Yuwen Dai
Money Matters
10/15/2014
Before I came to the U.S., all my life did not much related to finance, because I was a high school student at that time. During these college years in the U.S., I started to learn more about credit cards, bank accounts and establish credit. One of the major benefits of owning a student credit card is understanding your own credit, and it doesn’t mean you can get as much as credit cards whatever you want. For students, you can choose a low interest credit card if you typically carry over a balance from month to month. Remember that since the APR is variable, you won't necessary be granted the lowest APR advertised. If you’d like shopping a lot, you can choose a rewards credit card or cash back credit card. Keep in mind that the very best rewards and cash back cards are only available to consumers with excellent credit. Note that if you don't pay your credit card off in full every month you will probably be better off with a low interest credit card.
When I was in my country, I realized that only one person in my family knows where the money goes. Most families have one person that’s largely in control of managing the money – and that’s fine. It can be very useful to have a family “accountant” – a person that manages the checkbook, makes sure the bills are paid, and so on. This can actually be a very good thing, particularly if one person in a family is particularly detail-oriented. I think the problem occurs when this leads to financial atrophy in the family, where no one but the person running the checkbook knows where the money goes or is involved in the decision-making process. While it can be very easy to just let that person run things, it can be very dangerous, too. That person might not be saving appropriately for family goals, might be leveraging credit card use in order to allow everyone to keep spending as they are,