Ever since we were young, we’ve been told that studying hard until college and earning a diploma or bachelor’s degree serves as your ticket to getting a steady job. However, the reality is that not all those who graduated land a job, let alone a high-paying one. So the experts recommend you start thinking outside the box and think of alternative ways to earn money aside from getting a job.
Either you can start a business while being a college student like Evan Spiegel and Mark Zuckerberg, or you may consider investing. According to financial experts, investing while you’re still in your college days will help you generate some passive money while you’re looking for a job. Here’s how.
Start Investing in Yourself
You might be wondering how you can start investing when you have a tight budget. You’re barely living out of your allowance with no source of income.
According to experts, investment isn’t all about money. You can start preparing your future as early as your college days by investing in yourself. They recommend you start thinking of your dreams and goals in life. What is the future you envision for yourself? Start working on your goals and dreams during your free time.
Invest yourself in acquiring skills to expand your knowledge and abilities.
For example, you might be studying computer-related courses since you want to be a programmer someday. Aside from taking a course, hone your skills in coding by taking side gigs and part-time jobs to apply your skills. You can also read books to expand your knowledge during your free time.
In this way, not only are you able to convert your free time into doing something productive, but you’ll also start earning money and build a solid portfolio that you can show to your future employers. The skills you obtained will serve you in the long-run.
Open a Deposit Account
Opening a bank account helps you resist the temptation of impulsive buying and spending your money recklessly.
Whether you have extra money from your part-time jobs, summer jobs, sidelines or gigs or you have some cash to spare from your allowance. The financial experts recommend you open a bank account to deposit your money.
In this way, you’ll practice the habit of saving money which you can use for a better purpose in the future, or in case of an emergency. The money you’ll be saving won’t be as much (let alone it won’t grow as you wish it to be.), but it’s better than nothing. It’s already a great start for your smart investment.
Start Managed Investing and Trading
If you prefer to use your free time to learn something new that’s unrelated to your course, then the financial experts recommend you start learning how to trade.
After all, we’re interested to learn how to let our money grow and work for us, right? If that’s the case, they recommend you start reading books, articles, online tutorials and courses or follow successful traders to learn the basics of trading. Load yourself with lots of information first to get a grasp on how trading works.
Use the free time you have during semestral breaks and vacations to start learning how to trade.
Once you get the hang of the basics of trading, it’s time for you to analyze different markets as well as other investment methods like bonds, mutual funds, stocks, and other risk-generating and managed assets. You can start trading for free using a demo account first to analyze the market trends and strategize your investment.
Should you decide to start actual investing, the financial experts recommend you start small first. Only invest small money (as little as $1) as you test the waters before you’re confident enough to start investing a large amount of money.
