How College Helped Form My Personal Finance Future

As a young adult, I ventured off to college with my heart in my throat. I had no idea what to expect. I was going to be left on my own to make all sorts of important and life-altering decisions, and had no one there to guide me through my first taste of life on my own.

It turned out that college quickly became one of the most wonderful and educational experiences in my life. Not only did I end up meeting interesting people, getting a great education, and learning how to be self-sufficient, but I learned numerous personal finance lessons as well.

Here are some of what I consider the most important financial takeaways from my college experience.

Loan Learning

While I had enough money saved to pay for a portion of my college costs, I soon found myself at the point of needing to take out student loans. This was the first time I had ever experienced debt -- and frankly, I didn't like it.

I found that owing money to someone else and having that debt accumulate further debt due to interest rates and fees was something I certainly did not care for and sought to avoid as much as possible moving forward in my financial life after college. This was a valuable lesson however, and luckily the interest rates on the loans were reasonable. Even that did not dissuade me from paying them off in their entirety the first year after graduation.

Expense Tracking

The arrangement upon heading off to school was that my college costs were to be split between my parents (divorced) and I -- each of us paying a third. What this meant for me financially was that not only was I going to have to find ways to finance my portion of the bill, but I was going to have to keep up with and track my expenses in order to give a proper accounting of the bills to my parents each year. At the time, I found this kind of a pain in the behind, but as I grew accustomed to noting each of my expenses, saving receipts, and keeping a journal of such costs, it started to become a habit; one that carried over into my adult life and has proven quite valuable.

Budgeting

The next logical step in my financial college education was to create a budget. Since I had to track my expenses anyway, it only took a little more effort to sort them into categories to begin determining how much I spent in these categories each month. Tracking expenses soon led to tracking income, and by combining the two I was able to formulate a budget that helped keep my college costs in check.

Multi-tasking and Time Management

In college, I quickly found myself thrown into a world of opportunity. I joined a fraternity and became house manager and then vice-president. I got a part-time job at the university golf course, moving up to manager after a year, and had a full course load in the meantime. It was a heck of a lot of work, but it was a great way to build my multi-tasking and time management skills.

Such skills played a huge role as I departed from college life and moved into the real world. These abilities helped me to pursue the job and career I wanted, as well as stay organized in my personal life and finances as well. Being able to effectively manage my time meant that I could move up the ranks more quickly at work and still have time to focus more on the big picture of what might one day lay beyond the daily grind.

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Disclaimer:

The author is not a licensed financial professional. The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. For financial advice, readers should consult a licensed financial advisor. Any action taken by the reader due to the information provided in this article is solely at the reader's discretion.