Financial Independence

Welcome to my college financial independence journey. I decided since I couldn’t breakthrough my writers block; I would share my progress on the tips I have learnt so far in handling my finances. Personal finance is one of my favorite things to talk about and if you were to talk to me I could go on and on and on.  

 

I am a shopaholic by heart, so saving was a struggle for me. My achilles heel would be sales/clearances/promos/discounts, whatever you want to call it. There is just something about the red tag and markdowns that allow me to justify the purchase.  A quote I now try to live by is ‘little drops of water make the mighty ocean’. I used to pick several markdown items only to get to the counter and realize how much they all add up. As I said earlier, once they were all marked down, I would give in and purchase them. I realized that whatever I was saving would eventually end up leaving my account one way or another. I solved this problem through opening a separate savings account and starting a budget. By budget, I don’t mean setting a $300 quota and staying within the amount. I wrote all my expenses down and allocated a part of the budget to categories. One major category I made for myself was a discretionary spending category to help curb my shopping addiction.

 

Credit cards could be the worst mistake you make if you are not a financially responsible person. They allow a person to earn build credit on a scale 300 to 850, with 300 being the lowest and 850 being an excellent score. One of the reasons I personally prefer credit cards besides building credit is the heightened fraud protection and the cash back it offers. However, don’t let the cash back entice you. 2-3% would not be enough to pay off the 100% you borrowed. One key lesson I learnt about credit cards are that the interests charged easily build up and once you don’t keep up with payments or continuously pay the minimum whilst spending more; you could end up drowning in credit card debt. I remember watching a video in class about credit card debt and the silence that followed after the video. (If you’re interested here’s the link for the video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz05A6cP6Iw. ) The moral of the video was simple for me I would only spend what I could pay back in order to avoid accumulating interest and prolonging my payments.

 

If you want a gen ed that would help you gain financial freedom, I recommend RCSC 150B2 Money, Consumers & The Family class. There is so much I learnt from the class that a 500-word blog won’t cover. However, if a class like that is not your cup of tea, I recommend reading personal finance books, blogs or podcasts. Knowledge is power and as Alan Greenspan said, “The number one problem in today’s generation and economy is the lack of financial literacy.”

The ball is in your court to achieve financial literacy. Till next time!