For the LOVE of $$$

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Love is in the air today! Students these days love many things…Ipods, movies, their friends, sleeping…but one thing I have noticed students absolutely LOVE is $Money$. Money can get us places and give us the freedom to buy what we want and enjoy ourselves from time to time. High School students access funds from a variety of places. Parents and sometimes siblings are good for a few dollars while it seems that odd jobs like mowing lawns, baby sitting, or even regular part time jobs are more common because students hate asking for cash from the rents. The fact is also with recent family budget cuts, parents are becoming more and more likely to not be able to fork over any dough.

Students who have any amount of money, no matter where it is accessed from, have the tendency once they have any amount of it to SPEND it. I get it. I know the feeling of the green burning a hole in my pocket. Its so tempting to buy that new video game everyone has been raving about, or download a few extra songs for my MP3 player (gotta stay in the loop). Its hard to say no to friends who want to hit up fast food at lunch or go see a new movie every weekend. And with the way clothes move in and out of style, buying a new pair of jeans to look “in” is at the top of some student’s list of needs. What students do not realize however is that the amount of money they spend in High School on little stuff weekly to keep in the loop and feel good adds up fast and leads to forming bad financial habits later in life.  If a student spends $5 dollars a day at lunch with friends, $15 dollars a week on activities, and $100 dollars a month on clothes or shoes or electronic goodies they will spend in a years time over $3,000. AMAZING what just lunch with peeps everyday can add up to.

STUDENTS…What if all that play money was SAVED instead of SPENT?

If over the four years of high school a student brought lunch to school, did fun and FREE activities with friends on the weekends, and got by with the clothes, video games, and other fun stuff they already have, students could save as much as $12,000!!! They could save it and use it for something more important than the newest DVD or pair of kicks, like, oh I don’t know…college?

 Learning to save and make due with what one has is an incredibly useful life skill to master. It makes students financially savvy and prepares them to make smarter financial decisions. Credit cards and other debt issues tend not to arise with students who know the value of spending only the money they have. Self-control and saving for a priority like college gives students a sense of pride and accomplishment and the ability to move towards independence. If a student can add funds saved from the petty spending they have avoided to the financial aid (scholarships, grants, loans etc.) they have for college, a student will have more money overall in college and dodge the health risks associated with college students and stress due to financial strain…and the more money and scholarships a student has the less likely they are to have loans when they graduate.

...In the end we all know, MONEY can’t buy you LOVE….but it will help pay for college.

For more info on financial wellness and tips for success visit: http://www.360financialliteracy.org/Life-Stages/College-Students

http://www.360financialliteracy.org/Topics/Paying-for-Education/Saving-for-College

Love and Cheers,

~Liz Rader

WyCAC Advisor

Evanston High School

erader@uwyo.edu