Avoid a Financial Flop

Take control of your finances with these realistic tips. By: Sydney Sinks “Skip the expensive coffee.”

This is the advice we usually receive when we ask how to save money. But as we enter year three of the COVID-19 pandemic with 6.5 million unemployed Americans and an average U.S. student debt of over $30,000, this advice feels unhelpful — and patronizing.

Instead, financial educators like Nikki Garry encourage us to think critically about budgets and debt. Garry, who serves as Millikin’s director of campus life for BIPOC student support, also runs Your Money Matters, LLC, a business that provides financial education.

“I didn’t learn this stuff from home. My parents, we didn’t really talk about money, as a lot of families don’t, so I learned from the school of hard knocks,” Garry says. “I realized there’s a better way to do things. And I realized I could help people from the errors that I’ve made. I think every vision starts with a burden.”

Garry urges people to focus on three basics: budgeting, savings and debt elimination. She meets a lot of people who are so overwhelmed by their finances that they become paralyzed, but this simple approach makes it easier to take control of your money.

Ruby James, Millikin’s vice president of finance, also encourages students to think about what’s most important to them and plan what they’ll spend money on. She believes that certain purchases are worth the price, even if they accrue debt. “I think there are some things you need to use debt for, you just need to use it wisely,” she says. James believes her education, her mortgage and her family’s medical bills have all been worth the debt. But to make this debt more manageable, she encourages everyone to generally spend below their means.

Most importantly, people need to plan ahead. James says everyone should think about insurance and emergency funds, just in case. And both Garry and James agree: It’s time to start saving for retirement. They encourage students to think about setting up a retirement fund as soon as they start working, which will make this process feel like less of a burden as your career progresses.

Financial literacy is important for everyone to know. But historically, women have been kept out of the conversation. Garry says that 90% of her one-on-one clients are women trying to learn more about their money, and she encourages more women to take control of their finances. “Women sometimes don’t have this information because a lot of the time we depend on our spouses or we just kind of go with the flow of the household,” she says. “But it’s important for both partners in the household to know what’s going on with the finances.”

Ultimately, planning ahead and staying realistic will make your money more manageable. Take control of your finances now, and they’ll never take control of you.