University finance advice needed (ended) - Giveaway invites sent

Well, first of all, i guess you could both study and find a part time job that will not interfere with your school program too much.

Usually in my country when you get employed as a student, the employer is pretty understanding about exam period and will give you a little more slack around that time.

Saving stocks, i have not one clue about that but, you can always put the money in your bank account to save them for when you finish univ. Also finding a part time job is helpful even if you don't end up saving much money, especially if you find something to work in your area of expertise(what you are studying now) because it will help you get some "experience" which is one of the stupidest requirements most employees ask for freshly graduates(again talking from experience in my country, where almos 90% of the employers as of you to have at least 1-2 years experience working in the domain you wish to work in).

But if you would have to choose between which to focus more, study/work, i would suggest study.

finances...it won't be easy to recomend something particular - mostly general suggestions.

Avoid stocks and credit cards.
Write down all your expences on paper - this way it's easier to find out what to cut down and were to save. Keep an eye on sales, and offers etc. Different subscriptions often might cost quite a lot of money all together, f.x. cellphone, internet, insurances etc. Sometimes even duplicate each other. Rule is simple: not spent money doesn't need to be earned.
Get a side job according to your needs. Just remember that your primary job is your studies.
Opening a savings account might be a pretty good idea, but remember to read stuff written in small.

What year are you currently in? What's your major? What qualifications do you have that might get you a better job? I know people who got certified in high school so they could work in actual, decent-paying labs during college. If you have a good relationship with any professors, some might have jobs for you. If you really do want to invest (I wouldn't, but I don't know your conditions), check this out and other resources. Before you try anything, be sure to try it on a simulator like the one there.

If I were you, I'd just focus on school, though. It's a long-term investment. The better you do in school, the better you'll do in life (there are exceptions, but university is secure unless you're taking a really easy major).

I use this app on my phone... It is extremely helpful when you want to organize your spendings... Ofcourse, there are a lot of other apps, so feel free to choose the one that suits you the best...

As for the job... Find something, do something... Not just for the money, but any experience can help, and work habits are also important... And when you have any job, you can go around and try to find something better...

Ofcourse, I don't live in Canada, so I might be wrong, but that's something I'd do in your situation...

Good luck! :)

Here's some things you should consider:

• What do you want to do, professionally, for your life?
• What do you need to get a foot in the door in that industry?
• Do you have the ability to excel at school?

Those are honestly the three most important questions you can ask. If you know what you want to do professionally, you can start preparing for it as early as possible. If you want to teach kindergarten, for instance, you can begin learning what a kindergarten teacher needs. You can find a summer job in a preschool, to get an idea of what the job entails. You can research what education and certifications you'll need.

If your dream (as I assume, given you're Canadian) is to be a lumberjack, you can learn the ins and outs of axes and saws and mules and flannel shirts.

If your dream is to be a developer (which, by the way, was my dream) you can start learning to program and take appropriate classes.

In short, knowing your destination is the single most important thing on your journey. If what you want to do doesn't require a college education, don't invest 4 years and thousands of dollars in one. If it does require a college degree, find what you can do to stand out from your peers.

Next, assuming you are going to get a college degree: Your school may very well have an internship program and will certainly have a department devoted to helping alumni find jobs. Use these resources shamelessly. An internship that goes well can turn into a paid job immediately out of college, and it beats the hell out of a typical burger-flipping part time job.

Getting the proper education, certification, and training for your desired profession and getting started in it as quickly as practical is the number one bit of financial advice I can give you.

Next up, if your job offers it, put money aside for retirement. If your employer matches your contributions, take shameless advantage of this. 401K, stock options, etc, get it. Plan for the future.

The final bit of advice I can give you is this: Don't take financial planning advice from random folks on the Internet. We are, by and large, idiots and trolls who don't have your best interests at heart. This course on Coursera, however, looks like it might be useful. Basically, you can (for free) audit a college course from the University of Florida. It's likely to be US-centric, but the general guidelines will be universally useful.

May I know what you are studying at uni and how old are you?It also depends on the kind of industry you are trying to get into after graduating.If its something creative or maybe something about science then you should consider more about learning than saving.And at last you will have to cut extra spending till you get a full time job once you graduate. Other than that,I wouldn't really want you to invest in stocks as of now cause I think its better to just keep that money locked somewhere in your house for now.I know exactly how you feel and I am so glad that you are thinking about this so early in your life unlike most of us here :P

Pay into BOTH a TFSA(Tax Free Savings Account) & an RRSP(Registered Retirement Savings Plan).

TFSA:
For every year between 2009-2012 you can deposit $5,000. For every year since the start of 2013, you can deposit $5,500. These amounts carry over year after year. (It doesn't matter if you didn't deposit anything in previous years)
Money deposited in a TFSA is after taxes. The income you earn from a TFSA is NOT TAXED. You are NOT TAXED when you withdraw it either.

RRSP:
Money deposited in an RRSP is before taxes. A specific percentage of your income is eligible to be deposited. With an RRSP, you avoid paying tax now, & when you withdraw it you'll pay the tax then.
"WHAT'S THE POINT?" It's called a 'Retirement' plan for a reason: you won't withdraw the money until you're retired. When you are retired, you will be at a lower income bracket than during your working years & therefore you will pay less tax on the money. (You don't absolutely have to be old/retired. llness/injury could also cause you to have a lower income, allowing you to benefit from the lower tax rate.)

(Typed on a phone. Please excuse any errors.)

Put any money you are currently holding onto for tuition into a TFSA or a savings account. Regarding work their are many jobs available on campuses for students such as lab monitors and teaching assistants. Grades are important for scholarships, but outside of that they aren't really worth much unless you are in the top tier or are applying at some companies (I remember some oil companies wanted my GPA). I am a Canadian college student myself, and by living at home and working part time I have been able to save two semesters worth of tuition with no student debt. I am currently in my 2nd year of business school, but because I am so good with my money I can't apply for any scholarships (I have absolutely no financial need). Also consider alternate sources of income if you have any special skills. I know people who make money doing a bunch of different things such as fixing things, flipping items bought on craigslist, editing peoples papers and helping people move.

In spring (generally February) financial institutions tend to offer much better interest rates. Around mid January, check the local newspaper; websites of the institutions; walk in & pick up a brochure to see what they are offering.

Often, deposits & loans can be found at a much better rate from a Credit Union rather than a bank.
A bank is a private, FOR PROFIT business.
A credit union is a NON-PROFIT institution run as a service to its members.

While your parents are paying for things, save up what you can. Also while working min-wage look for other higher paying work, but keep the min wage job until you have a new job. Don't neglect your studies by any means even if it means taking less work. There are plenty of grants, scholarships, loans (at least here in the states) that can help you if you don't have enough saved after your parents stop paying for things. Most of the time (at least in my college experience) dorms were the cheaper living accommodations and during my time at college I ate on campus with an "all inclusive" food plan so I never had to worry about going hungry.

If the college offers internships your senior year, take them, learn your trade hands on and work your butt off at the internship. This may lead to a job opportunity there or at least give you social contacts that may lead to a job offer that may be known internally at a company before it goes public, giving you a first foot in the door for a chance at a job.

Good luck with university and enjoy your time there.

Diversify your portfolio by splitting your investments between beer, hockey, hatred of the U.S., obedience to the commonwealth headed by the queen of england, ignorance, and Justin Bieber.

Stocks are actually work. The only way to make money out of stocks is to actually know what you are doing, which means spending a loooot of time analysing the various companies you invest in ( you need to diversify so as to lower the risks ). You need to keep in touch with what is happening in those companies ( aka letting your money rot for 20 years is a very bad idea if you want it to still be there ), you also need a proper investment to actually have interesting returns ( 5k is the usual advice ). And the risk is always present, always...It can lead to stress.

I can't really help you with your question because its about what YOU want to do in your life, but i can say that stocks contraty to popular imagination are rather not magical and do necessitate to invest time every day, even long term ones.

The one advice i would really give is to travel, study abroad, learn new languages ( chinese for finance especially ). Recruiters tend to prefer people who "know life" to kids fresh out of uni. And if you are interested in finance, think about having your own business as well instead of working for someone else.

Tuffdog & iliacCrest both gave great advice with the TFSA. I'd also recommend getting a government student loan is you're eligible and so forth, then investing that money until graduation. It's interest free as long as you are a full time student, so it's free money for the time being. Never spend the principle, and then pay it all back in full before graduation. There's no penalty on early repayment and if you made any profits, then you got a gain from it. Don't just use it as a HISA, invest it. If you're really adverse then do GICs. Otherwise move up to something conservative or even slightly risky. Unless you're confident or have the time to spend, don't go high risk (ie. stocks) because this is your future.

Make sure you are doing your taxes. Claim your books, if you use a transit pass claim it Federally (or if your uni provides one under the tuition claim that one), get your tuition credits for the future, claim your rent. Check your tuition breakdown, is there anything you can refuse? Most students pay for health/dental insurance when they're already covered, for the gym/athletic centre, career centre, etc a variety of resources they never use during their time. You can ask for some of that money back, the insurance especially if you're covered elsewhere.

Experience is better than education. Go to your profs, look into the career centre, and check out government opportunities. During this time, there are many programs, scholarships (government sponsored jobs at private for-profit companies), and interning (paid/unpaid) for students. Network with your profs. Ask them about jobs, opportunities, industry, help, advice, whatever. See your academic counsellor for close to graduate (ie. 4th yr) interships/job placements, or just advice on course selections.

Go to your local bank/credit union/financial institution. Try the downtown core in your closest major metropolitan area. They'll probably have a student program, or even hire you. I know quite a few banks that take high school credentials.

Most of all: BE PROACTIVE. No amount of advice will be useful if you don't act on it. Don't be lazy, do it now. Life doesn't just drop air balloons full of bunnies onto your lap because you want it.

Step One: Take out a massive Canada Student Loan.

Step Two: Get a degree that has no practical application in the real world.

Step Three: Go broke due to life nonsense.

Step Four: Avoid Canada Student Loans when they start demanding repayment.

Step Five: Get a shitty $12/hr job, unrelated to your field of study.

Step Six: Wait for Canada Student Loans to absorb your tax returns, rebates, and all other credits. Oh, and pending wage garnishment.

Step Seven: Drink a lot.

Great success!

I can't really tell you what to invest in Canada, since I live in central EU, so don't want to give false details.
But what I do think you should do is: study. If you are smart/educated/experienced enough in the stuff you study you can coach people for their big exams. It might looks like it's just "pocket money" but in reality a lot of people are in desperate need of help to pass exams, and they are very happy to pay for that help.
When I was studying IT on the uni I coached(I hope that's the right english word for it) people, and prepared them for big, and difficult exams for quite a nice money.
Pros: Much more $/hour than minimal wage
Much shorter "work shifts"
Felxible hours
And you do learn some more while going through those stuff, and that will help you as well.

The only con I can think of is it's quite challenging, but if you want a nice paying job after you graduate that will be challenging too. So I think this way you learn+experience what your future work will be+get them money$$$s at the same time which is pretty great :)

Also my experiences with stocks&savings:
I became interrested in economics while playing online, I was fascinated by the global economy, and I started learning economical studies by myself while still doing my IT degree on the uni.

Two mayor things I found out:
-For a random person a savings account is a "bad" investment, because other people are making money out of yours.
-Getting into the stock paper business is more than a full time job, and you should not try it alone, the more qualified people = the more angles you can see things = less risk +better opurtonities.
So overall I'd say to start a savings account, because investing your (small) money is a full time job, and it's not worth your time if you want to focus on your studies.

Can't give you any accurate plan on what savings plan to chose, because the canadian and EU tax laws are very different.

TL;DR Focus on your studies, make money with your knowledge, because you don't need a degree for that, you can do that while getting a degree, get a savings account with the lowest tax rates (maybe you have savings plans in CA which are not taxed, we do have those in EU), stock paper business is not worth it without the required time and money

The best think you can to is going to the bank and ask to any banker, but for my part I think that you need to make a financial plan.

Like if you know how much you need for your studies you save the amount for it and keep somemore and then you can save a little bit of money in case something goes wrong.

The rest of your money is for pleasure ( except if you have something else to pay.)

There is already some good advice given above, but when it comes to "guidance for life," the best thing to do is remember some key principles.

1) You can do more than you think you can. You can work harder, you can accomplish more, you can affect the lives of others more than you think you can. It's easy to "coast" through life. Most people do exactly that and they don't recognize their true potential until they are faced with a crisis. Don't let anyone tell you that something is impossible, not even yourself. Find a way.

2) As long as you don't give up, you can achieve your goals. If you are ever forced to acknowledge "Yes, I failed," don't forget to add "for now" to the end of that sentence. There is almost always more than one way to succeed. And if there isn't, make one.

3) The real difference between children and adults is self-control. Children are driven by their desires and do what they want to do. Adults control and harness their desires and do what they need to do. (Sometimes, what you need to do and what you want to do are the same thing, and that's a bonus.) Once you master self-control, you can make yourself do whatever is needed to achieve your goals. (See #2.)

4) You're young and energetic, so use it. Pushing yourself, now, will both make you stronger and increase future opportunities. If I had my younger years to do all over again, I would pay my way through school by working, use all the resources of whatever school I chose to attend (because the learning comes from your effort, not the school itself), graduate with no debt, and work with a budget so that I have plenty of money to spend. Steam has a great program (YNAB) that teaches you all you need to know about budgeting. Becoming a millionaire is easy once you learn to stop spending like a drunken sailor.

5) Your education, as with any other tool in life, is as good as you make it. There's nothing wrong with a specialized education (for a specific career), but a general education is good, too. My liberal arts education has helped me succeed in three totally different careers as well as launch my own business.

I am the youngest of three, and both of my older siblings got a car after graduating high school and went straight on to college with financial help from our parents. Both of my parents worked, and between both of their income we were pretty well off. Then one of my parents died before I graduated high school, and that much meant I didn't get that luxury of a car and financial help for college. I got a hand-me-down car from my oldest sister, because by the time I had graduated high school, she had graduated college and had a nice job. I needed the car so I could work, but the car was old and in pretty rough shape, which is why it was free (it wasn't worth anything for trade in).

I worked what jobs I could right after graduating high school, which at first were crappy part time, then full time minimum wage go-nowhere jobs that I hated. Working with computers was a hobby, but I was quite gifted with computers and learned things quickly. Being friends with a lot of people also working in computer related fields, I made some connections and managed to get a good job. I eventually was able to buy a new (to me, a.k.a. used) car. I worked that job for a couple of years when I got an offer from another company making better money doing essentially the same thing, which I took.

As I said earlier, computers for me started out as a hobby. Initially I liked the work I did, but there were some unpleasant parts that I didn't like (people/politics). Eventually I had more responsibility dealing with the people/politics part, and I became unhappy and miserable. I began thinking of quitting and going to college to pursue my dream.

I did some college scouting and picked a college specializing in what I wanted to study. I was pretty excited, but decided to continue working until the next school year started, which was about nine months, so I could save up some money. I didn't tell my current employer or anyone that I would be leaving. Then I got an unexpected job offer. A friend recommended me to a large company, and they called and asked me to come in for an interview. Even though I had pretty much made up my mind to go to college and was excited about it, I decided to go to the interview since I had nothing to lose. The job offer was very tempting. I would have been working more with computers and less dealing with people/politics, and the salary was almost three figures. That was better than anyone I knew that had gone to college and graduated. As tempting as it was, I turned it down to become a broke college student. I don't regret it either.

So, I've rambled on with my life story, what advice should you take from this. First, if you're not sure what you want to do, take a year or two before going to college to figure it out. Get a job and SAVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. The college I went too was in a small town, half of which were college students. Finding a job was damn near impossible. Fortunately I had enough savings to support myself for the first year before my savings ran out. I had to take a couple of semesters off to come home and work, but I saved up more money and went back, and eventually managed to get a part time job.

Don't overwhelm yourself during your first semester/year. I took a full load of classes and signed up for a bunch of extra curricular activities my first two semesters, and it almost burned me out. I stayed in college for the summer semester and relaxed a little. I found the summer classes more rewarding. There were less students in the summer, so class sizes were smaller, more hands on and I felt I learned more. After that summer semester is when I returned home to work, and then I went back to school starting the next summer semester.

Another bit of advice, don't let yourself get sidetracked by a relationship. A lot of people I went to school with ended up getting married right after high school or during college. Most of those that got married early out of high school never went to college, and those that got married while in college ended up dropping out. Most of them later ended up divorced or stayed married because of kids, but either way they all seem unhappy and working jobs they hate. Most of my close friends that I keep in touch with, like me, didn't go to college right after high school, which is how I met them, through work. They also didn't let relationships get in the way of finishing college. They waited until after college and finding work to get serious about relationships, and now they are working jobs they enjoy and are happily married.

Thanks so much for the advice everyone, I'm going through the new ones after my final exam, and invites have been sent out! :)