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Student money matters

Just because you are a student doesn't mean you aren't thinking about money. In fact, because you are a student you are probably thinking long and hard about money. Where is it going to come from? Can you afford those jeans? Are you going to get a holiday this year, or is a trip to mum and dad's about it?

The market is a tough one for everybody, but students and graduates are getting a particularly bum deal at the moment. Unemployment has reached 8%, underemployment is rising and the number of experienced workers taking on second jobs, part-time positions and generally lower-skilled jobs is rising astronomically. All this means even greater competition for the very types of jobs students and graduates go for.

What is even more troublesome is graduates have to start life with a massive debt and now they are being faced with unemployment before they even get stuck in. This means taking on part-time work - again pinching from current students - in order to make ends meet in the real world, and this is 'underemployment'.

So putting your earnings, even if they are small, in the right place from the start is vitally important. Savings rates aren't the greatest at the moment what with the Bank of England's base rate being so low and inflation being so high, but there are still ways to make money from your money.

Not many graduates or students think about ISAs as they believe they have to have a lot of money to start saving. But this is not the case with ISAs. You can save up to £10,200 a year, with up to 50% of this being in cash. What's more it is completely tax free, so not a single penny of the interest you make will have to go to the taxman. Furthermore, you can add or take out as much money as you want or need to in a year, as long as you don't exceed the ISA limit. This means they are highly flexible and offer good rates of return.

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