‘Don’t just go out there and force friendships with a ton of rich people because that won’t help you make more money. You have to build “real” friendships, which mean that you need to find something in common with these people. More importantly, you have to enjoy each other’s company.’ This wealth of advice from Neil Patel propelled me to reminisce my years in the college and how my boyhood friend instilled the habit of financial discipline on me.
Whether, you are rich, middle class or poor, one thing is certainly common. We earn and spend money. And as a college student, all the bulk of money I heard was from my parents. Hence I was constantly looking forward to getting more money but without the ability to curtail my expenses and spend wisely.
This lingered till my boyhood friend was transferred to my school and fortunately, we were roommates in the campus. One thing I will not forget in a hurry, though it took me a long time to grasp and appreciate it, is the way he changed my perception of handling the little stipend I regularly received from my parents.
Here are the financial lessons I learnt from him;
No Matter how Little, you have to Save
This was a bitter financial lesson. I just didn’t know how to comprehend this; save my little stipend…. Hahaha… it was weird to me. My friend actually asked me to write out my daily expenditure which I did. As we were going through the expenses one after the other, I quickly discovered that there were many insignificant expenses I could do without.
After college, my boyhood friend’s little tutorial on savings helped me to save enough during my one year mandatory apprenticeship program. I was able to enroll for my Master program and start up an academic and business research venture. Saving is important for students because it helps them graduate college without a huge financial burden.
Live according to your Budget
I bet you, majority of college students do not live according to their budget. This is why there are lots of students experiencing financial difficulty in school. It happened to me often. In fact it was a case of having enough today and becoming broke tomorrow.
On the issue of budgeting, my friend taught me how to prepare a budget for the semester and advised me to strictly adhere to the provisions of my budget. He also introduced me to Expense Manager which helped me monitor my daily expenditure. This app helped me to examine my spending, identify the areas I am spending much and take necessary actions to align my expenditures with detects of my budget.
Invest in Personal Development
Except you have a good and effective course adviser, or perhaps an educated and sensitive parent, most college students usually do not know or told about the importance of investing in personal development. Fortunately for me, I had a friend who knew this. My goal in college was to graduate top of my class, but I eventually had other goals courtesy of my friend’s persistence on the need to acquire as many skills while we have the time and opportunity.
I was able to attend a research institute where I acquire academic and business research skills, knowledge of research analytical tools such as Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Minitab and E-view. Believe me; these research skills were critical after graduation. My first business startup was an academic and business research venture.
Myrko Thum said ‘improving yourself proactively, working on your awareness, improving your skills and knowledge about how you can get to the edge of your potential, all of that is an investment into the greatest asset you’ll always have: Yourself’.
Look out for Coupons while shopping online
Apart from the primary goal of studying, one of the major activities students engage in is shopping. You just have to shop to be able to study and meet your academic goals. For me, I just shop whenever I want no matter the location and prices. It took the help of my friend to teach me how to spend cheaply while shopping. By scanning the shops within and outside the campus, we were able to identify shops that had a fair and considerate than others.
Strict financial discipline is a habit. I am happy to have inculcated it.
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