This is a website designed to share ideas with how to make money, save money, and invest money during your years as a student. I created it because your 20s and 30s are the best time to invest but most people rationalize not saving money because they are making little or no money during their time as students. I think that's a lousy excuse so while I've been in college over the past ten plus years (as an undergrad, Masters, and now Doctoral student) I've learned all about investing and have started socking money away.

Getting by while covering tuition, housing, books, and other costs requires a lot of creativity, but it's easier than you might think. This website will walk you through various ways of making money, saving money, and investing money. The financial education that you gain during the college years may be as important as the formal education you are receiving. It's a good thing that you've decided to do something about it.

Getting Started - The most common question I am ever asked about personal finance is "How do I get started?" That question should be answered in different ways for different people but I'll tell you parts of how I got started combined with what other "experts" say about it.

What's in this website?

• About ROAI - I've been a college student for a decade now and recently started teaching. Go here to read about my story.
• Articles - Short articles I've written about how to save, make, and invest your money while in school.
• Book Reviews - I do a lot of reading about fincial literacy and have started writing short reviews of some of those books.
• Resources - There is a lot of good information out there. Here's I'll point you to what I think the best recources are.

Most recent book review

I envision this site one day being a great repository for book reviews. Unfortunately this dream is slow in coming due to the other demands on my time. Expect a few reviews to pop up over the summer. In the meantime, here is a recent review of a book I actually recommend

Automatic Wealth - This is a book that I re-read every year or two.  While I don’t agree with many of his ideas, one of the two BIG IDEAs that he emphasizes over and over is one I do agree with.  That is the importance of having multiple streams of income (consequently, the other BIG IDEA is radically increasing your income).  He gives a lot of practical advice for ways you can actually start increasing your net worth through side businesses, real estate (rentals & flipping), and “more risky” investments like stocks and bonds. More...

My Favorite Personal Finance Websites

The right column shows all the websites and blogs that might be useful to you in learning about managing your money. The column on the left shows some valuable forms where you can talk to others in a situation similar to your own. Here I outline a few of my favorite websites.

• Get Rich Slowly - Member of the money blog network. This is "Personal finance that makes cents. "
• I'll Teach you to be Rich - Written by a recent Stanford grad, this is a blog on personal finance (banking, saving, budgeting and investing) and personal entrepreneurship .
• Penny Foolish - A personal finance blog that targets individuals under the age of 30.
• The Digerati Life - Another blog coming out of Silicon Valley, this one is a blog about money, personal finance, geeks and cyberspace.
• Grad Money Matters - One of only a very few blogs online that discuss finances for college students, in this case graduate students.
• The Simple Dollar - The Simple Dollar is an exploration of personal finance from the perspective of a late-twentysomething who just realized that he needs to get a grip on his money. I love this site because it has tons of book reviews.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for this site please email me.