Hey guys,
The Peer Money Mentor Program is back with its seventh cohort and with it comes a little something old, something new, and the return of the blog! Five members from previous semesters have returned as Peer Money Mentor Leaders and the program has picked up eight new, very exciting and diverse members.
“How diverse?” We’ve got members from all different areas of study such as computer science, finance, science, business, and nursing. So for those of you who might be interested in the program, we encourage everyone to apply next fall.
William and Alicia are past Peer Money Mentors that are back in the program as Leaders!
Hello from William and Alicia:
We’re excited to dish out all of the need to know things. Our goal is to share with ya’ll some great takeaways from our meetings each week, so that you’ll get to learn a little something new as well. We’re trying to spread the good word of $ money $. This is peer to peer, so you know it’s gonna get real but we got you!
First Meeting Hype
In our first meeting, we talked about something that is often underrepresented when talking about money, our emotions.
Leading this discussion was our guest speaker and former Peer Money Mentor Leader, Amber Rodriguez. She’s a computer science major and now attends Texas State University. She has been with the program since Fall 2018 and is now part of the Student Money Management Office Team! Yay, Amber!
A note from Alicia: Do y’all ever get in your feelings and decide you need to buy some good food to cheer you up? Or maybe go shopping at Target? Because how could you not spend at least $80 there to cheer you up? Or see your favorite Instagram influencer with something you just have to have? Am I right? I’m there with you. We impulse buy. We’re all guilty of it but being aware of what makes you impulse buy is a game changer. Having awareness of your core values is also huge because that’s what you spend your money on. Going into the first meeting, I was feeling all kinds of ways. The truth is, I was feeling stressed and ashamed. I mean, I was excited to be back but I had fallen off on my budgeting and saving game last semester. Amber reminded us that it’s a process and that we’re constantly learning and going to make mistakes. Money and emotions are very tied together and being aware of what triggers us is valuable. Some things that I didn’t realize were my triggers to spending are instagram and hanging out with friends. Knowing that those are my triggers is going to really help me stay on track. What are yours? They could be family, friends, a significant other, studying with friends, social media. Pinpoint your triggers and your core values. Trust me. It’ll really help. Note to self: I get knocked down, but I’ll get up again.
A note from William: The vibe that I got from the presentation was definitely to be honest with yourself. That’s where it all starts. I’ll admit that it felt a little weird but that’s how it’s gotta be if you really wanna take a look at yourself, and make that change.
Here’s more of what we learned from Amber:
Joe Biden once said “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value.” This quote is real. Know your values because you spend your money on what you value. Even Nerd Wallet says, “Know your ‘why,’ Your values motivate you when you’re paying off debt or saving for a dream vacation. They can also help you prioritize what you’re willing to spend money on and cut back on.”
The synthesis of money and emotion can best be summed up by Amber herself.
“I think that the emotional side of money is not talked about enough because in general, it’s very difficult to try and convey and verbalize our emotions, even more so just to begin to process them because that requires a certain level of vulnerability. Combine that with the negative emotions about money that people already have and it becomes that much more important to discuss and understand your emotions because it influences many of the decisions you make when it comes to finance.”
Wrap Up
Finally, let’s end with some of the ideas and concepts that the members are hopeful to learn about this semester.
- Money management lessons
- How to save
- How to talk money (financial literacy)
- How to buy a house
- What credit is and how to improve/repair it
- Retirement??????
All of these and more will be covered in the Peer Money Mentor Program. We’ll be sure to keep you up to date on all the stuff we’re scheming as the semester progresses.