Handling Finances as a Student
Handling finances is such an important thing in a student's life. Our lives generally revolve around money and having prior knowledge about finances before one starts making it is such a critical step. A research survey by Gutter & Copur about college student and their personal finance study shows how naïve college students are in handling their finances. In their statistical analysis, the research indicates that 58 percent of students do not have a saving plan. 30 percent of them indicate that they were taught nothing by their parents about money. 41 percent did not receive financial education in high school and 43 percent cannot track their spending (Gutter & Copur, 2011).
Financial Mistakes Made by Students
Financial literacy is an important tool in ensuring that student’s lives are in the right course in their effort in becoming the next generation leaders who will handle billions of money. Most students make financial mistakes in their money management plans. Such mistakes include overspending. Most of them, especially the freshmen drain their saving accounts within the first month in college. This is contributed to their failure in creating a spending plan (Leclerc, 2012). Determining wants versus needs is something that most students don't do. Students generally find themselves purchasing what they want over they need. Another common mistake committed is succumbing to peer pressure. Students often find themselves having to choose between doing what their peers are doing and saying no if they have no money to spend on their peer's acts (Sumpter, 2014). Although some students might have excess money to spend, their failure to plan for their money makes the money deplete within a short period of time. It, therefore, calls them to set financial goals to avoid such occurrences.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, most of the college students find themselves having money but lacking the knowledge on how to handle the money resulting in a financial crisis in the course of their studies.
References
Gutter, M., " Copur, Z. (2011). Financial behaviors and financial well-being of college students: Evidence from a national survey. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 32(4), 699-714.
Leclerc, K. (2012). Influential factors contributing to college student spending habits and credit card debt. University of New Hampshire’s Undergraduate Sociology Journal. University of New Hampshire, 149.
Sumpter, S. A. M. A. N. T. H. A. (2014). College students’ spending habits: Survey results. Study Breaks Magazine.
