Tips for Students Who Want to Save

With spring underway, university and college students who are enjoying a well-deserved break from their studies will soon be joined by their high school counterparts. In the summer, students earn money that will help them get through the next school year. For many, this money is the difference between a financially stressful school year and one where the student can focus on “job one,” which is to do well academically.

The concept of saving for the future is something that does not come naturally to everyone. It takes discipline and practice to save, just like it does to kick a habit, to diet, or to change a particular behaviour. Parents can influence a student’s behaviour by acting as a positive role model. Allowing a child to observe financial selfdiscipline helps students understand value and offers encouragement. And sharing tips and ideas about how to make saving a regular part of one’s lifestyle can prove valuable.

Set a weekly savings target: Determine, in advance, a reasonable amount of spending money needed each week during the summer. Then, translate that dollar amount into a percentage of the individual’s regular pay cheque. For example, consider the situation where the individual feels they have spending needs over the summer months of $100 per week, while their weekly pay cheque amounts to about $400. In this case, the goal would be to set 25% of the weekly pay aside for spending and target 75% as the amount to be saved weekly. Moving 75% of the weekly pay into a separate savings account helps isolate the savings using a clear, easy-to-understand target. A student who is 18 or older may want to consider using a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) for this purpose.

E.O. & E.

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Contributors to this edition:

James W. Kraft, cpa, ca, mtax, tep, cfp, clu, ch.f.c.
Deborah Kraft, mtax, tep, cfp, clu, ch.f.c.

About The Author

Mark Schneider
Mark Schneider is one of Canada's leading Chartered Financial Planners. For over 30 years he has helped hundreds of regular Canadian families grow small fortunes through consistent planning and wise advice. He holds the following designations: CFP, CLU, CHFC, CFSB

Get ready for your new life. It’ll be a great ride!

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We Celebrate Savers

At M.A. Schneider Insurance, we believe the saver deserves to be celebrated.

After all, it’s the saver that is conscientious every day to gradually create wealth for all.

That habit not only creates security for them but for their families and for the community as a whole.

We think they sometimes lose sight of how important they are.

This blog is here to help them. To help inspire them to stay the course and ultimately lead the great lives that they deserve.

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2. We hope that understanding what’s going on will help with perspective on what you can do.

3. New innovation and resources you can seek out.

This blog will offer an insight into the future because whether we like it or not, we’re going there. We’ll do the research to find the innovations that you should know about.