Financial tips for University students

Know your 'Needs' vs 'Wants'

Know your income sources

Make a list of all income sources – Youth Allowance, Scholarship funds, Bank of Mum and Dad, Savings, Casual/part time job. Is it going to cover all your ‘needs’ above? Knowing what income you will receive will help to ensure you can allocate this wisely – have a separate bank account for your ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ and allocate your income to cover the ‘needs’ first.

Travel – Public or private?

If you are considering whether you need your own car while at uni, weigh up all the annual costs v’s public transport – not just the initial outlay for the car itself. Owning car involves paying for fuel, car registration, car insurance, maintenance, parking – this can add up to thousands of dollars each year…that’s a lot of train/bus travel if you live in the city or areas where there is good public transport options. Avoid borrowing money to buy a car! Car’s reduce in value – you will end up paying a lot more for your car when you add interest costs to the above expenses!

Keep track of super

While retirement may seem a lifetime away when you likely haven’t even started your working life, keeping track of your super from the beginning will have enormous impact on your retirement savings over the next 40 years! You have super choice! Make sure if you have multiple jobs or change jobs, you take your super fund with you – all you have to do is provide your employer with a super choice form which will be available on your super fund website. Look for a low cost fund by using comparison website such as www.canstar.com.au or www.moneysmart.gov.au

Plan meals ahead

If you are independent living then shopping for food and meals may be very new to you! A little bit of planning ahead can save $$$$ as you will avoid last minute shopping decisions and also unhealthy choices! If you can cook for yourself, you can pre-plan your weekly menu and buy what you need once a week – cook meals for 4 instead of 1 if you have freezer space so you don’t need to cook as often and you’ll not only save money but time as well.