Unfortunately, most things that we want in this world cost more money than we would like them to. In addition, you mix in a little inflation and so many purchases that we want to make seem like they will never be affordable for us.
So because of that, it’s no wonder that people (especially teenagers) begin to ask: what’s the point of saving?
The challenge with paying for college is most people view education as an “investment in their future” so they justify going into debt for it.
Unfortunately, this is a bad plan.
You wouldn’t take out a $20,000 loan to invest in the stock market even though it’s an investment in your future. There are a lot of things in the world that would be good investments for your future, but it still doesn’t make sense to go into debt for them.
College is no different.
If you just happened to stumble upon this site, let me point you to a sweet new resource that may help you out.
It’s a new e-book we just released called “How To Go To College For FREE!”
And we figured since we want to teach you to go to college for FREE, you shouldn’t have to pay for the e-book either…so it’s FREE!
You can read the entire e-book online or download your own copy here: http://www.brokepiggy.com/resources-tools/how-to-go-to-college-for-free/
Enjoy!
All week we’ve been looking at what students should do with their money from the time they receive it. We’ve provided tips for handling your paycheck (Part 1), and rules for saving (Part 2), spending (Part 3), and sharing or giving (Part 4).
Today, we’ll wrap up this series by giving you some practical advice for how it all comes together.
So in Part 1, you got a few tips of how to handle your money when you receive a paycheck, but now we get to the main question…what should you do with it from there?
Once you have the money, there are 3 core things you can do with it: Saving, Spending, and Sharing. Let’s break down ’saving’ first…
Great question! Most students receive a paycheck and have no idea what the smart thing is to do with it from there. Thus, most just end up blowing it on stuff they don’t need like more clothes, a McGriddle breakfast every morning, or another iTunes download they’ll only listen to twice.
Before we walk through what you should do with that money once you receive it, here are a few tips to get you started…
Whenever you’re getting a bad return on your money, it’s easy to start looking elsewhere to see if the grass is greener on the other side. Investing in the stock market, CDs, or even real estate all seem like better options than earning a measly half-a-percent in a bank savings account.
But have no fear…there are better options out there. If you need to keep your money liquid (i.e. for your emergency fund), here are some other options to look into…
You’re exactly right that the interest rate you can earn from the average bank in a savings account doesn’t hardly even seem worth it right now. So what are your other options?
CDs (Certificates of Deposit) may give you a little better return, but I don’t think they’re worth it for a few reasons.
Yesterday, we talked about the 529 Plan for college savings. But there is another option out there that may also be appealing called an ESA or Education Savings Account.
Like the 529, the ESA is a college savings account. There are plenty of similarities but also plenty of differences, so let’s outline a few of those…
You may have heard about this thing called a “529 Plan” as it relates to saving for college. But what is it? Is it for you or your parents? Do you need one?
A 529 Plan is basically an educational savings account similar to what a 401(k) or IRA is for retirement.
There are several variations of 529 plans depending on what state you live in but the two mains concepts are prepaid or savings.