Money Moves 101

On Halloween night in Park 279, WIC’s weekly meeting appropriately centered on the scariest subject possible to college students -- budgeting.

Money and budgeting are heavy and heart-racing topics for most people; and for college students, who are infamously bad with the small amount of money many of us do have, are certainly no exception. However, have no fear -- because the WIC e-board members have all been there, and they’re here to offer some helpful advice.

The presentation given by the e-board was categorized into eight sections of money-related issues that college students may run into: How to budget, Saving money, Budgeting for travel & events, Planning for a Semester abroad/away, Planning for a Summer in the City, Determining how much you SHOULD be saving, Budgeting Apps, and lastly, Post-grad Planning.

Here are the highlights from each section:

Introduction / How to Budget

VP & Programming Chair Natalie Newman started the presentation by giving some general tips and tricks to starting a budget while in school. Here’s what she suggested:

* Determine what your consistent expenses are:

* Everyone’s should include: Food, rent, transportation (gas, uber, train, bus,) etc.

* Then determine what your personal expenses are:

* Do you see movies a lot? Consider that!

* Natalie spends a lot on sour patch kids in particular, what are your splurges?

* Organize all of this in a format of your choosing

* Natalie uses Google Spreadsheet, but there are plenty of budgeting options out there!

Saving Money

Social Media Chair Sam Butlien went on to give some tips on how you can start saving money now depending on your personal circumstances:

* Make a short-term goal for yourself:

* Set aside either $10 or $20 every week or month depending on your personal income.

* Use the 24-hour rule to avoid impulse purchases

* Is your Amazon bag full of clothes you don’t need? Sit on it for a day before actually ordering something, you might change your mind (AKA: come to your senses.)

* Limit your going-out for food

* This is hard for college students considering how often social and even professional situations take place in restaurants or other food-outsourcing centers. Consider meal-planning and grocery shopping more so that eating out becomes a specialty and not the norm.

Budgeting for Events & Travel

Treasurer of ICWIC Sam Weinstein then came up to offer some insight on budgeting for specific big events, or traveling. She conveniently structured her advice into six easy steps:

* Step 1) See how much money you already have

* Step 2) Set realistic goals about how much you’ll be spending wherever you’re going.

* Step 3) Differentiate between your wants and your needs

* Step 4) Make your budget!

* Step 5) Insert items into your spreadsheet (or what have you) using the estimated amounts and the actual amounts of things you’ll be purchasing

* Side tip: always overestimate!

* Step 6) Save for extra things!

* You’ll never know what can come up when you’re traveling so it’s better to be prepared.

Planning for a Semester Away

Fundraising Chair Katie Holtzman then gave insight on how to budget for a semester abroad or any semester away from campus:

* Before you go: MAKE A PLAN!

* With help from whoever is helping you fund your semester away (if there is someone) start determining what exactly you’re going to be spending

money on while away, then research how MUCH you’ll be spending on those things.

* Always plan for the unexpected:

* Have various ways of obtaining money in case your credit/debit cards gets lost or stolen (it happens)

* Related^ ALWAYS carry cash! Not too much, but always have at least $15 on you while abroad.

* Plan for meals

* How are you going to be eating? If possible try to grocery shop as much as possible!

* Decide if you want experiences or stuff from this adventure

* Would you rather spend money on a museum tour, concert, or small trip? Or a t-shirt, magnets, or specialty items?

* Find your free resources!

* There are a lot of free things offered to students who are abroad, find them!

Summer in the City

Multimedia Chair Emma Beltrandi then went on to give recommend ways to save while you spend your summer in a new city:

* Again, grocery Shop!

* Pick things you know you want to do before you arrive to set money aside for

* Limit your amount of going out

* You don’t need to have drinks every night, and if you do you don’t HAVE to buy something

* Shop professional clothing one piece at a time

* If you need seasonally or business appropriate clothing, don’t buy everything all at once!

* Find housing you can afford!

* Students in cities are constantly looking for sub-letters, check our their schools facebook pages!

* Walk or bike where you can

* If your internship is unpaid, consider getting a part-time job

How much should you actually be saving?

Communications Director Izzy Colello then spoke about how to determine the amount of money you should actually be saving, as well as tips on how to do it:

* Good rule of thumb: the 50/30/20 rule

* 50% of your money goes to “survival” / 30% will go towards splurges / 20% goes into savings

* Take into consideration what exactly you spend the most money on

* Limit unnecessary spending

* In the end, any money saved helps, it adds up!

Budgeting & Money Apps

Community Service Chair Kyla “KC” Crowden gave some great options for apps concerning budgeting and other money-related organizers you may want:

1. “Mint” For: great and easy app for managing your money!

2. “Acorn” For: painless saving

3. “Venmo” For: paying friends back for dinner or what have you when you don’t have cash.

4. “Spendee” For: sharing accounts and budgets

5. “YNAB” AKA You-need-a-budget! For: budgets!

Post-grad Planning

ICWIC President Lexi White closed out the night’s meeting with some tips on planning for your post-graduation life money-wise!:

* Start saving NOW! It’s not as daunting as it seems, try these tips:

* Summer jobs vs school jobs: Have a job at home and at school? Try saving your money from your summer job and live off your school-session job. It’’ll add up!

* Birthdays & Holidays: Do you find you get a little of money for birthdays and holidays? Don’t spend it all, save some!

* Summer risk vs reward: As much as we’d all love to take every opportunity offered to us, sometimes people aren’t in a financial position to take an unpaid summer internship or move to a different city. It’s perfectly okay to stay home and save money doing something else.