Story by: Jessica Nguyen, Layout Editor
Photo by: Jessica Nguyen
As mid-October approaches, students tackle upcoming midterms with the challenge of managing their finances. Earlier this month, Cypress College’s Business Club and Finance Club hosted meetings dedicated to personal finance and investing, outlining a pathway for students looking to achieve financial independence and build wise money habits early.
Understanding basic money management is an essential blueprint towards financial independence. The Business Club’s meeting focused on effective budgeting, handling debt, and saving strategies. Board members highlighted student-friendly financial resources, including emergency funds, retirement accounts, and the 529 plans – tailored to fit community college budgets.
“The significance of understanding financial literacy, especially for community college students, is not only for stability, but so they can manage their funds and expenses effectively through budgeting and to avoid debt traps,” said Ren Iwaki, a second-year economics major, who serves as president of the Business Club. “I believe students should take into account the resources and opportunities to build financial independence at a young age.”
Once students have a solid footing on simple budgeting and saving, investing is a common next step. It’s one of the most effective and affordable routes to grow capital over time and reach financial freedom.
Investing can appear intimidating at first. However, the Finance Club – founded last spring – extensively broke down useful strategies for students.
At their “Investing 101” meeting, board members created a welcoming and engaging setting as they covered key investment categories, exploring real estate capital, bonds, and loans.
Bonds took the spotlight during the meeting. The club presented a thorough bond ratings chart, and walked through the various investment grades of bonds, explaining grades from AAA (high-quality, low risk) to CC (high credit risk). The chart helped students weigh quality, yield and risk beside their personal financial goals.
John Kelvin Vargas, founder of the Finance Club and a second-year Economics major, wants to make investing more accessible to students.
“Finance is an aspect that’s gonna be on your side every step of your life,” said Vargas. “It’s also imperative for whatever career path you go down. Ultimately, if you’re able to start as early as possible, the better, because you don’t want to be regretful when you reach your late 20s and beyond, wishing that you had started at Cypress College.”
Students took away valuable advice across both meetings.
“I’m glad I attended, as I learned more about the 401k… I wasn’t sure what purpose it served beforehand,” said first-year sonography major Silvana Sotelo, who attended the Business Club’s meeting.
“Stocks interest me the most… it seems less intimidating now, and the fact you can start with so little is so nice and flexible,” said Bea Mamrot, a second-year student, who was present at the Finance Club’s Investing 101.
Looking ahead, students can expect career development workshops from the Business Club, focused on resume building and helping students create LinkedIn profiles to grow in their professional journey.
As a new club, The Finance Club is working on growing their presence on campus. Vargas plans to invite guest speakers from investment banking, providing students direct networking opportunities with industry professionals.
Both clubs highly encourage students to be proactive in their finances, whether by opening their first savings account or exploring real estate investments.
