Meet the financial planning students behind the show as they discuss tips for saving money in the grocery aisle and purchasing your favorite shirt.
Join students of the Financial Planning program at Minnesota State University along with Dr. Dan Hiebert as they share tips and best practices to help you save, manage, and invest money while in college and beyond. A podcast made by students for students.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- Hi.
I'm Dan Hiebert, Financial
Planning Program Director
and Advisor to the Financial
Planning Club here at MSU.
And welcome to the Mav
Money Talk podcast,
podcast by students,
for students,
helping you make
the best choices you
can with your money while
you're still in school and also
when you're getting
started in your career.
Topics will range from how
to save money, how to invest,
how to understand your
benefits once you've
entered your careers.
And it's all in a
fun environment.
As you listen to each episode,
jot down at least one thing
you can apply today to make
a difference in your money.
Now on with the show.
Welcome, everyone, to our
very first Mav Money Talks
podcast Episode 1.
I'm super excited.
I'm Dan Hiebert, and I am
going to be your moderator.
But this is really a podcast
of students helping students.
So we've got an all-star cast.
These are all financial planning
concentration majors or finance
majors here that will give you
some great advice about how
to make the best decisions
possible with your finances,
both now while you're
in school but also
as you get your career started.
So I'll just give a
quick bio on myself.
I'm Dan Hiebert, and I am the
Financial Planning Program
Director at Minnesota State.
This is my sixth year coming up,
but I spent most of my career
in financial services at
a major wealth management
firm in the Twin Cities.
I also did a lot
of consulting work.
And so I've got-- so I know
enough to be dangerous here
in financial planning.
But this is really, again, kind
of students helping students.
So I've got, again,
a good all-star cast.
And the key thing, as I
mentioned in the intro,
is to make sure
that you come away
with at least one
good idea for today
on how you can make a good
decision on your finances
and save money.
So really kind of
stay tuned for that
as we go through our podcast.
So we've got an all-star cast.
First up is Aidan.
So Aidan, I'm going to
turn it over to you.
Go ahead and just give a
quick intro about yourself.
- All right.
Thank you, Dan.
As Dan said, my
name is Aidan Ryan.
I'm currently a sophomore at
Minnesota State University
in Mankato.
I'm majoring in finance
with, as Dan said,
the emphasis on financial
planning and insurance.
I'm also double minoring in
philosophy and entrepreneurship
and innovation.
I got into financial
planning simply
because it seemed like
the perfect career path
for my skill set.
I have always enjoyed the
business-based mathematics,
and I've really enjoyed
the relationship building
piece that comes along
with financial advising.
And so when I blended
those two things together,
financial planning seemed
like the perfect fit.
As far as what I hope to do with
this podcast, like Dan said,
give you guys some good ideas
both to use now and keep
into the future.
But really, I think we have
a great opportunity here
to sort of shine light on some
issues that are rarely talked
about for younger age students
such as college students,
and really break down some
of the complex and even more
basic financial questions
that you may have.
But yeah, that's
essentially the gist of it.
So next, I'd like to introduce
Austin who'll be going.
- Hey, what's up, everybody?
Thanks Aidan.
My name is Austin Deike I'm from
a really small town by Wilmer,
Minnesota, called
Pennock, Minnesota.
If you go about northwest of
here past some cornfields,
you'll maybe run through it.
I don't know.
But yeah, I'm a small town kid.
I'm going to school here in
Mankato, financial planning
major.
I joined financial planning
just because I always
was able to ball on a budget
as a kid, just collecting
quarters, pennies.
And essentially
what that just means
was I was a natural saver.
And I understood that
there's a difference
between natural savers
and natural spenders,
and there's a direct
correlation between the two
and you're able to
balance them out.
And once you can
understand that,
you're able to understand
finances a lot better.
And I just always saw myself
with a financial literacy
understanding kind of
above my age range.
And I just wanted--
I've seen that as a tool
to help others get that.
And I also got here to
college and realized
it's pretty expensive.
College isn't cheap.
So there's a problem, and
I was able to figure out
that problem.
And I just want to--
I just really have a passion
to help others with that.
So it's kind of the same
reason within the career
and the podcast.
Both of these careers
and the podcast
were able to help
people in that sense
and just educate that
financial literacy that's
kind of overlooked in college.
Yeah, that's a
little bit about me.
I'm going to pass the
microphone over to Colin.
- All right.
I'm Colin Duncan.
I am, scarily enough, the
second oldest person here today.
I'm an MSU alum.
I graduated in 2022.
I was the former President of
the Financial Planning Club.
I got my degree in
financial planning.
And I wanted to do this because
I think it's an excellent way
to help people not just
live a better life,
but live a stress-free life.
So many issues in
life come from money
and not knowing
what to do with it
or not knowing how
to hold on to it.
So I think that financial
planning and this podcast
will be an excellent way to
deliver that to the masses.
You know, Austin said
that college is expensive.
He's not wrong, having
gone through all four
years of college.
And I've just recently
discovered now
that I'm out of
college everything
else is also expensive.
Groceries, gas, everything.
Expensive.
So if this podcast can
give college students
a little bit of way of
saving money and planning
for the future, I'm all for it.
And speaking of saving
money, I pass the mic
once more to our
good friend Charlie
who has got a lovely bit of
information for us today.
- All right.
Thank you, Colin.
My name is Charlie Frazzini.
I am from Eden
Prairie, Minnesota.
I'm going to be a junior
at Minnesota State
Mankato studying finance.
I joined the Financial
Planning Club itself originally
just to kind of meet people.
And I really just have always
had an interest in saving money
and helping people, and
both of those combined
is what led me here.
And from the podcast
itself, I really
just hope to give students
realistic tips and strategies
that they can use to save money.
And like Colin said,
everything is expensive,
and everybody's got
to pay for college.
And when you've got other
things like groceries and rent
and cars and all that,
it can really add up,
and every little dollar counts.
And I think that we as a team
will highlight that and give
you guys some great tips to use
in your life and save money.
So from that, go into a
little bit of information
just so we can give you
guys something today.
I want to talk about with
groceries and food, clothing,
all that kind of stuff.
You don't always have
to buy a name brand.
You don't always have
to break the bank
and spend money on
things unnecessarily.
So I just wanted to
highlight the difference
between generic and
name branded items.
According to the University
of Michigan State,
you can save up to about 25%
on generic items versus name
brand.
And it's always going to be
less expensive to go generic,
even though it's
the same quality.
You get the same
ingredients, same everything.
You just don't get the same
marketing and advertising
as a big brand.
So you as people who
want to save money
can really take advantage
of this by buying generic.
A couple of examples.
We've got for cereal,
Honey Bunches of Oats.
So a regular box of that's
going to cost you about $4.
And then if you go generic,
you can buy it for $2.69.
Same ingredients, same
servings and everything.
Another example is Ziploc bags.
For the gallon bags, you
can get 60 for $10.29,
and then generic you
can get it for $6.99.
So that's about $3
savings right there.
And you can burn through
those bags pretty quickly.
So $3 might not sound
like a lot right away,
but it really adds up.
Last example.
You could go through many
more like peanut butter.
If you get Jif, that's going
to be about $2.89 for you
and then generic is $1.69.
And I'm sure everybody has
peanut butter at breakfast
and wouldn't be surprised
if people had it every day,
so that $1.20 can really add up.
And these are all just examples
from target.com, so yeah.
Another statistic
is US Department
of Agriculture
found that food is
about the third most expensive
cost that a family has.
So as one of the top three
expenses in your life,
every dollar counts.
And they also found that
the typical family of four
spends about $650 a
month on groceries.
So these prices that I
highlighted, the difference,
$1.30 here, a couple bucks
there, that all adds up,
and you can save 15%,
20% in the long run.
Yeah.
So buying generic is
definitely a great investment
if you want to save any money.
And you get a very similar
product to the name brand,
so I highly recommend that.
And yeah, that's
your tip for the day.
Dan?
- Yeah, that's great, Charlie.
And I think you made
an excellent point.
Those things add up over time.
And I think you
and I and the team
have talked about really the
correlation between taking
some of those savings--
like, you just rattled
off three items.
Just kind of
back-of-the-envelope math,
let's just say it's $5 bucks
that you can save each week.
So think about it.
$5 bucks a week.
That is $20 a month.
If my math is right
here, $240 a year.
That could be a plane
ticket to somewhere fun.
That could be paying a little
bit more on your tuition.
I mean, all kinds of things
just by, like you say,
saving a little bit more,
nickel and diming it,
and not really
suffering a whole lot.
I mean, I think you made
up some great points.
The quality is not that
much different, right?
I mean that's-- yeah.
Yeah.
What do you guys think?
- I'm all for it.
Shopping smart is one
of the first things
that I learned when I
moved out of my house
and then to an
apartment for college.
You've got to keep an
eye on savings, figure
out what days they've
got special deals.
I don't know if I'm allowed
to name names for places,
but if they've got a gas
program, look for those things.
Buy a can of soup, you get
a cent off your gas tank.
Just keep that in mind because
then you're saving on gas
and then you're
getting food too.
- Yeah.
Excellent.
And I think there's
a few places like--
I don't want to
name names either,
but a lot of grocery stores,
your favorite grocery store
maybe in Mankato
has a gas program.
--a certain convenience
store/gas station
has a program as well.
Maybe we can get those
folks to be sponsors here--
- Yeah.
- --podcast.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
- Just name drop them.
- Yeah.
- Aidan, did you have a
question or two, or a comment?
- I was just going to say
too, kind of piggybacking off
what Charlie was saying
about the groceries,
he also mentioned
clothing a little bit.
And I think that that's more--
I think it's something really
important to talk about.
I mean, you look
at some of these--
you go to a sporting goods
store and you look at a T-shirt,
and it's $75 bucks.
And that seems so
far overpriced.
But then you go to
these other companies.
And I don't want to
mention names here either.
I don't know what the
regulations are on that.
But a lot of plain
brand T-shirts or I
guess brandless T-shirts that
these companies are making
and clothes and
things like this are
a fraction of the price
what they would be to have
just a logo right on top of it.
And so I think as far
as college students,
obviously we need clothing.
But if you're buying
clothing maybe
to stay away from sort of these
higher brand, luxury-type items
and go for the more
affordable option
that has relatively
exactly the same quality.
Just like--
- Yeah, I personally--
I personally go with
wholesale shirts.
I only buy shirts from
wholesale that are--
it's like $3 a pop.
You can get-- I don't know.
You can get 20, 25
of the same shirt
versus the cost of that other
brand that's a $78 shirt.
And you know, what
if something happens
to that expensive shirt?
Well, you're out
the money or you've
got to worry about it more.
But if you've got a
bunch of $3 shirts,
there's nothing to worry about.
And you get pretty much the same
product, so yeah, definitely.
- When you guys start making
the big bucks out there,
then you can buy your $78
shirt, right, Charlie?
- I still won't be
buying that shirt.
[LAUGHTER]
- Good for you.
- I'm still going wholesale.
- Yeah.
Austin, what
comments do you have?
- You know, I'm just chewing
on all the good information
Charlie's given us, and kind
of just thinking about it.
Making those quick
decisions adds up so fast
between name brand
and off brand.
But I'm just really
thinking too just
picking the stores you go to.
I can't drop names,
but I feel like there's
more predominantly name brand
or there's more fad grocery
stores that you can get your
stuff from that's more high--
or not even higher end.
Just overly-- you can
get the name brand stuff
at a different store
for a lesser price.
So maybe just humbling
yourself a little bit
and going to those grocery
stores that you know
are a little cheaper.
That just adds up
every single item
at the end of the day there.
- Excellent point.
I was just going
to say that too.
That was the thought
that was in my mind.
Sometimes you just kind of
have to stop the impulse buying
and just take a step back and
ask yourself, do I really need
this?
Number 1.
And number 2, if the
answer to that is yes,
is this the best place
to purchase that?
So kind of as you
just said, just having
that discipline to be
able to make that decision
is definitely a good practice.
And I think maybe on some
future podcast we can maybe
dive a little bit deeper
into some of the stores
that we can get some
better bargains on
and things like that.
So stay tuned for some future
podcasts along those lines.
Any final comments
before we sign off?
- I'm just really
looking forward
to the rest of the semester.
This is a great opportunity.
And yeah.
Should be fun getting some
great content out to you guys
and working together
with the team.
Yeah.
- We've got so much in store.
- Yeah.
- We've got a lot of
really good things planned.
- 100%.
- Good.
Well, if you're listening
to this podcast,
here's a goal for you.
Take some of the ideas
that you've learned today
and put them to practice.
And your goal for this week
is to find a way to save $5.
And then take that
$5 and then put
that-- just accumulate
that, and just keep
making more good decisions.
Keep that snowball rolling.
And over time, you're going
to be financially successful.
So a good start is
living within your means,
and that's really what the
topic of our discussion
was today, to help you
make good decisions.
And if you have
comments or things
that you want our team
to cover, good ideas
or just anything along
those lines, please
feel free to reach out.
We'd be more than
happy to address
those on future podcasts.
Well, that's our
episode for today.
Thank you very
much for listening.
Hopefully, you
found one thing you
can apply today to make
progress with your money.
In future episodes,
we'll introduce something
called your
blueprint, which will
be a way for you to
capture some of the things
you've learned over the
episodes into a document you can
refer to as you plan your plan.
And if you have any ideas
for our team to cover,
please drop us a line.
We'd love to cover it for you.
And if you liked our episode,
again, thank you for listening.
Please subscribe to the
podcast, share the podcast,
or tell a friend about it.
Rate and review the podcast.
And please stay tuned
for more Mav Money Talks.
Have a great day.
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