{"id":738,"date":"2025-04-21T12:09:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T17:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/?p=738"},"modified":"2025-04-21T12:09:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T17:09:34","slug":"why-college-is-the-best-time-to-start-investing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/2025\/04\/21\/why-college-is-the-best-time-to-start-investing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why College Is the Best Time to Start Investing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When you&#8217;re in college, it&#8217;s easy to think you\u2019re too broke, too busy, or too early in life to even think about investing. Between classes, ramen dinners, and trying to survive finals week, money stuff can feel like it belongs in your \u201csomeday\u201d file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But here\u2019s the truth: <strong>college is actually the <em>perfect<\/em> time to start investing<\/strong>\u2014and starting now can seriously change your future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">Time Is on Your Side (and It\u2019s a Big Deal)<\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you only take one thing away from this post, let it be this: <strong>the earlier you invest, the more your money grows.<\/strong> This is thanks to something called <em>compound interest<\/em>\u2014aka, money making money on money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a quick example that might blow your mind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You invest just $50 a month starting at age 19.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your friend starts at 30, investing $100 a month.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Even though your friend invests <em>twice<\/em> as much, you\u2019ll likely end up with more money by the time you both hit retirement age\u2014<strong>just because you started earlier.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Time is basically free money. And right now, you have more of it than anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">You Don\u2019t Need to Be Rich to Get Started<\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Gone are the days when you needed thousands of dollars to invest. Thanks to apps like Robinhood, Fidelity, Schwab, and Acorns, you can start with as little as $5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few low-cost, beginner-friendly options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Index Funds<\/strong> \u2013 great for passive growth<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>ETFs<\/strong> \u2013 kind of like the snack packs of investing: diversified and low-risk<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Stocks<\/strong> \u2013 own pieces of big companies like Apple or Amazon without shelling out hundreds<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Starting small is 100% okay. What matters most is just starting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">Inflation Is Real (and It\u2019s Stealing From You)<\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If your money\u2019s just sitting in a savings account or Venmo balance, you\u2019re actually losing buying power every year. That $10 burrito today might cost $12 in a few years. Investing helps your money <strong>keep up with inflation<\/strong> so it actually grows, not shrinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">Start Now, Thank Yourself Later<\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>College is the best time to start investing. You don\u2019t need to be a finance major or have a ton of cash. Just start small, stay consistent, and let time do the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if it\u2019s just $10 a week\u2014that\u2019s not even two Starbucks runs\u2014<strong>your future self will be thankful you did.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you&#8217;re in college, it&#8217;s easy to think you\u2019re too broke, too busy, or too early in life to even think about investing. Between classes, ramen dinners, and trying to survive finals week, money stuff can feel like it belongs in your \u201csomeday\u201d file. But here\u2019s the truth: college is actually the perfect time to &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/2025\/04\/21\/why-college-is-the-best-time-to-start-investing\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Why College Is the Best Time to Start Investing&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17913,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":739,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738\/revisions\/739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/financialliteracycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}