Staying Connected to Your Finances
Recognizing Women on International Women’s Day
March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of women throughout history. It’s also a day to reflect on the challenges that face women across the world and at all stages of life. This month, in honor of International Women’s Day, we want to tackle a common challenge that women face – a lack of time to focus on your financial health today can have a long-term impact on your financial future.
Modern life comes with a lot of responsibility – there’s so much to juggle, including growing your career, raising children, managing a household, caring for aging parents. It’s also well-established that women are often tasked with the majority of household work and caregiving, which doesn’t leave much room for planning for your future or saving for your retirement.
All too often, we partner with women who have faced an unexpected life change that’s thrown their financial stability into chaos. These stressful periods are often made even more so as women find themselves thrust into the position of breadwinner and responsible for managing finances when they haven’t had to do this before.
Making time now to get connected to your finances can help future-proof your goals and dreams. And, every small step that you take now will help you build your best financial future. Here are a few ways you can get yourself financially prepared for anything life may throw your way.
Build your financial literacy
Financial literacy is the knowledge and skills that you possess that help you make good decisions with your finances. Many people find the idea of building their knowledge of finances to be daunting, but it really only requires two things: your curiosity and access to good information.
You don’t need a classroom, or long books about personal finance to build your financial literacy. Instead find pockets of time and something you enjoy doing. Consider how you learn best: Is it a blog article? A podcast? Having conversations with people you know and trust? All of these are great learning opportunities that can be exciting, engaging, and fit your schedule. You’re reading this article, so you’re definitely off to a great start!
Stay involved in the financial decision making
It often happens in any relationship that one partner takes a backseat to financial planning. While we agree that partners should share responsibilities based on their strengths, it’s important to stay connected to what’s happening, even if it’s something your partner might do better than you.
Perhaps the single biggest thing you can do for yourself is to stay involved in all of the financial decision making, from day-to-day budgeting to the milestone moments such as buying your first home, saving for your child’s college. It’s a great way to learn (as your partner will undoubtedly be learning too), but it’s also a great way to know that you’ll be ready to step in and take over if the need ever arises.
Plan for the future one step at a time
If you are a person who tends to fall into the trap of “all or nothing” thinking, and that’s leaving your feeling that you won’t make an impact unless you can make a big commitment – we’re here to tell you that you can build something great one step, one day at a time.
One great way to start is to establish a do-not-touch savings account, then add funds to it every payday (even if it’s only $25). Before you know it, that account will grow, and it will always be there should anything unexpected happen.
You don’t need to plan 25 years in the future. You can start by understanding what your immediate needs are now, and then working out from there.
Ask for help | Partner with a Financial Advisor
No matter what stage of life you’re in, you can always benefit from having a partner in your corner. Working with a financial advisor means you’ll have someone who can guide you through all of your options so you can make the best decisions for now and for your future. We’re here to help, so contact us today!
