Young free and single

Whether you’re a student, just left college or about to start your career; now is the time you need to get used to planning your finances in order to afford the life you want to live.

Three ways to keep your money sorted:

1. Avoid debt
2. Start saving whenever you can
3. Work out a spending plan that works for you.

Our top tips

Work out your budget

Figure out how much money you have and how much of it you  spend each month.

Look after the pennies...

Try and save each month. It doesn’t matter if you can’t afford to put a lot to one side – every little counts and soon mounts up.

Create goals

So, you want to go on holiday this year or buy a car? Now you have an incentive to work to, let’s map out how you’re going to achieve having enough money to fulfil your goals.

Make a plan and stick to it

Take a look at the Citizens Advice Bureau’s Budgeting Tool. Create your own plan and include everything you want to do or buy in the future that will cost you money and allocate yourself  the timeframe you want to do each by. This will help you work out how much money you need to have coming in on a monthly basis, and how much you will need to save.

Student finances—need to know more?

Research shows that one-in-three students are constantly overdrawn; two-in-five students admit to being completely disorganised about their money; and one-in-three never check their bank statements or, if they do, they only check the final balance.

Don't stick your head in the sand.

Take a look at the Defaqto guide to student finances, where you'll find  some great stuff about managing your finances.