I met with Stacey Allerton, who is a Savings & MoneyMinded Coach and also works within The Smith Family’s Saver Plus program to discuss financial wellbeing & literacy for university students.

This article is where you can read about and listen to our conversation on financial wellbeing and literacy. For more, read about and listen to my interview with Stacey Allerton on the Saver Plus program.

Stacey believes that your time as a student is also a wonderful time to learn financial skills such as money management and setting yourself up for success with clear financial and saving goals. She also believes that “everybody can always learn more” and says that she often learns tips from her students in The Smith Family programs.

Common Financial Mistakes Common Financial Traps:

When asked about common mistakes that university students make with their finances, Stacey preferred to use the term “financial traps”. This shift in wording can help reframe your perspective on finances. In this, Stacey talked about mindset around finances and traps one might fall into. She encourages everyone to,

“hold ourselves and the strategies that we use for managing money with compassion”

and not be too hard on yourself or focus too heavily on the traps that you have previously fallen into; to see yourself as learning as you go.

Trap #1: Not knowing where your money is going

Stacey’s top tip: Start writing down what you spend as you buy it.

This gives you a good idea of where your money is allocated to; “the reality is we are juggling a lot in our everyday lives, and you can end up spending more than you realise”. Spending a little time each week collating your receipts and looking through your bank transactions can add up to a picture representative of where you are financially. This can help you determine what areas of your life you have allocated the most money to and prompt reflection on what you could do to minimise unnecessary spending.

Trap #2: Not reflecting on the traps you’ve fallen into

As a fan of positive psychology, Stacey encourages adopting a growth mindset and to reflect on your financial decisions.

When reflecting Stacey encourages:

1. Reflecting upon your past experiences,
2. Understanding what you learned from this experience and
3. Consider what you could do differently next time

Note how this does not include obsessing over the trap you fell into. We must “hold ourselves and the strategies that we use for managing money with compassion”, not malice.

Stacey’s top tip: “Reflect upon what you’re doing with your money with somebody who is independent of you”. Sometimes all you need is a listening ear but reaching out to the proper support systems can be paramount for financial wellbeing.

Trap #3: Setting unattainable goals

When saving and setting goals, making goals that are achievable and realistic as well as not focussing on saving huge sums of money is key. We “often put a lot of pressure on ourselves, trying to expect ourselves to save” with goals that “are not sustainable or realistic”. Sometimes this is logistically due to the goal but also can relate to the ways we go about achieving our goals.

Stacey’s top tip: Saving money is important but our strategies to limit our unnecessary spending is just as (if not more) important. Checking unit pricing and accessing community supports such as the online Ask Izzy website, which provides access to free and low-cost food and support services, can help us save more and provide us with the confidence that we are actively working towards our financial goals.

Free resources in the Community

Stacey advises students to access Centrelink’s free Financial Information Service. This service is found by calling your local Centrelink’s phone number (found online) or going to your nearest Centrelink and ask to speak to a financial information service officer. This staff member can help you understand your eligibility for Centrelink programs that you might be new to and also help support decisions regarding money. They also offer a multitude of free webinars on finance and financial wellbeing.

Stacey also discussed MoneySmart which is a free financial wellbeing website funded by the Australian Government which provides “practical strategies and information and advice that you can read free of charge”.

There are also many free newsletters from sources like money magazines, banks and government initiatives. Stacey talked about how getting a free newsletter in your inbox “reminds you to think about your money situation and it’s an easy way to upskill yourself because reading an email doesn’t take you too long”.

Stacey works within The Smith Family in the Saver Plus program which is a wonderful program which you can read more about on this (link to other article) article for The Griffith Journal or on the Saver Plus website. If eligible, these programs offer a wealth of knowledge and prompt understanding of your financial situation, reflection and proper goal setting which targets all of the common traps I mentioned earlier!

Free Resources at Griffith

I’d also like to mention that on campus at Griffith, the Mutual Aid Society provides a student pantry and frozen meals on campus, the Griffith Clothing Library provides business and placement attire, and Repair Cafes are hosted where you get your items repaired for free and learn some skills along the way. The SRC and GUGC Student Guild also offer so much to students with all types of support. There are so many resources out there for everyone. Why not connect with the Griffith community and the support Griffith website to see what’s on offer for you?

You can listen to my interview with Stacey, where we discuss financial well-being and literacy for university students. You can also tune into our conversation about The Smith Family Saver Plus program here or read more about this discussion here. Happy saving!