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Financial Fitness: One More Thing to Learn in College

It might be a paradox to some, but the best time to learn how to manage money is when you don’t have a lot of it. College is often the first time young adults are tasked with making their own spending decisions. Getting comfortable with talking about money, learning to be thrifty, and sticking to a budget can be great tools to reduce stress and keep the emphasis on learning.

The best time to talk with your teen about money is before they run out of it. Ideally, setting expectations and limits for spending should be discussed well ahead of campus arrival. Following are topics you may want to discuss:

After discussing and documenting all the expenses, and who is responsible for them, take a look at how much money is needed per month. Is it workable? If the money going out is more than the money in their budget, it will be necessary to think critically about wants versus needs. And maybe a part-time job might make sense to cover any gap.

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