Personal Finance Tips for Students

Jordan Judge shares advice from his job at Lincoln SDA Credit Union.

I have a passion for personal finance and helping people understand their finances. I have finally had the opportunity to put my passion to work in my job at the Lincoln SDA Credit Union. Here are some insights that I have seen that can help you with your financial future. These are two things that you can do now as a student that will help you later in life.

1. Learn what your credit score is and find ways to raise it.

The biggest thing that you can do right now to set up for your financial future is building your credit score. A good credit score makes a big difference. You will need it for when you are apartment or house shopping after you graduate, or when you need to finance a vehicle. There are ways to get around a bad credit score, but if you make your credit score better it will be much easier. First of all, figure out your credit score. Several different credit bureaus online can give a pretty good estimate of what your credit score is at the moment. Do not check your score too often, that can lower your score. Find a credit bureau that you like, hopefully one that gives you free credit reports. Look at your credit report and the factors that affect it. Payment history and paying debts on time is the biggest factor that you can control. If you can, and if you believe that having a credit card would help you boost your credit score and not get you in debt, I would recommend getting a credit builder credit card. It will have a low available balance, but you can use it to spend money and pay it off each month so you aren’t charged interest. That will help you build credit history. 

2. Make a habitat of saving some from your paycheck.

Tough financial times will happen to everyone. Putting a little bit of money aside will help to cover those true emergency expenses and give you some breathing room until your situation gets better. If you know you have a big semi-annual or annual expense coming up, save extra money for it. Budgeting will be your friend by helping you see how much money you can live on each month and how much you should save. Managing your money will be the biggest financial decision you can make to help yourself.

By: Jordan Judge