SAVING FOR THE RAINY DAYS

Kamil, a third semester student at STBA LIA, is wondering where all his allowance keeps going. “There’s never any money left,” he complains, “What i monthly receive from my parents goes into transportation fares, cigarettes, phone cards. . . . i hardly ever eat out. Yes, i go out with my girlfriend once a week, but we always split bills-lucky me. But for me saving is simply not an option.“ According to Safir Senduk, a financial planner who has written several book on budget planning, Kamil is not alone. A lot of other teenagers and young adults feel just as frustrated because they have no idea how to manage their cash. To be able to make the best of their financial circumstances, these young people need to limit their expenses, try to make some money on their own, and put whatever they have managed to save into same profitable investment.

One of the first things adolescents need to do is carefully look at their expenses and figure out a way to economize. What do they pay for every month? Among teenagers and young adults, the biggest expense is usually food. Getting together at their favorite hangots, either after school or work, or on weekends, they voluntarily cough up some of their cash for the sake of having fun. With mushrooming eateries offering mouthwatering food and drinks plus a cozy ambience, many big cities with local campuses and big companies are especially a real heaven for this sociable urban youths. Next to food, hobbies rank as number two on young people’s list of expenses. Unable to resist their passions, many in this age group invest quite an amount of their ready cash in these activities. Spending hour at a video game arcade orbuying the latest technological gadgets are some of the worst money-guzzling diversions. Nevertheless, their is a solution to such money squandering habits, that is, if you are really determined. The key to being able to set aside money is: save first, spend later. Routinely save at least 10% of your monthly allowance as soon as you receive it. In this way, you will never be completely broke.

Onee way of augmenting your savings is by making money. Always stay alert to opportunities for earning some cash. Using a bit of resourcefulness, you can turn almost any event into a potential source of profit. Take a music concert, for example. You can make good use of the occasions by selling all sorts of knick-knacks of the performing artist. Any holiday season­-Idul Fitri, Christmas-or red calendar day, such as Valentine’s Day, can bring  in a handsome windfall throug the sale of cards or parcels. Performing this kind of routine will help develop your business skills, which will be useful when in later years you have to earn your own livelihood.

If you decide to invest, you must know the safest and the risky way to do it. There are many choices. Opening a deposit in a bank is one of the most popular ways. Another alternative is investing throught reksa dana- a kind of investment system managed by an investment management team. The money you save will be invested in many kinds of investment products. The minimum amount is quite affordable, Rp 100.000. if you are Moslem who wants to make sure that the interest you get is kosher, use a bank that uses a syariah system. You can also invest your money buy keeping gold coins. It is good because the price of gold is surely increasing from time to time. Investing money is another important thing in money management.

In summary, managing money is not impossible if you save regularly, earn and invest your money. Do not let a passing temptation ruin your long-term goals. As a chinese proverbs says, “The longest journey starts with a first step.” Cut your unnecessary budget, seek for opportunity to earn money and invest right now. You can live on a budget if you discipline yourself.

Comment :

In my opinion about that article is good article. I agree about that article because it can give us a learning which good especially for teenegers. Now, teenegers have contaminated by bad association which they often hangout for just show off  to their friend about they are rich people.

For the most part of rich teenegers can’t managed their money from their parents. They just scatter their money not for anything which have benefit. For girls, have hobby shopping with expensive price or it’s call the shopaholic. At the same time for boy, they choose for hangout with their friends and delivered a lot of food.

Parents should give briefing to their children for managed their money for anything which have benefit. They can save their money for investment, because that all have many benefit for their future life. Now, there are a lot of type of investment such as reksa dana, deposit in bank, common stock, obligation. We can choose invest which we want.

So, now we should start to thinking for life to better in the future life with investment.