Investing While In College: Benefits

Investing While In College Part 1.


Many students fail to plan for life after graduation. They are so concerned over getting assignments done, going for internships, and looking forward to breaks from school that they completely forget to plan for life outside of college. Freshman year is the start of college and graduation seems so far ahead. before you know it, you are a senior and you are about to graduate. Some students have a job lined up, others don't. Getting a job is only half the battle. You have to find a way to live until your first paycheck. This is where investing your money wisely during college comes in handy.

Lets assume you have a work-study job. I wrote about a few jobs that are good to have while in college, so read that post if you are curious. The average pay is about $7 an hour. If you work 10 hours a week, that is roughly $65 after taxes. Multiply that number by 4 and you make about $260 a month. Paying for books and bills comes first, obviously. On the off chance that you do have some spare money, instead of blowing it on tickets, clothes, or other things, invest it.

A good goal to have is to invest at least $50 a semester and about $100 a summer. That adds up to $200 a year. You should be saving more than that but this is money that you are going to have work for you. What are you going to do with this $200 a year? You could do swing trades like I did earlier in the year and turn that $200 into a lot more. A safer route, especially for those not as experienced, is to invest in long term stocks. These stocks are not volatile, have growth potential, and the ideal ones pay out dividends. By starting to invest your freshman year, that $200 you put in could turn into $300 by the time you graduate. After four years, of safe investing for long term, you could have turned that $800 into $1000+.

That doesn't seem like a big gain, but that is enough money to get you through your first month if you have been saving the entire time. That $1000 could help pay for your rent for a month or two depending on where you live. Now, this plan is only for those who want to invest $200 a year. Many students work full time during the summer so you could invest more. Instead of $100 during the summer, why not try to invest $200. The earlier you save and invest, the more money you will have later. When you graduate, you won't be surprised and caught without money.

This is just a brief overview to a plan you should consider about investing throughout your college career. These small steps will accumulate into large leaps. I will discuss more later about investing strategies.

WIWS