Money Management Made Easy: Why Every Optometry Student Needs To Pay Attention To Their Finances!
Today we have one for the Optometry Students out there who are struggling with student debt. This article provides the tools and strategies you need to manage student loan debt.
One of the most intimidating aspects of optometry school is the amount of money involved. Loans, books, equipment and living expenses quickly pile up, leaving most optometry students feeling like they’re treading water, barely afloat! Nagging financial worries only add more stress to your life and can seriously affect your school experience if you don’t keep them in check. By tracking your finances and budgeting correctly, you can put your money issues to bed and focus on what matters most.
The biggest factor that turned me think twice about optometry school was the massive amount of money that students need to borrow in order to complete their 4-year degree. Yet I knew that some how, some way I would come out on top and that overall this was the biggest investment of my life and one that was well worth it.
Student loans can be VERY confusing so do think you can learn everything there is to know in one session on the Internet. My experiences with optometry students and doctors have taught me that the most important thing is be proactive about your student loans, don’t sit around and then 4 years later think to yourself “oh yea, I forgot I just borrowed $140,000”. The key is to be smart with your money and learn about how you can make your money do all the work while you sit back and learn how to use a phoropter!
OptometryStudents.com is here to give you your first big tip when it comes to Optometry School Finances and Loans.
One of the greatest financial tools at your disposal is a free money management site called Mint.com. Basically, Mint.com connects to your online banking accounts and automatically keeps track of your finances for you. Withdrawals, checks, deposits, and any income are all meticulously recorded so that you always have an accurate picture of your financial situation. Just using the basic features of the site alone will give you great peace of mind, as you know exactly how much money you have available.
(Don’t worry about security – Mint.com is a reputable site used by hundreds of thousands of people. In addition, the site doesn’t actually have the power or authority to make any payments or withdrawals from your account. It can only report balances and transaction details.)
The real power of Mint.com lies in its ability to help you create a budget. Using the budget-planning section of your account, you can set aside a certain amount of money each month for various expenses. Mint.com can then keep track of your expenses and automatically categorize them for you.
For example, lets say you eat out too much and you want to get some control over this habit. First, you can use the site to see how much you spend per week on average. Using this data, you set a reasonable monthly food budget for yourself – let’s say $250. Plug this number into your food budget on Mint, and each time you make a purchase at the grocery store or even a restaurant, the site automatically subtracts that expense from your monthly food budget! Lets also say you want to set a fixed amount of money on how much you spend on books and instruments for Optometry School; no problem! Now you can take a look at your financial situation on any given day and see if you should be spending less or if you have room to breathe. It’s definitely the easiest way to keep track of your finances and to ensure your money is being put in the right spots.
Mint.com is useful for graduates as well. There are plenty of features on the site that allow you to track debt and budget your loan payments.
BusinessWeek Magazine, TIME magazine, The American Business Awards along with plenty of other credible sources have gave Mint.com 5 stars are letting readers know that mint.com is hands down best new online financial service… Hey, they even have an iPhone application. I think that Optometry Students managing the money while on the go could really help us out in the long run.
Mint.com provides you with detailed graphs that show your spending habits, your net worth and a ton of other easy to read graphs and charts. Mint.com also analyzes your money and tells you what credit cards, bank accounts, investments and loan providers would be best for you. It provides you with ideas for loan consolidation and a plethora of other cool stuff.
There are a few disadvantages, but none severe enough to stop you from using them. First off, Mint.com obviously can’t keep track of your cash purchases. If you do have cash, you’ll have to enter these transactions manually which defeats the purpose of the automated system. However, it’s easy to get a debit card from your bank and use that instead. This way, all purchases are tracked.
The other minor disadvantage is the fact that financial reporting on Mint.com is usually delayed by a couple of days. If a transaction hasn’t appeared on your online banking statement yet, it won’t appear on Mint.com either. Not a huge deal, but something to keep in mind when using it.
Every optometry student should be managing his or her finances with the help of Mint.com! There’s really no better or easier way to handle this normally time-consuming task. And who can argue with the fact that it’s FREE?!
So today’s lesson for Optometry School Finances and Loans is that money well managed is a proactive way to have your money work for you. Managing your money this way will keep you disciplined and will truly help you out in the long run when you need to pay off your loans. It will also keep you money conscious so that you can begin to learn about ways to save, invest, spend, how to get credit card rewards and will overall build up your financial muscles.
So check out the website and sign up today to start managing your money intelligently so that you can come out of school smiling instead of worrying about student loan debts from optometry school.
If you have any financial tips for optometry students, please feel free to share them in the comments section. We want to hear about WHAT ELSE you want to know about Optometry School Finances and Loans; we have the people to deliver you the most creative and helpful answers out there, so please comment!
