It's almost that time when some of you will either be graduating from West Valley College or transferring to a 4 year university. Congratulations! After all the pomp and circumstance, the real world will set in. I found this CNBC.com article that discusses what to do next as far as your finances go.
Experts weigh in on the 5 things new grads need to know about managing their money:
It may seem overwhelming at first, especially if you have student loans and only a part-time job. But even if you start out small with saving a few dollars a week and paying off student loans, it is well worth it. You can find more about personal finance for recent college grads from this list of articles from OneSearch.
Scouring the library's databases and web for articles on how to plan for 2022 yielded an avalanche of content. Many of the articles repeated the same information, and these three have some tips that college students can use. They are quick reads. If you want to get regular updates on this topic or others, a WVC Librarian can help! Contact us at westvalley.edu/library.
What’s Your Personal-Finance Resolution for 2022? Here’s What Readers Hope For by Demetria Gallegos, Wall Street Journal, 1/8/2022.
Credit or Debit: Which Is Better for Your Financial Goals? Credit cards and debit cards each have their pros and cons, but which is better for younger people seeking to chart out their financial future? Wall Street Journal contributor Cheryl Winokur Munk joins Wall St. Journal Your Money Briefing host J.R. Whalen to discuss the uses for each.
5 Tips To Make This The Best Financial Year by Robert Farrington of The College Investor, 1/4/2022.
Photo credit: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / /
I'm very excited to see loved ones in person this holiday season and my pent-up good cheer wants to go out and spend a bunch of money on everyone on my list -- including the stray cat living in my backyard. She does her job of catching varmints, so why not?
It's easy to overspend. Now, with so many ways to pay, I find it hard sometimes to keep track of my expenses. So, here's a list of other ways to celebrate that I made for myself after reading some articles. I hope they can help you as well.
Harriet the Stray in her cat condo.
These are just some ideas. I am sure you can come up with many more! Feel free to add them in the comments.
Further reading:
Roach, A. (2021, November 9). Tips to make sure your gifts aren’t affected by holiday supply chain issues. CNN Underscored. https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/09/cnn-underscored/holiday-supply-chain-issues-tips/index.html
Wood, E. (2019, December 5). Give story – not stuff – for the holidays. Kiplinger. https://www.kiplinger.com/article/retirement/t065-c032-s014-give-story-not-stuff-for-the-holidays.html
Zagorsky, J.L. (2021). How to pick the ‘right’ amount to spend on holiday gifts—according to an economist. The Conversation. https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-to-pick-the-right-amount-to-spend-on-holiday-gifts-according-to-an-economist?utm_source=emailsynd&utm_medium=social
Personal finance is one of those topics we really don't want to deal with and we wish our finances would just work themselves out without us having to do much of anything.
Too bad we can't just water it once in a while like the cactus plant on our windowsill. The WVC library put together this resource guide hoping to make handling your finances a bit easier. If you have some time this summer, tackle that budget you've always wanted to create for yourself, or maybe you want to figure out how NOT to become a victim of identity theft. This is not an exhaustive list of resources, but it will get you started! Special thanks to librarian Holly Zhang for gathering most of the books and videos in this resource.
If you are interested in subscribing to be notified when new content is added to this guide, please do so. It will be updated about 2-3 times a semester with new content.
Here is an identity theft story from one of our librarians. She's been a victim twice and she swears she will never be another victim.
But the thieves are getting smarter and now consumers as well as governments and corporations have to deal with ransomware attacks. This guide isn't to scare you, but make you more informed about your money. Let us know what you think!
