How do you make money.

[Visor]

I have recently come into money, not an inheritance but a monthly £500 from my parents to help out with college, so that I dont end up spending too much of my student loan on my daily commute. I've worked out that currently, taking away an average expenses, I have a profit of around £220, £300-350 if I eat packed lunches and dont buy food.
While I really do appreciate my parents sacrifices I have no illusions that it is a concrete income, the current economic climate and issues with the NHS's on call system going out the window means they will face a 1/4th-1/3rd pay cut and I really dont feel right leaching off them even more that I have through my childhood.
I know about working, getting a job for a salary etc, but I dont know anything about the alternatives people use to make money. I know the words business, stocks, bonds, capital, futures, gold standard, wall street, and I might even have some partial notion as to what they technically mean, but really I have no clue what they mean to me. I've read rich dad poor dad and I know that becoming wealthy or even breaking even isnt easy outside of salaries, that that rich people make more money by making thier money work for them.
I've spent the last 3 months having no cluehow to manage money and I dont really want to spend the next 3 years doing that. I've got an income, I've met several people on this board that seem to know alot about economics, and I have no clue, so I would really appreciate some help telling me what I can do with money.

Not entirely sure what you're asking so I'll say a few things first.

Be aware of what you're buying. Is it on special? Is it necessary? Can you afford to buy it?
Check with your centrelink type agency to see if you can get any payouts (youth allowance, rent assistance, etc).
Do your tax return, it's not that hard.
Make sure your hobbies aren't chewing through your cash.

etc.

They're some ways to make sure you don't waste your money. (also try to work out a budget/schedule, it may make it easier for you).

To do something with your money, there is always investing (wouldn't have a clue on it), finding a bank with the best rate (really worth checking out for, look out for withdrawal or monthly fees though, etc). Of course to make money, you generally have to work, or at least that's what it seems to be.

Work long, work hard, and you'll get a reward at the end.

[Centurion1]

Message me. I invest (trade really) on a personal level and also for work (as an intern obviously but I crunch alot of numbers and have a solid grasp on what goes on) at a decent investment firm. I can at least give you some starting tips. To be quite honest you likely are not going to like what you hear.

I probably understand your current situation a bit better than most since im a bit of a poor university student myself.

What alot of people don't really understand is that the market is terrible for older folks looking to retire. For those without any investments like young people it's actually a great time to get into it and proceed obtaining wealth for your future!

What everyone is telling you is absolutely correct and for the short term what you need to do is live within your means and not over extend yourself. And for gods sake stay away from accruing debt. But there is nothing wrong with create a little portfolio to teach you about wealth management (a skill many people sadly lack) and maybe even help you out when your a bit older.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Regarding investing: Unless you are already rich your immediate and mid term source of wealth will be whatever salary you earn. So you can invest some part of that for your retirement. I would recommend the book The Coffeehouse Investor. This book talks about investing in the (US) stock market in a way that is most likely to get you a good return based on the stock market average. Basically you invest in index funds that contain a very wide range of stocks such that the index funds approximate the investment return of the entire stock market. And since this, on average, has steadily increased for decades and decades your investment will grow. I'd imagine the British stock exchange has a similar record. Set this up with a mix of index funds and bonds per your risk tolerance and check on it annually, reevaluating and making small changes to keep your investments in line with your goals. Your risk tolerance will depend on your age, income, etc. Basically, when your young and invest the majority of your future wealth will still come from your salary, not investments. But as you get closer to retirement more of your wealth will be coming from your investments, so you'll want to invest in less risky things to reduce the chance of a recession eating 25%+ of your investment. Also work to minimize taxes and especially fees from the companies managing index funds - 1% in fees over decades and tens of thousands of dollars invested can add up to a LOT of money.

Regarding managing money: do not buy what you don't need unless you can afford it (see below). Keep track of your income, taxes, and expenses. Make sure you are saving money every month, and do this by budgeting how much your income is, what you need to pay for essentials (and try to lower this cost) like food and rent, some portion you put into savings (the higher the better), and some portion for buying things that make you happy. Do not buy things that make you happy with a credit card if you can't pay that card off in full every month. In fact, don't carry credit card debt over month to month. Remember; just because you can take a loan or sign some contract to pay some amount per month and 'buy' something doesn't actually mean you can afford it. Have savings for a rainy day in case you lose your job and cant find work for several months.

CR

[Fragony]

You can't get by with 500 pounds? That is more than enough to be able to eat well and have fun as well.