A lot of the time having a disciplined approach to your life and your success will expand into all areas of your life. 

Most of the work to gain wealth is just fixing up and working on all your bad habits in your life. For example, if you start working out every day and improving your fitness this will reverberate through other parts of your life and you will hold yourself to a higher standard. 

Stay the course, you will achieve what you set out to do. 

5 Best Budgeting Tips for University Students in 2023

Written by Gavin Smith on . Posted in information. No Comments on 5 Best Budgeting Tips for University Students in 2023

*We may make commission promoting products on this page*

Budgeting in university can be a daunting task to embark upon. Many students I have met can’t face looking at their expenses from the previous month, let alone budget for the future. Budgeting may seem like a waste of time because most of your friends aren’t doing it. Of course, being oblivious to your spending is more comfortable in the short term. 

The truth of the matter is that what gets measured gets managed. Taking the time in your week to sit back and analyse your expenses will give you the information needed to make better money decisions in the following weeks, and this will extrapolate to the rest of your life.

Here are some tips on budgeting to help you.

Contents

  1. You spend more than you think. You should budget more money than you expect. 
  2. Track everything. 
  3. Start by tracking your expenses for a month and then use that shell to make a budget.
  4. Use a budgeting app.
  5. Pre-emptively budget the nights out, instead of looking at the damage the following day.

1. You spend more than you think. You should budget more money than you expect. 

In my experience, most people I have met highly underestimate how much they spend a month. People don’t understand how much things add up over time. It is important to put this expectation into your budget.

I believe you should do so that you can feel free to spend money on all the exciting and unexpected things that happen in your life. Like the spontaneous meal or sports game that you went to. Instead of cursing at the extra expense, you can have confidence that you can afford these exciting adventures.

2. Track everything.

Make sure there is a section for everything. Get more specific. All your categories should be visible and not just amass together.

By singling out each one of your subscriptions and monthly payments. Such as rent and utilities, it will make for a much easier time to see all the cracks and inefficiencies. I have implemented this in my own life, and it really does show all the good and the bad. I would highly suggest writing down everything in a notebook, excel spreadsheet or a budgeting app. This will make you more aware in the short term and help you down the road. 

3. Start by tracking your expenses for a month and then use that shell to make a budget.

If you start by tracking your expenses, then you don’t set unreasonable expectations for yourself. My first advice would be to go through a month where you either spend as predicted or completely overspend. This will give you a better idea of how much you are spending. 

It’s easy to look at the end of the month figure as big as it is, but it may be more difficult to analyse what you spent where. By doing that you will see even more gaps and then be able to create a realistic budget for yourself the next month. The goal is not to cut your expenses in half the next month. You want to gradually see things that can be avoided and start to see your monthly expenses decrease each month until you can get to a figure you can manage. 

4. Use a budgeting app.

A budgeting app automates your expenses into different categories. You would have had to do it manually on Excel otherwise. You can get a more in-depth overview of what you spend on different items, and we can make better money decisions. Great budgeting apps include Mint or Emma. They show your income versus expenses every month in a user-friendly format. There are goals that you can achieve if you stick to your budget. 

I often hear about young adults thinking about tracking their money as a chore as it’s not very flashy and cool. These apps liven up the experience. You are trying to allow our money to make more money by investing in yourselves for the future. The first way to get there is to reduce expenses, save the extra cash and then put it towards assets that you know will give you an ROI (Return on investment). 

5. Pre-emptively budget the nights out, instead of looking at the damage the following day.

This is one of the craziest things. As young adults, we know how expensive alcohol and nights out can be, but we hate to admit it. How many times have you woken up from a night out, checking your bank balance with anxiety to see that you spent too much on overpriced drinks? We’ve all fallen into this trap. And there is an element of fun when going out and being carefree, not when it affects your money.

 My recommendation for this one is to go out with an over-estimated expectation of how much you will spend. If you think it will be £50 then budget £70. Doing this it takes the pressure off your shoulders, and you know you have worked for this enjoyment and time away from the grind. You know you have the money to spend, and you probably won’t even hit your limit. On the contrary, if you go into it anxious about spending too much you will have a terrible night either being careless or closed off to new experiences. We must budget in our good times. 

Good times with our friends cost money and we don’t want to be oblivious to that. Understanding the value of the money we make when we are young is the first step to financial freedom.

Conclusion

This is all very new to you. Budgeting and tracking your income and expenses can seem like a daunting task. I encourage you to look at it in a new light with the hope that you will take control of your financial life and have time to do everything you want. Setting the foundations in this early phase of life is new and exciting. I know you will reap the rewards in the future. Happy investing!