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College spending habits

R

residualsquare

Banned
Back when you were in college, how did you allocate whatever income you had between spending and saving? Though I personally did not hold a job during the academic year, I made a bit working in internships during the summers. Somehow I got the idea into my head that I should save the money I made instead of blowing it during the weekends or on things I wanted. However, in hindsight it seems that I would have been better off spending the $15,000 or so each summer on living comfortably, since in the long run saving $10,000 or so is rather insignificant. Thoughts?
 
I figured out what you figured out, but I figured it out before I graduated. I also didn't make $15,000 a summer, so I didn't have as much to save. 😉 I didn't blow my money though, I was fairly frugal.

FWIW, my "life savings" now (me + wife combined actually) is ~100x what it was when I graduated from college. Saving more during college wouldn't have really changed my current situation.
 
If you have the means to start up your retirement plan, you really should. A small amount of money now is $$$$ later on even with meager returns. As for my own spending habits, I typically spend money on one luxury with my summer internship money (like a new monitor, computer, game system, etc.) and then just budget enough money over the semester to spend about 4-5 bucks/day on lunch, shop for groceries once every 2 weeks, and go out to eat maybe once every week or two. The rest of the money is saved/invested.
 
The only money I want to save from my 20k a year is 2k to put in my roth ira. I'll start a life savings once I'm out of grad school and have a real job.
 
I also saved nothing during college. I spend most of it going out and having fun. I realized early that if I would have tried saving, it would have been insignificant compared to what I am now saving since finishing school.
 
Originally posted by: residualsquare
since in the long run saving $10,000 or so is rather insignificant. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I cannot relate to the thought that $10,000 is rather insignificant. Perhaps someone else can help.
 
Savings? Heh, I'm going into debt each semester.

I don't have a budget or anything like that drawn up. I just generally try to keep my spending down, that's all.

Now if I had a $15K/summer internship, good god, that would have me set for at least 2 years of college. I probably made less than $4K at my summer jobs, which were regular full-time jobs, not internships. I need a paying internship this summer, or else I simply won't be able to get one, and I'd get a full time job at an office or retail store. An unpaid internship is not an option.
$15K/summer.....I'm figuring on making that kind of salary after college.
 
I think about it now and all the money I saved up during college/med school/residency wasn't really worth it. I scrimped and saved over 12 years and all the money I saved up is less than I save in one year now.
 
Originally posted by: residualsquare
Back when you were in college, how did you allocate whatever income you had between spending and saving? Though I personally did not hold a job during the academic year, I made a bit working in internships during the summers. Somehow I got the idea into my head that I should save the money I made instead of blowing it during the weekends or on things I wanted. However, in hindsight it seems that I would have been better off spending the $15,000 or so each summer on living comfortably, since in the long run saving $10,000 or so is rather insignificant. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

you must come from old money if $10k in the bank is insignificant to you as a college student

$10k would be a nest egg (down on a house) for me and i graduated college almost 3 years ago

instead i have about 32k in a federal student loan plus 5.2k in a private student loan i'll probably still be paying down 10 years from now
 
$10,000 is not insignificant when you invest at an early age. consider that investment gains grow exponentially after each year, and an extra 5 years could become tens of thousands of dollars by the time you retire.
 
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