the finance tips we wish we knew in high school

Are you in high school and want to get ahead financially? 

You sweet friend, are a smart little cookie.

As you may have heard on the show, we encourage our community to get on top of their money as early as possible and while it is never too late to start, the fact you want to take action now is incredible and we think you’re rather clever. We’re not jealous of your brilliance at all. 

To help propel your journey to financial freedom, we rolled together the six money tips we wish we knew when we were in school. 

1.Concentrate on saving. 

Saving when you’re young - even if you’re just making $15 an hour working at a cafe -  is good practice for when you enter the workforce down the line. If you can allocate some of that money to your savings, especially while you’re living at home and have few expenses, that cash will quickly add up. Here’s an example to make it super clear: if you work one eight hour shift a week at $15 an hour, over the course of a year, you’ll have earned $6,240. If you then did that for three years from the ages of 15 to 18, you’d have earned $18,720! That is huge.

Don’t think that just because you’re not earning $100,000 a year that you can’t save, because you absolutely can and the sooner you start the better off your future self will be. 

2. Sort out your banking.

Your parents may have helped you set up a bank account earlier on, but take the time to compare your options and perhaps consider moving banks if you think that’s the right thing for you. Things to take into account when choosing a bank include the interest you can receive on your accounts (the higher the better - it’s like you get paid a little bit for having your money in their bank), as well as the fees associated with accounts and if their values match yours. Once you’ve done that, set up an everyday account which you can use whenever, plus a savings account for you to allocate a portion of your earnings to each time you get paid. 

3. Avoid buy now pay later schemes.

A good rule of thumb to avoid getting into financial trouble is to only buy things you can afford when you can afford them and to live within your means. Though the services offered by AfterPay, zippay etc. can be mighty tempting as they allow you to have what you want immediately without saving for it first, they are a very easy way to rack up debt quickly and we would advise against their use as much as possible. It’s worth noting too that you can’t sign up to these until you are 18, which we think is a very good thing!

4. Remember not to get distracted by FOMO. 

When you’re in high school it can be really hard to say no to the things that your friends are doing because it’s a time that is so drenched in status symbols and many of us don’t really know who we are yet. We know we definitely didn’t. 

We really just want to remind you here that though it may be hard, please don’t feel like you need to keep up with your peers by wearing the expensive brands, buying the overpriced makeup or whatever it may be for you. Remain true to you and spend your money on things that will serve you, rather than on that dress you can’t afford  because you think it may elevate your social status. Saving will get you further in the long run and life is so much bigger than high school. 

5. Get your head around investing, but don’t stress about it yet.

Investing is one of those things lots of people are afraid of, and it’s okay if you are too. We think a good place to start here is to go back and listen to our episodes from season one on investing, just so you can build up your education around it a little! You can’t invest until you’re over 18 anyway, but just having an understanding of how it works is a great thing and will put you ahead of most people in their twenties. 

6. Have fun.

You’re a young vibrant thing and the world is at your feet, so don’t stress yourself out by being too serious about money yet. There is lots of time. 

That said, do consider our tips and make sure you are making decisions suited to your goals and values so that you can set yourself up for a future of financial freedom - which at SOTM, is absolutely the end goal.