Helping you Financially Prepare for Life
Siena Heights University wants to help you understand and effectively use various financial skills, in order to make effective decisions across a wide range of financial aspects of your life. These skills include knowledge and behaviors that allow you to make informed decisions regarding your money. Financial literacy is a lifelong journey, from starting as a child and earning an allowance, to buying a car, financing a mortgage, and saving for retirement.
BUDGETING
Budgets are simply a spending plan that takes into account your expected income and expenses for a specific period of time. Let’s say you buy a cup of coffee on most days, grab a quick bite to eat a couple times a week, go out with your friends on a Friday night. Your yearly spending might look like this:
Coffee 4 times a week @ $2.50 = $520.00 for the year.
A quick bite to eat 4 times a week @ $7.00 = $1,456.00 for the year
Weekend fun with your friends @ $30.00 each weekend = $1,560.00
Your total spending for the year is $3,536.00 or $14,144.00 for the four years that you attend college. That is a great down payment for a car or a home.
- A budget will help you manage your spending habits.
- Track your expenses.
- Help you save more money.
- Prepare for emergencies.
- Help you out of debt.
- Help you achieve your long-term financial goals.
- Help you build financial independence.
The calculator link below will help you analyze your budget as a student, once you create a budget you will be able to forecast how much money you will be able to save for important events in your life. Using a realistic budget will help to forecast your spending for the year and can help you with your long-term financial planning. 360FinancialLiteracy.org
Setting up financial goals will help you plan and prioritize what’s important to you, and how you should set up a budget that aligns with your interests. If you prefer the pen and paper method, try this one from Balance Pro, or there are phone apps that are free such as Mint: Budget & Track Bills, or Wally: Smart Personal Finance.
CREDIT
Credit is the ability to borrow money or goods from a lender with the promise of repaying them later, usually with an addition of interest. Credit can be in many forms, such as credit cards, auto loans, student loans, and consumer credit. Credit can help you buy many things that you might need or want, but it also involves risks and responsibilities on your part. Having a good credit score allows you to borrow money when needed. You may also qualify for a lower rate of interest, giving you a higher credit limit on your credit cards, and depending on the credit card they may offer perks and rewards.
What is the difference between a Credit Report and a Credit Score?
What is a Credit Score?
A credit score or FICO score is a financial responsibility number ranging between 300 and 850 given by credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax) for financial institutions to assess an individual based on their financial responsibility. Naturally, the higher the number the more financially responsible and more likely you are to pay back any money borrowed on time. With a high credit score you are generally a lower risk to the lender and therefore more likely to be offered a lower interest rate.
To see your credit score you may go to: Free Credit Scores – Intuit Credit Karma or the Free Credit Score | Experian or even Free Credit Estimator from myFICO.
Want to raise your credit score? Always pay your bills on time, don’t apply for too many new credit accounts, don’t close your unused credit cards, avoid applying for too much new credit cards, and make sure to dispute any inaccuracies on your credit report. Errors may appear on your credit report or may show the result of fraud or identity theft.
What is a Credit Report?
A Credit Report is a statement that has information about your credit activity and your current credit situation such as loan paying history and the status of your credit accounts.
