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Photo Credit: Eldar 

 Are you an average college student? I was curious to see what the statistics are for U.S. college students. It doesn’t look great:

Average College Student graduates with:

• Over $3000 in credit card debt
• Over $19000 in student loans

Don’t be average! That’s $22000 in debt before graduation. While you can get federal student loans at lower rates, you’re still stuck with the monthly payments for around 10years!

How can you minimize these two burdens? It takes a plan, time, and self-discipline. Here are some ideas from the around the web:

Start a Budget!

            Find a system that works for you.

• Zero based budget
• Envelopes
• Guideline Budget
• Trial and Error
• Software (Quicken, Money, Mint, etc)
• List of budgeting tools

Build an Emergency Fund:

            This fund is to protect you against Murphy’s Law and dipping into/deeper into debt. Be ready for when bad things happen.

• If you’re a fulltime college student, consider getting a $500 emergency fund as a cushion.
• If you have a family, try to save $1000 for your emergency fund.
• Once you eliminated your debt, come back and build a cushion of 3-6 months of expenses.

Eliminate High Interest Debt:

• Prioritize your debts: Find a way that works for you and eliminate your debts.        
• Call the debt collectors and negotiate a payment plan.
• Take a part-time job and dedicate that money toward paying off debt. Perhaps using your summer semester time and working full-time.
• Create a debt elimination plan. Motivation is the key here, so use something that will keep on you on this program until your debt is eliminated.

Find Untapped Scholarships:

• Use Fast Web: I used this to find may unnoticed scholarships. It takes 20-30 minutes to set up. You’ll receive emails on some scholarships that fit your profile and interests.
• Check out Ramit’s Guide: Here’s a guide that can help you find many scholarships that go unnoticed.
• Free Money Finance has some scholarship and financial aid advice as well.
• Find some money by looking ways to minimize your (or your parents’) taxes.

Give/ Volunteer to a Worthy Cause

• If you can, donate (money, gently used items, time, etc) to something special to your heart.

I organized some tips together in an ever growing series called Rich College Student (It’s not the most creative name). It’s a list of topics that can help you graduate in style.

Rich College Student Series:

• Getting the Most Financial Aid
•  Keeping a Budget
•  Saving on Your Grocery Bill 
•  10 Tips to Save You Hundreds of Dollars 
•  Emergency Fund 101 

I noticed a lot of new visitors this week, so I wanted to say thanks for coming! I organized some of my best posts for you to poke around.

Here’s a quick guide to get started:

Banking

• Reduce and Eliminate ATM Fees
• Another Reason Why I Hate Bank of America
• Make Banks Treat You Like The Valued Customer You Are
• Bank of America Raises ATM Fees

Budget & Savings

• Emergency Fund 101
• His, Mine, and Ours: How We Pay Our Bills and Budget
• Eat Healthier & Save Money: Brownbag Your Lunch
• Build a Doable Budget in 2 Weeks
• Easy Ways to Get an Emergency Fund Started

Credit Cards

• I Got a Lower Rate on the Credit Card I Use
• Rich College Student: Understand Your Credit Cards
• Top 5 Credit Card Mistakes

Debt

• 5 Ways to Get Out of Debt
• Pay Off Debt First or Start Savings (Chicken or the Egg)

Education

• Getting The Most Financial Aid
• CLEP Can Reduce Your Student Loans
• Which Foreign Language Should I Learn?

Life

• What’s in My Wallet?
• How to Avoid Arguing About Money
• 3 Ways To Wisely Spend Your Bonus
• Family and Finances

Please feel free to sign up to get updates through your email. It’s fast and easy.  Thanks again for coming!

Photo Credit:  Sister72

Last night’s Super Bowl was a nail biter for us. I thought it was a wonderful game, better than some recent Super Bowls. The game reminded me a bit about personal finance. (First it was fries and now it’s foot ball. I know, I have issues.)Don’t wait until you know everything about finances to start. Learn a little and then start working on improving it. Here’s the essence of personal finance problems that many people encounter.

• If you’re in debt, find out how bad it is. Are you $500 in debt or $5000? The amount determines your basic game plan. Try to come up idea to raise money to eliminate debt.
• If you’re low on savings, start an emergency fund.  Set aside $500 aside for when bad things happen, because they do.
• If you don’t your retirement fund started, then get started today. Put something away consistently every paycheck. Even if it’s $50/month at first, sock some money away for your future.
• If you want to maximize your finances, read as much as you can about your options. If you still want more help, contact a fee-based personal finance advisor.

Personal finance can be as complicated as you want or it can be as easy as automating your savings, bill pay, and retirement. I’m not an expert, but if I waited until I knew everything, then I’ll hurt myself even more.

I’m not advocating throwing your money away at a get rich quick scheme. Stick with the basics like, spend less then you earn. It’ll put you in a better financial position than many of your classmates, co-workers, and neighbors. Perfection is the enemy of good.