Budgeting
Budgeting is important, so we've put together a few handy tips to do so: Bossing Your Budget: Student Edition.
SHU Money Skills have a range of different resources to help you manage your money. They cover things like budgeting, scam awareness, and gaming and gambling.
Blackbullion is a learning platform designed for students and includes money skills pathways, bootcamps, and budgeting tools. It will help empower you to be money smarter and make sound financial decisions. It teaches essential financial skills and habits that will help you throughout your life.
Citizens Advice also have lots of great resources, advice, and further information on money issues, including a budgeting tool, help with debt solutions, and other issues related to the Cost of Living crisis.
Sheffield Money Support Guide has lots of valuable information on how you can save money across a range of different things, and has links to other providors who are experts in their saving money in their areas.
Saving
Money saving challenges
If you're able to start saving some money for the future, there are loads of different methods to help you get started. Some of the most popular right now are:
- £1 a week challenge - increasing by £1 every week.
- Envelope challenge - write increasing amounts on 52 envelopes (£1 on the first and £52 on the last), pick an envelope at random to add cash to each week.
Of course it's important to only save within your means, and never go into debt in order to save, but you can always vary these methods for a lower budget and there isn't any commitment. Save the Student have other ideas for helping kick start your savings goals.
Savings accounts
MoneySavingExpert has lots of great advice on what savings accounts different banks offer and will help you choose an account that helps you get the most out of your money. There's also lots of savings guides as well as a savings calculator to help you work out how much you can afford to save.
State benefits
Whilst the majority of students are unable to claim state benefits whilst at university, there are some circumstances where you might be able to claim. Our Advice Centre has information about claiming benefits and a detailed and informative guide to Universal Credit for people in higher education, which includes who can claim, how to claim, and how much you may be entitled to. They also offer a benefits checking service where you'll be able to sit down with an Adviser to discuss what you may be entitled to. Get in touch to find out more.
It's important to make sure you get all the help you're entitled to. When it comes to claiming state benefits, Citizens Advice have lots of useful information on their website. There's an A-Z of benefits with details of different kinds, including Universal Credit, housing benefits, and income support. They also have a Benefits Calculator to help you work out what you might be entitled to, and you can get in contact with them for support with applications.
Banking incentives
Lots of banks offer benefits to those who open bank accounts, such as interest free overdrafts and free cinema tickets, and this is also the case with student bank accounts, with a common perk being a free 16-25 railcard. It can be useful to shop around every year and MoneySavingExpert and Compare the Market both have up-to-date information on what each bank offers students, as well as tools to compare them and help decide which one will suit you best.
Many banks also offer rewards for switching to them. These tend to either be in high street vouchers or cash paid directly into your bank account. Some are currently offering as much as £200! It's quick and easy to switch, but do note that some accounts have monthly fees (often a few quid per month) whilst others are free. MoneySavingExpert and Uswitch are good places to look for up-to-date information on the best deals.
An easy way to try saving is by using 'round-up accounts'. This is where you passively save money every time you spend with your card, by your bank or third party provider rounding up your spending to the nearest pound. For example, you spend 75p on a bag of crisps and 25p is taken from your current account and put into your savings. It's an easy way to start saving a bit of money without really trying, and some banks even offer better interest rates on your rounded up money. A couple of examples of these are Chase and MoneyBox, but there are others out there, and your current bank account might offer the service already.
Cashback
An easy way to make money as you spend is by using one of many cashback sites or apps. Sites like TopCashBack and Quidco are easy to use; just search for the retailer you want to buy from, follow the link to the retailer's website, and then continue to shop as normal. The provider tracks the purchase, registers the cashback, and adds the cashback into your account once approved by the retailer. You can then request to withdraw your cashback and have it sent to your bank account.
Some of the best cashback rates tend to be for bigger purchases such as hotels, travel, and insurance, but there are plenty available for smaller purchases too. It's worth noting that different providers have different cashback amounts for different retailers, so it's always worth comparing to see where has the best deal.
Buy now, pay later
'Buy now, pay later' (BNPL) schemes such as Klarna and Clearpay have made it easier than ever to spend money on both essential and luxury items, but it's easy to get carried away. It's important to remember that whilst tempting, these services are essentially entering you into a debt agreement which must be repaid. It can be a helpful way to help spread the cost of big purchases, but remember to keep in mind how the monthly repayments might impact your budget.
Blackbullion have put together an overview of the risks of BNPL schemes.
Stop Loan Sharks
We've been made aware of loan sharks targeting students, and in particular international students. Loan sharks are unregistered lenders who offer undocumented loans of money, repaid with huge rates of interest. Loan sharks often use threatening and violent behaviour to make you repay, and behaviour can escalate quickly. Unregistered lending is illegal in the UK, and if students need to borrow money, they should do so only from registered lenders such as a bank or building society.
Stop Loan Sharks offers support to victims of Loan Sharks and have lots of useful information for if you or a friend think you're being targeted. You can report suspicious lending online or by calling 0300 555 2222.