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College is the place many students first have a taste of independence. You are responsible for deciding for yourself for the first time in your life.
Despite your parents funding the significant expenses like school fees and books, you may need to pay for your entertainment and luxurious food.
Some students at this time may get a job that will not affect their education. Using personal finance knowledge can help a student avoid being broke and reduce debt after graduation.
Fortunately, you do not need to major in economics or any business-related course to understand and leverage the concept of personal finance.
What is personal finance?
Personal finance defines financial decisions and activities regarding spending, saving, and investing your money.
It is mainly about meeting your financial goals, including having enough for short-term financial needs and saving for a long-term project.
Why do you need personal finance?
Lack of personal finance knowledge has been identified as why many Americans accumulate enormous debt. The cost of college has also increased over the last 30 years.
A report by Forbes observed that tuition costs at public four-year colleges spiked from $4,160 to $10,740 during this period. It increases from $19,360 to $38,070 at private nonprofit institutions.
Being a student does not disqualify you from getting a mortgage. You will need a strong credit score, a down payment, a steady income, and a low debt-to-income ratio to qualify.
All of these can be achieved by personal financial discipline. Luckily, there are books that can get you set for the journey.
Personal finance books every college student should read
“Your Money Life: Your 20s” by Peter Dunn
The 20s ages is a time teenagers transform into adulthood, and navigating the new terrain can be daunting. Building strong personal finance skills at this age can help to avoid getting trapped in student loans and mortgage debts.
This book by Peter Dunn, a.k.a Pete the Planner, offers essential advice on how to be financially disciplined from a young age. The comedian author did not fail to add some spices of his talent to make the book lively and fun to read.
“The Complete Guide to Personal Finance for Teenagers and College Students” by Tamsen Butler
Targeted at both teenagers and college students. This book is a great introduction to the world of finance. It covers how students can get and manage credit.
One of the major financial demons is an inability to decipher needs from wants. This is one aspect the book also tackles to enable students to avoid common financial mistakes.
It also covers how to set up a personal finance budget and how to get a car.
“I Want More Pizza: Real World Money Skills For High School, College, And Beyond” by Steve Burkholder
Topics about finance can be boring to college students, and this, most of the time, prevents them from finishing a book.
I Want More Pizza is approximately 100 pages with an introduction and four chapters referred to as Slices of Pizza. The author wrote in a casual and conversational tone to illustrate each chapter with personal experiences while growing up.
The book stressed why time is essential and how starting early could significantly benefit college students’ savings and financial freedom.
“Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together” by Erin Lowry
It is not unusual for people in their 20s and 30s to find themselves broke after accumulating a lot of money. The reason they lost it all in the first place is likely due to poor personal finance discipline.
This experience can dampen any young person’s spirit, making them less optimistic about life while they wallow in debt.
This book discusses how to stop living paycheck to paycheck and taking control of your money and your life.
“Get Good With Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole” by Tiffany Aliche
Regarding personal finance, people face two problems: “don’t make enough” and “spend too much”. A lot of the time, the latter is the real problem.
Tiffany Aliche, in this book, highlights a ten-step process to building wealth from scratch.
The personal financial educator also discussed how to save for a rainy day and big projects such as buying a house or going on a trip.
Like others in this list, this is undoubtedly a book every college student should read to build excellent personal financial discipline.
