Talking Money

Hi, my name's Vinit and i'm reading economics at UCL.

University has been the best experience of my life so far. Some of the best things that i've enjoyed about university have probably been the little things.

Everything from just learning how to cook to going away to different cities with my friends and going on holidays with them have probably amounted to some of the best years of my life so far.

Top tips

Umut: OK...Umut's tops tip, Umut's tops ti...(laughter)

Vinit: Vinit's top tips are, 1 learn how to cook.

Alex: No 2 is to be friend's with your bank....no that's rubbish.(Laughter) Keep on top of your finances, the more you keep on top of it the better.

Jana: Don't be afraid to try new things.

Jemma: Get to like jacket potatoes, they're really cheap, they're healthy...

Jana: I haven't thought about it really, I have to think about it sorry. No 4....

Alex: is to keep your ear to the ground, there are so many opportunities out there while you're at university and the time goes so quickly so take advantage of that time and go for any opportunity that you possibly can.

Jana: Study more.

Mike: My top tip would be, if you are a smoker, stop smoking now.

Jana: Erm...make erm, make new friends.

Investing in your future

Sarah: OK, tell me when to start, directions please. Hi I'm Sarah, I'm studying at the London School of Economics in my first year.

Mike: I should be earning anything between £40,000 and a £120,000 a year.

Ursula: 5 years later if I progress onto a consultant level I'll be earning between £60-100,000 so it should definitely be enough to fund me eating out like I do now.

Vinit: Education, as my dad once said, is one of the best investments you can make. Research your course and talk to as many people as you can because it's one thing you wouldn't want to get wrong.

Mike: Any investment in my future will definitely be worth it.

Claire: Money is always an issue, it does get me down sometimes 'cos I'm thinking what am I going to do if I don't have money, but what am I going to do if I don't have this career, what will I have for myself.

Eating on a budget

Rosie: In my cupboard I've got lots of pasta and tins of tomatoes. I've also got lots of things in the freezer because it's quite useful to buy things in bulk and then freeze half of it for later.

Vinit: Having a balanced diet is really essential. Balancing work and stress and a healthy lifestyle is very important.

Claire: I'm a bit of a let down when it comes to being a student, because I love fruit. Being New Year I'm trying to eat healthy and things. So I think I've got one banana left, half a punet of strawberries, some blueberries, some raspberries some salmon, some salad and soya milk, because I'm trying to refrain from dairy. Apart from that, most of my friends live on a stable diet of pizza and pasta and sausages and things like that I guess.

Ursula: Even the Ritz has offers. You can eat pretty much anywhere. So I don't know if you've heard of Gilgamesh in Camden, it's quite a nice restaurant. I can eat there for free now because I've got so many points.

Rosie: It's really useful to learn to cook before you go away because then you don't spend so much on take-aways and things.

Claire: People fresh from home can be frustrating. Teaching them to cook spaghetti Bolognese i left the room for a moment and he put a whole packet of spaghetti for his tea into the pan and it's like, 'What are you doing?!'.

Blowing it all on going out

Vinit: A day in the life of my first year would probably be something along the lines of getting up around about twelve o'clock, missing some very important lectures, finding the time to get a bit of breakfast at around about three o'clock in the afternoon, thinking of doing some work and then going out at night. And, I did that quite a lot in my first term and very soon after I begun to regret it.

Ursula: Charlotte Street, I've pretty much been to every restaurant there and I've spent like forty-five pounds without knowing it sometimes, on one meal.

Vinit: I wasn't expecting to have to do so much work. I had a tendency to go out too much, not take my work seriously and that meant i was getting poor grades in my first year.

Ursula: And in terms of alcohol as well, I have been known to spend about a hundred pounds on my card if I buy cocktails, mojitos, whatever.

Vinit: I managed to scrape through in my first year and I've learnt from that by becoming more serious about my work.

Good things about banks

Vinit: The first time I needed to go to the bank was when I needed to convert my normal bank account to a student bank account . I was greeted by a very lovely lady who explained what I could do what I needed to do. And quite literally it was one of the easiest things I have ever done.

Aaron: If you do exceed your overdraft limit don't be afraid to go and talk to your bank. I went to my bank and asked them to increase my overdraft limit and they did it and it was all cool. Super in-fact, it was the best experience of my life. The bank people they give you free coffee, free pens you name it.

HSBC are here to help

Nathan: Here at HSBC we do listen to the voices of the students, we do want them to understand we want to take away any the financial difficulties they have. We want them to feel comfortable to come into a branch or use our website to help them with their financial needs while they are at university.