10 Rules Financially Smart Women Must Live By To Win With Money

It doesn’t matter where you are today, financially speaking. What is most important is knowing where you want to go. And objective information is the most reliable tool to help you move you towards your dreams. That’s why today, I want to share with you ten rules that financially smart women must live by to achieve their money goals.

Let’s get started!

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10 Rules Financially Smart Women Must Live By To Win With Money

1. Have a plan (budget) for your money
2. Communicate with your spouse
3. If you can’t pay cash for it, don’t buy it
4. Enjoy today, prepare for tomorrow
5. Read
6. Make informed decisions
7. Have blow money
8. Never have money secrets
9. Own your mistakes
10. Commit to drama free finances

1.- Have A Plan (Budget) For Your Money

First of all, you need to have a plan for your money. So, let me ask you the dreaded question. Are you on a budget?

Although budgeting is the foundation for healthy finances, according to data, only one in three people live on a budget.

Simply put, if you are not doing a budget on purpose and paper (or Excel, an app, etc.) every single month, you are not going to get ahead. Life is going to happen, and without a plan, your money will come and go.

You should know how much are your monthly expenses, how much you spend on groceries and gas, and also expect what your utility bill will look like for the month.

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When we don’t do a budget, you don’t have that information. You end up running out of money and using credit cards to supplement your income. Slowly but surely, the credit card debt starts to accumulate.

I could go on and on on the many “side effects” of not living on a budget. Instead, I want to encourage you to make a plan to win with your money. Many people dislike budgets because they feel restricted. But you will find out that a budget will give you the freedom to spend.

If you do not know how to do a budget, make sure to access my free resource library, where you can download my Budget Pad, a tool that I created for my financial coaching clients that you can have for free. I also have a video tutorial to teach you how to budget in three easy steps.

2.- Communicate With Your Spouse

To win with money, we need to have better communication with our spouses. If you avoid the money conversations at home because they cause stress and even some fights, I understand. I used to be there. But with time, we have come a long way! The more money conversations that we had, the easier it got to talk about our finances.

If money talks are a source of stress, try to start small. Your spouse doesn’t have to agree 100% with you to make progress. The most important thing is that you communicate and establish goals that both can commit to.

I have learned that when you are married, to win with money, you need to manage the household finances as a team. That means joining finances. There’s always going to be one person who is better at budgeting and saving money, and the other who is better at spending. And that is okay!

The most important thing is to set goals together. If you don’t, it will be tough to get any traction in your finances. In my experience, couples that do not tackle the money topic and agree on their big goals, end up managing finances separately, and eventually, have higher chances of splitting up.

3.- If You Can’t Pay Cash For It, Don’t Buy It

My rule number three is, if you can’t pay cash for it, don’t buy it. This is a huge ask because, in America, there is a loan or credit card for everything.

How many times have you heard on the radio or tv the following statement: “No credit? No problem!” The easy access to credit gets us in trouble. Getting in debt to purchase pretty much anything has become the norm.

We have also been brainwashed to see credit as an opportunity, as a privilege. So, access to credit enables us to get what we want now, instead of having to earn money first to pay cash for it tomorrow.

Buying into the so-called “zero percent financing” opportunities is a mistake because you are committing your future income with that purchase. And although you might be able to afford the payment this month, you don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

When we make long-term decisions based on our current circumstances, we take on so much risk. What if, suddenly, you lose your job, face a pay cut, or have a medical emergency that prevents you from working? Your income will go down, but you are stuck with the same payments you had before.

That’s why, if you can’t afford to pay cash for it today, you should not buy it. When you commit to abide by this rule, so many other real opportunities will open up for you.

I never thought I could afford to buy a car and pay cash for it. That sounded so incredibly crazy. But because we committed, we made the impossible possible.

In the last few years, we have replaced my car and my husband’s with cash. Do you know what that makes possible now? The idea of paying off our fifteen-year mortgage in half of the time.

4.- Enjoy Today And Plan For Tomorrow

A lot of us hear people say things like, “I enjoy my money because nobody has tomorrow guaranteed.” Or, “why save it for tomorrow if we don’t know what’s gonna happen then.”

Maybe your spouse even thinks that way. He refuses to get on a budget, pay off credit cards, and save because “we don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring.”

But let’s be real here. Everyone on the face of the earth is living longer lives. Medical advancements and technology are keeping us healthy for much longer.

The average American should plan on living well into their nineties or even more. Saying that you don’t want a plan for tomorrow because “we don’t know what is going to happen” is giving up on your future financial well-being.

Tomorrow is inevitable, it is going to happen, and if we keep acting like there’s no tomorrow, we are going to find ourselves in a seriously deep financial hole. We can, instead, live today to the fullest, in contentment with what we have, while also planning responsibly for a prosperous future.

If you don’t start today to invest for retirement, it is going to be challenging to face your reality when you are into your 80s and 90s.

5.- Read!

My rule number five of financially smart women is, I want you to read. Read about personal finances, saving money, investments, personal development, business, etc. Read more non-fiction books than fiction.

When I immigrated to the USA almost twenty years ago, I didn’t understand anything about the financial system. I thought you needed a degree in finances to learn how to manage money. As a result, I didn’t put effort into learning about this topic.

But then, years later, working as a journalist through the 2008 recession, I was forced to learn a lot. I dove deep into topics like the mortgage crisis, banks going down, sub-prime lending, foreclosures, and other issues that before were too intimidating to try to understand.

As it turns out, this stuff sounds more complicated than it is. And the more I learned, the more interested I got. With new knowledge, more things made sense.

So, if you feel like finances are a complicated topic, that’s okay. I felt that way too. Just read blogs, newspapers, magazines, and books, and little by little, you will notice how everything starts to make a lot more sense.

The one book that changed my entire framework about personal finance is The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey. I recommend that you start reading that one today!

The money lessons from that book helped us get out of our financial hole and inspired me to become a trained Ramsey Solutions Master Financial Coach. And that’s how, although I didn’t use to know much about personal finance, today I am fortunate to help people make a plan to live out their best financial futures.

If you know somebody that needs to hear this information, please send them this article or a link to my podcast or video channel, you could be helping them to change their financial lives.

6.- Make Informed Decisions

My rule number six financially smart women is to make better-informed decisions.

You are now gathering new information, reading blogs, watching videos, etc. This new knowledge should help you make better decisions with your money.

Let me tell you a funny story. When I got my second job in the USA, I worked for a company that offered terrific benefits. I was doing my enrollment and asked my husband what a 401k was. I had never heard of it. He told me that it was a great thing and that I needed to max out my contributions.

So, I took his advice and started putting fifteen percent of my income into my 401k. That money has grown a lot. But had I not know that investing in a retirement account and getting a match, free money, from my employer was a good thing, I wouldn’t have done it.

When you don’t understand what the 401k is, you may feel like the company is taking money from you. And today, you need that money. Until you have information that gives you a different perspective of how this money can grow if put aside, you see the value of the program.

Now, back then, personal finance blogs were not a thing. But now, you can find all kinds of information about 401k plans online. That’s why it’s essential to read all you can about personal finances because the more information you have, the better decisions you will make.

7.- Have Fun Money

What is fun money? That is cash in hand that you and your husband should have available to spend it in whatever each of you wants.

If you are married, I recommend that you manage your finances jointly. It is a very controversial topic, especially because many women feel like they are giving up their “power” by merging finances.

But, as I mentioned earlier in this article, merging finances will make you work as a team. As a result, you will establish and accomplish great goals together.

I recommend that you see money as household income. When you talk about money as “my income and his income,” you prioritize money over the relationship. But when it is “the household income,” then you remove individual ownership of it and it’s easier to make plans together.

That’s why having blow money is essential. This is an amount of cash that you agree upon, that fits within your budget and financial goals, and that you can spend on whatever you want. It’s your fun money to use without having to give explanations to anyone.

So, whether he wants to spend his blow money going to the bar with his friends, or you want to spend your fun money getting eyelashes extensions, is up to you.

Your fun money will give you freedom. Listen, I know that we work hard, inside and outside the home, and feel the need to reward ourselves. I agree. And having fun money will also help you stay motivated, living on a budget, and working towards achieving your financial goals.

8.- Don’t Have Money Secrets

Ladies, no money secrets, please!

This rule is essential because many of us learn that we should keep a secret fund, “just in case something happens.” That “just in case” assumes that people giving you that advice believe your relationship will not work.

Money secrets will set your relationship up for failure. If you are hiding money from your husband, the truth will eventually come out, and it is going to cause a huge problem. I am speaking by experience here.

Think about it this way. Would you like your husband to have a secret fund? The answer should be, no!

Secret funds are like open doors to worst-case scenarios. Instead of keeping the door open, keep an ongoing conversation about money. That is a much better investment in your relationship.

So, please, do not listen to people that tell you to have money secrets, that will lead to problems. The truth always comes out, sooner or later, and secrets will only create resentment.

You’re not going to get ahead financially by hiding money and making up lies. You will get ahead by working together and learning how to manage your money as a team.

9.- Own Your Mistakes

You will hear me, time after time, say that you’re not a victim of your situation. I have a zero-tolerance for victim mentality. I think that to win with money, we need to own our destiny, choices, and results.

If you have a result that you don’t like, you need to take the initiative and change it. No one else is going to come to rescue you. Nobody is going to change the course of your destiny for you.

If you don’t like how much money you have in your savings account, then be more strict with your budgeting and spending. Have more conversations with your spouse about money. But do not think that you are a victim of your circumstances.

The same is true for your debt. A lot of people believe that they can rack up debt and then just let it go. Well, nothing is going away. Your debt will follow you and hunt you down. There will be consequences of not paying it off.

Instead of trying to avoid your financial mistakes, embrace them. Until you take ownership of every money decision that you make, you will not see a change in your situation.

10.- Commit To Drama-Free Finances

And finally, I want you to commit to living your life drama-free, at least financially. I know that money can be the source of a lot of stress, anxiety, and pain. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

I have found that if you don’t have good information about your finances, uncertainty fills up your life. That uncertainty leads to stress, financial anxiety, and bad decision making. So, the way you prevent financial drama is by having useful information.

Get on a budget and figure out how much does it cost you to live every month. Just like any business knows how much it needs for payroll, inventory, and operation costs, you need to know that for your household. The right information will help you make smarter financial decisions.

Conclusion: 10 Rules Financially Smart Women Must Live By To Win With Money

If you commit to following these ten rules, you will transform your finances, your relationships, and your life.

I am so inspired to share this list with you because, as the high-achieving women that we are, we need to take control of our financial future to get the results we want.

So let’s review the list.

10 Rules Financially Smart Women Must Live By To Win With Money

1. Have a plan (budget) for your money
2. Communicate with your spouse
3. If you can’t pay cash for it, don’t buy it
4. Enjoy today, prepare for tomorrow
5. Read
6. Make informed decisions
7. Have blow money
8. Never have money secrets
9. Own your mistakes
10. Commit to drama free finances

Remember always to be intentional with the management of your money. When when you decide to become the victim of your choices, you end up powerless. You are hoping for somebody to come to rescue you. And nobody is coming to the rescue!

The only person that can stir your life towards financial success is yourself!

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• Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps
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10 Rules Financially Smart Women Must Live By To Win With Money