Financial literacy enables one to better prepare for certain financial obstacles, which, in turn, lowers the likelihood of experiencing personal financial hardship. Today's culture places a premium on financial literacy because of prevalent issues like student loans, credit cards, investments, mortgages, and insurance. In order to comprehend what money means to today's youth in a growing world, this series explores students and young working professionals and their perspectives on money and finance.
Surbhi Sharma of JSS Academy of Technical Education tells MintGenie in an interview that she believes saving money should be of prime importance for anyone. As an engineering student, she describes herself as an eager learner willing to hop on corporative opportunities to serve as many users worldwide as possible. She enjoys sketching and painting a lot while her interest in science has always made her favour tech.
Edited Excerpts:
What does money mean to you? Is it the most important factor when it comes to your life decisions like what to study, career and so forth?
Money has always contributed as a significant aspect in most decisions of my life, be it at the professional or personal level. In today's time, money seems to have a direct proportionality to the standards and personality of a person. Being a student pursuing engineering, it often gets intimidating to manage all sorts of expenses without having a source of income of my own.
Money does count to be an immensely crucial factor as far as career opportunities are considered because the expenses of a decent livelihood have been increasing manifold. One can hardly overlook financial stability while making various life decisions like study, career, etc. What matters, in the end, is just how much money you got!
What do you spend your money on every month at the moment? Can you give a breakup in percentage terms?
Pursuing engineering at JSS Academy of Technical Education, Noida, 50 percent of my expenses contribute to commuting from Delhi to Noida. Another appreciable percentage (30 percent) of expense each month is the online certifications I am entitled to complete along with my general academics.
Apart from the above-mentioned expenses, certain miscellaneous expenses occur each month contributing to the maintenance of standards of living, shopping, and meeting friends and family time and again. Moreover, I always tend to secure a significant percentage each month (roughly 10 percent) as savings to help me out in times of need.
What are the things you want to spend money on?
Having a soft heart for dogs and in fact animals in general, if ever provided the opportunity, I would want to establish new or fund existing shelter homes or NGOs to enable the innocent voiceless souls to live a life filled with love and contentment, away from brutality and starvation. Apart from this, a luxurious life for my parents is a responsibility I'd want to accomplish sooner than ever on attaining financial stability.
Do you save money? If yes, how frequently and what do you do with this money?
Saving money should be of prime importance for anyone, be it a student or a financially independent being. I am, thus, utterly disciplined when it comes to saving money. I always save roughly 10 percent-15 percent of my pocket money each month and keep it aside for times of need or in case certain unavoidable and urgent expenses come up.
Being a student enrolled in a technical course, we are often required to attend workshops or seminars to help us build projects to contribute to the betterment of our portfolio. These projects, either software or hardware, raise a significant amount of expenses which I usually try to cover up with my pocket money, often utilising my savings.
What does having a job mean to you? What are the top two factors you will want to think about when deciding on a company to work for?
Although money has its own set of benefits, I believe that while working for any corporate company my goal would be to serve as many users as possible to help make their lives better. However, I would prefer to take up a job that offers satisfactory pay along with knowledge and exposure. This would enable me to serve the IT sector and its users well while being able to maintain all my livelihood costs and the medical expenses of my family without hassle.
What do you think about investing your money? If you have a certain amount of money set aside, will you want to invest it in the stock market, or mutual funds, or do you just keep it in your bank savings account?
Investment of money is, I would personally say, more important than spending. In times like we've faced due to Covid-19, one doesn't really know what's to happen in the future and when one might be in need. The fight for money especially in times of need is horrific out there. Therefore, one most certainly should try to invest whatever amount possible to manage future endeavours.
If I have a significant amount of money set aside, I would prefer to take up the opportunity to invest it in mutual funds. Being a person from the IT field, the stock market seems a bit too risky to deal with. Keeping it in the bank account would in turn lead to unnecessary expenditure or neither profit nor loss. It is thus better to go for investment in mutual funds as it tends to provide greater security to your money.
Do you think you have an understanding of how to save and invest? If yes, how did you learn? If not, are you trying to learn?
Honestly speaking, I feel one can never have enough knowledge of the investment of their assets. With such advancements in technology who can tell what the finance sector has to offer its users in the near future?
I have always gained knowledge of finances and investments from my dad. With a commerce background, my dad has always preferred to manage his finances by himself and made sure I follow up on all that he does with his business. This in turn helped me understand a lot about the finance sector despite being an engineering student. However, there's still a lot I have to learn to start investing on my own and I can't wait to explore the finance world more than ever!
Do you follow social media influencers and follow their investment advice?
Social media influencers are celebrities of a kind, they have got a different set of assets that they require management with, and being an engineering student eager on joining the corporate world, I don't find it appropriate to consider their advice on investment. Most of the time, influencers themselves hire professionals to guide them with their asset management.
Following someone for adopting a healthy lifestyle, mental peace, or even fun is one thing but for a practical approach, I feel one should gather as much knowledge as possible from finance professionals.
Do you talk to your mother or your father about money and learn from them or follow their advice?
As far as finance and investment knowledge is concerned, my dad has always been my go-to person. Being a businessman by profession, he has always managed his finances at best and I have never thought of any better person than him to learn all about investments, banking, and even the concepts of ITRs and GST being the most recent ones.
