Podcast(draft)

The podcast "Financially Unstable" discusses how students struggle with managing money despite studying finance. Alina and Tom share insights on developing good money habits, avoiding emotional spending, and dealing with societal pressures. They emphasize the importance of small savings habits, resisting impulse purchases, and prioritizing needs over wants. Tom highlights the impact of environment on spending habits and suggests creating lasting financial habits for stability. The podcast encourages mindful spending and building a strong financial mindset for long-term stability. Imagine studying finance for 4 years and still not knowing where your money disappears every month. That's actually happening right now. And honestly, most students are not failing because they are lazy. They are failing because nobody teaches realistic money habits for people who are still broke. Hi everyone, to my podcast, Financially Unstable, I'm Alina, a junior at Hai University. I'm studying financial studies and today we're talking about something almost every student should secretly stress about, money. Not becoming a millionaire overnight, not waking up at 5am just, how to stop feeling financially stuck. Today we're going to have a guest, Tom, a senior at Hai University, but he's not an average student. He brings over 2 years of real-world working experience and has mastered the art of long-term financial management. He's here to break down the exact persistent actions that actually work and how you can stop feeling stuck and actually start growing and building your future. Honestly, I think a lot of students don't even realize how emotional our spending becomes during a stressful semester. After you finish your exam, you want to order delivery because it's a sweet treat. You do really well and you feel yourself good, so you just want to be happy for those small moments. I think student spending is more emotional than practical sometimes. What shocked me most while researching for this episode is that even students studying financial management struggle with savings consistently. Honestly, it's made me realize that it isn't about intelligence at all. Maybe budgeting fails because students make it too complicated. I want to tell you a story. Imagine two students with the exact same monthly loans and one of them ends the month completely broke and the other somehow still saves a little. The difference usually isn't income. First is awareness. Your habits. For example, if you were bringing a beverage container to school instead of buying drinks all the time, you're saving some money. Or your daily decisions like where you're going to eat, how much you're going to spend. Some people are thinking about it and the others, they just don't. Convenience stores in Korea are financially dangerous because nobody walks out with just water. You're going to buy a chocolate bar or ice cream because it's convenient and you want to get the top and you want to be happy for those few minutes. Although I think social media makes student finances psychologically harder too. Like when you go to Instagram and you're seeing those luxury lifestyles, productive girl trends, expensive cafes. Most likely if it's in Seoul, like for me personally, I love matcha latte. If I'm going to see there's a good matcha latte or a cake, I'll be just obsessed with that place. In my mind, it's going to be like if I complete that, all my things are done. I'll just go there and try it because it's a reward for your hard work. But also it makes you feel behind in our 20s because you not always can afford those things. And I often think that people spend more now to look stable instead of actually becoming stable. And one thing I found interesting is that even central banks are buying gold for stability during inflation. But honestly, for most students, stability probably starts with saving your first consistent $50, $50, not buying a gold bar. And that information is bad on D.P. Morgan Research. Lastly, aesthetic motivation is overrated sometimes because nobody feels motivated to save money after a stressful week. How do people build habits even when they don't feel disciplined? Let's ask our guest his opinion on that matter. Today our guest is a senior at Hanyang University. Could you introduce yourself? Hello, my name is Jihoon Park. My English name is Tom. And I am a fourth-year international student at Hanyang University. I also have two years' experience working at a warehouse in Gangwon-do, Inje. And I'll be here talking about the saving habits and habits that students must have when it comes to achieving financial stability. My first question will be, do you ever open your banking account and wonder how you spend so much while buying nothing, like delivery apps, your coffee, or someone that you're going to meet in a social event? Absolutely. I'm a human myself. So when it comes to checking how much I spend per month, I tend to be surprised how much I spend money on, such as memberships and other necessary goods that I believe that I need as a student. But the cost itself is quite great. And sometimes when I look at my bank account, I'm very surprised about it. I found one study which tells you the students for even study management and finance, they're struggling with their fins also. So do you think it's maybe not about their knowledge, but about their habits? How do you usually spend it per month? Well, I think one of the most students tend to make throughout their financial stability journey is the fact that they believe it's willpower. But realistically, I personally believe that the reasons why it's hard for them to manage their spending is generally having the habits to save is quite difficult to maintain. So when it comes to savings, there are so many necessary expenses that come throughout living as a student. For example, food expenses. If you live outside, you also have to pay monthly and also tuition. So it's not really about the person's willpower. I personally believe it's the environment that the person is raised in. Because people that live in Seoul, they tend to pay much more when it comes to food than other places. So it's just a general environment issues when it comes to savings. And I don't think a lot of people should be too concerned. However, if it's something that you can no longer manage, then yes, there are very important steps to maintaining stability in how much you spend. Why do you think some students could feel guilty about the money, even though they are not working full-time yet? When they go to social media, they compare themselves with others, or they want to have an extensive lifestyle, but they don't want to anymore be dependent on their families. I think it's just human nature. It's the way how our mind thinks. We believe that at a certain amount of age, we should be very independent from our parents. Based on my own personal experiences and my knowledge when it comes to financial stability, a lot of young students nowadays tend to forget that we're in a late-stage capitalist society, where being independent from your parents is much more easier in the 80s and 90s due to the ongoing economic pattern at the time. We're in a stage where recession is quite occurring lately, and where spendings and inflation rates have been quite high. So it's very normal to feel like you're being left behind if you watch Instagram and you see all kinds of people making all kinds of money. But I personally believe in a philosophy where easy money earned is also easy money spent. So I think young students nowadays, instead of comparing themselves in social media, they should create a spending habit that they can last for a lifetime and gradually increase their financial incomes and their financial stability. I think it's just the convenience necessities aspect. For example, when you eat something, you know that there are possibilities where you can stay at your dorm or at your place and you can cook much more cheaper alternatives. Because realistically, cooking takes a lot of efforts and time. So a lot of people believe the convenience factor is the one that's really worth spending. But in reality, when you create small habits of doing it by your own self, such as, for example, walking in general, I see a lot of people riding taxis even if they're five minutes away because they don't want to put the effort of walking. So rather than allowing convenience to take over, allow your habits to take a little bit of hardship. So a lot of difficulty in life creates a very stronger mentality for people. And those little save up from those spending less on convenience tend to pile up throughout many years. But those are the aspects that people tend to have a leakage in their finances. So I found a research from Heidi Ponda, and they talk about how do you personally decide to spend your money, whether it's fixed or optionally, emotional spending. And they categorize fixed, which is random transportation, and then optionally, randomized shopping or trends. I classify those two different spendings by my own personal habit. When I want something, I tend to think for at least a couple of minutes or a couple of hours, I truly need this one. And sometimes it might take me days when it comes to things that I think is an impulse buy. So when you want something, I recommend writing it down and not looking at it for three days. And if you still insist on purchasing it, I think that's a necessity. But when it comes to those things that you truly believe that you don't need, because realistically those impulse feelings tend to disappear after a couple of days. So personally for me, that's a habit that I have when it comes to avoiding impulse purchases. I just write it down, wait three days. If I still want it, I think that's something that I really want. Could you survive one week without spending anything on campus? You could use free water, you could use student events like free snacks, you could bring cookies from your house, and also you could avoid convenience stores. Do you think it's a great idea or not if you want to save up? Depending on which is your priority. Because if you're in a situation where you have the necessity goods that you can use to sustain for a week, then yeah, I recommend it. But if you're in a situation where most exchange students are, where you have nothing and you have to purchase something, you're just going on a water diet for seven days. I don't think it's a recommendation. I personally believe the challenge itself is not necessarily good. Because after the challenge, I'm pretty sure you're going to have a rebounding of what you have saved up. Believe that you deserve a reward. So it's not really a good challenge. If there's a challenge where you can write down all the things that you buy throughout the week, I think that's a great challenge that allows the person to rethink. Because one of the biggest mistakes of people when they purchase stuff is that they use cards. So they only see a number change in their phones. But they actually use the physical money, then they start to rethink what they purchased. So writing down and actually focusing on the physical aspect of what your money is being used upon, or having the physical money itself might actually change how you spend. So if you're asking if the challenge is good, no, it's not. I don't recommend it. Some people believe that your money habits are built till you're 20, and after it's really hard to change them. So some girls already have this developed before they age. Then do you think it's about habits or it's just your discipline? And people are saying that there are too lazy to change. I think it's habits. A lot of people tend to mix it up. Because if your standards are already very low, where you survive a couple of hundred bucks for a month, if that became your standards, anything that is a plus gives you dopamine and gives you satisfaction. But if your standards are already high at a young age, if you lower a little bit of those standards, it's really difficult for people to change their habits. Realistically, willpower comes and goes, but habit stays forever. So there are cases in my lifetime where I've seen people that had a very good upbringing, where their standards of living was very high, but due to personal reasons and financial crisis, their standards went down. Standards matter of what comes from your financial stability or any kind of aspect in your life. However, lowering that standard is possible, but willpower will no longer sustain. It will no longer be something that could be seen as a long-term. But there will always be a rebound effect after willpower, because there is no more human nature seeking reward after their hardship. This is more about your hard work. You're saying as a student, also, what was your biggest financial mistake in university? You know where it ranks now. A lot of knowledge is lost. My financial biggest mistake... I have a couple. The first one is not investing. I do research. I see a lot of people saying that in investing, all they do is watch YouTube or watch a certain amount of shorts, and they just invest in a company with no prior knowledge. That's not something that I don't recommend. But investing in your 20s does build a very strong foundation in your 30s and 40s and 50s and so on. So investing is something that I recommend. The second one is not having a financial book or booklet or having something that you can write it down of how much you spend. And lastly, the third one, my biggest mistake was purchasing a vehicle. I don't recommend it. A vehicle is a luxury. So if you're a boy that's seeking for cars in Korea in your 20s, I really don't recommend it. There is so much financial burden that comes with purchasing a vehicle. So I don't think any normal average 20s can handle a vehicle. And I think that's it of my financial mistakes. Is there anything in the end you want to add or share with the students? It's okay to go slow. I think a lot of young men and young women tend to make a mistake is the fact that they have to be rich in their youth. It's very unrealistic. If you do happen to be rich in your 20s, congratulations. You're an outlier. But realistically, I believe in your 20s the most key importance is to spend time finding who you are and finding the confidence in what you want to do. And I eventually believe money will come. So don't rush things. When you're building a castle, it's always the important part of building a castle is the foundation. What's the point of having a tall castle if it's going to fall down in a small storm? So always start slow. When you stay small enough, long enough, you'll get big soon enough. Thank you. I think the biggest thing I learned from this conversation is that saving money is actually less about being perfect and more about being aware. Financial pressure is normal, and students are not behind. When you're in your 20s, you feel like you already want to acquire things that are expensive. You want to be in a position where you could just afford buying things or being in a place where you feel like it's yours. However, being a student is just the beginning. It's just the beginning of your journey, and you should start working. Whatever it takes, any position, it doesn't matter. You just have to start and keep on working, and one day you'll be there. And if a student listening right now is completely financially lost, what's the first thing they should do tonight? Don't try to change your entire life tomorrow. Do small things like change your bank account and see how much money do you have right now. Where did you spend them for the past week? Try to analyze it. Also, reduce financial expense. If you're getting coffee like four times a week, try to do it twice. First time, let it be when you're actually craving coffee so much, and second one, there should be a reason, like you're tired or you have to finish a big assignment and you want to have a reward, just let it be small. You don't need to become rich in your 20s. You just need to stop losing money unconsciously. Becoming financially stable is probably less about one huge decision and more about hundreds of tiny ones. Thank you for listening to Financially Unstable. We hope this episode helps you feel at least 1% colder to understanding your future financially.