London Institute of Banking & Finance

Had an expensive summer? As we go into the new academic year, we’re sharing some financial tips to help you save money, but still enjoy life!

1. Plan ahead to save money

If you’re thinking of going on a staycation or city break, book your train or coach in advance to get cheaper tickets.

Wowcher and Groupon have offers on UK city breaks, staycations, and more. If you’re nervous about travelling on public transport, you can still take advantage of other discounted activities, such as afternoon tea, theatre offers, and spa breaks.

Social activities like dining out or going for drinks can slowly add up over time. However, you can still save money, by looking for deals and discount codes. Sites like Money Saving Expert and Voucher Codes have deals on bars and restaurants to help you reduce how much you spend.

2. Stick to a budget

Stay on top of your spending – set a budget and stick to it. If you don’t enjoy budgeting or find it difficult, a budgeting app that can do it for you.

Money Dashboard is a free app which can help your savings grow while keeping track of your spending. It sends you a notification when you’ve nearly reached your budget, to stop you overspending. And because it uses graphs to show you where you spend, you can easily identify where to cut costs.

Emma offers similar benefits, but also specialises in highlighting any subscriptions you’re not using to help you cut down on unnecessary expenses!

3. Boost your credit score

You should only think about getting a credit card if you know you’ll be able to pay off your expenses on time. However, using a credit card to pay for small purchases is a great way to improve your credit score.

Set up a direct debit to pay off your credit card bill in full each month to avoid interest and reduce the risk of debt.

There are other advantages to having a credit card. Some providers offer cashback incentives and most offer purchase protection or a longer warranty period on purchases, including travel tickets and hotel bookings in some cases.

It may be worth looking at a credit card comparison site, to see which card provides the best benefits for you this summer.

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The importance of financial education at all ages

Financial skills for LiFE

Are you a teacher who would like to incorporate financial education in your lessons, but don’t have the teaching time? Perhaps you’ve found the above tips useful and you want your students to learn more about how to manage their personal finances well – to future proof them for whatever the future holds. We can help!

Lessons in Financial Education (LiFE) is an online, affordable study programme using animation, games and music to make learning about finance fun and accessible. No teaching time is required. Students can do the programme themselves and it can lead to a GCSE equivalent (although it doesn’t have to).

LiFE has helped hundreds of thousands of students around the UK become financially confident – and it could help yours too.

Together, we can deliver the impactful financial education that our young people deserve, to set them up for whatever the future holds.