Money Habits of Women Who Are Never Broke (20 women share their secrets)

It’s a great thing when a woman has her own money. Women empowerment and gender equality have been part of the focus in the last decade to ensure more women become financially liberated.

However, we’ve seen some women break the record by not just having their own money but also never going broke. This is not impossible to achieve as many women have shown that it is possible.

When you have your money as a woman, it becomes easy to achieve your dreams without depending on anyone. You can get to say “no” easily to things that don’t benefit you.

The first step towards financial freedom as a woman is to study women who have achieved it.

This will help you have enough information to kick start your journey to financial freedom. You would also make fewer mistakes because you already know what to do and what not to do.

Relax and grab a cup of green tea as you go through this wealth of information and advice from women who never get broke.

Living Below Your Means — a great money habit.

1. Success can often be attributed to smart habits that support our goals. For women who are financially independent, one of the most important habits is learning how to delay gratification. Impulse spending can lead you into overspending and deep debt, and financially capable women have learned how to resist emotional spending and make financial decisions based on their goals instead.

Another critical habit of women who are never broke is living below their means. They are willing to make sacrifices in the present to build security for the future. They don’t give in to lifestyle inflation and live beyond their financial resources. This smart habit allows them to build savings and be prepared for unexpected emergencies.

Sabrina Hamilton, Creator of FinanceOverFifty

2. (i) Max out your 401k from day one.  It’s much easier to live with less from the start than to have to learn how to reduce your spending later.  If you haven’t maxed out your 401k, increase your contribution each time you get a raise.  

ii) When you pay off a loan such as a car loan, re-route the funds that you use to pay each month to a college fund for your children or an investment account. You’re already used to spending the money so this is an easy adjustment that will increase your savings by thousands of dollars quickly.

iii) Each time you get an unexpected gift of money or a gift card, put the value into a college fund for your children, your retirement or your travel funds since this is essentially new money you never expected!  It’s also wonderful to be able to tell the person who gave you the gift that they’ve helped pay for your child’s college or played a role in allowing you to experience a vacation (which we all know the memories from our travels are gifts that last forever).

Angela Rice, Centered CEOs, CoFounder

3. (i) Living Below Your Means:

Living below your means is easier said than done.  Lifestyle creep happens often without you even realizing it.  As you start earning more, the people in the same position seem to be able to afford more and more expensive things. By keeping your expenses the same as before your promotion, you’ll be able to save more money and build real wealth.

ii) Multiple Streams of Income:

Women who are never broke likely have more than one source of income.  This protects you if you’re laid off from your primary job.  If you have a side job, you can easily scale it to cover your expenses until you find a replacement job.  

Other streams of income can become passive once the initial work has been put in.  If you have a skill, you can create a course teaching others that skill.  While it takes a lot of time and effort to create a course, once it’s complete you can sell as many as you want without putting in additional effort.

Steffa Mantilla, Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI), Money Tamer

4. From my experience as a woman in her 30s who luckily has never been broke and was raised in a family of modest means, here are some of my money habits:

a. Live according to your means

First of all, live according to your means. If this means living with a roommate, wearing the same clothes every day, or cooking at home, just do it. The point here is to fit all of your expenses, and even save with the income you have.

b. Invest in yourself.

If you constantly improve your skills set, you’ll be able to make more money, manage it more efficiently, and be financially safe, not worrying about being broke ever. Invest in education, new books, new courses. Invest your time to comprehend new things and implement them in your life.

c. Learn how money works.

Probably this should be the habit number one. The reason why anyone should learn how money works is that without that knowledge, you won’t be able to manage your personal finances efficiently. Most people end up broke not because of bad luck or lack of opportunities. A lot of them fail because knowledge about how money works is crucial for everyone. Without knowing how money works, it is very hard to manage finances, therefore prosper.

By the way, learning how money works isn’t that hard. Just start with a couple of books like The Richest Man in Babylon or Rich Dad Poor Dad to find out the fundamental differences between people who fail with money and those who prosper.

Maria Potehina, Call It Adventure

Save and Save some more..

5. The number one habit that financially responsible women practice (without fail) is to always save money.  It sounds like a basic habit I know, but these money-savvy women are strategic about it!  They save their money right after payday (no waiting to save what is “leftover” after paying bills) because when you wait, there’s more of a chance that you will spend it.  The second part of the secret formula is to automate their savings, so they don’t even have to do anything, just set it up once, and you’re done!

Kari Lorz, Money For The Mamas

6. Have a certain percentage of your income immediately transferred to a savings account as it hits your primary bank account. The account that the money is transferred to should take at least a few days to pull money out of. This will help ensure that money that is taken from this account is truly needed and not used on impulse. 

Melanie Hartmann, Creo Home Buyers

7. The past few years I’ve had an automatic direct deposit from my paycheck directly into an online savings account. Having a separate account from the bank I use for my personal and business account has been crucial. It’s meant to be my savings and I am not looking at it on a daily basis, but I know I can go to it and transfer money if I feel like I made more expenses at a certain time. It also accrues a bit more interest than your bank’s account. 

Having the direct deposit right into this online savings account has helped trick my brain into operating on the remaining balance throughout the month.

Hopefully this makes sense – and has really helped me the fast few years to never go broke.

Julie Bonner, Art + Design,  Julie Originals

8. Prioritizing saving money in an emergency fund, savings account, and retirement account will ensure that you are using time to your advantage – thank you compounding interest! – and that you aren’t simply leaving it up to chance that you’ll have enough leftover after taking care of everyone else around you. If that seems selfish, remember that if you can’t take care of yourself, you won’t be around to help anyone else anyways. Be smart, be a role model, and pay yourself first.

Audra Kershner, MBA, CEO & Founder; The Ambitious Dollar

Invest And Diversify

9. My biggest piece of advice is diversify.  Even if it is just a small amount, invest. I use Robinhood. Every paycheck I stick a little in. If you are able to, create different income streams. I have 2 rental properties – one is cash flow neutral while I pay it off and the second is cash flow positive.  Have a side hustle.  My third company, Shenanigan Kids, launched on 11/19 and has done $177k in revenue so far. 

Rachel Neill, Shenaningan Kids

10. I don’t like wasting anything, I also save and invest wisely whenever possible. I like to cook at home and make my own coffee most days if I’m not travelling. 

Karina, Tallulah Films

11. (i) Know your priorities.  It’s easy to mindlessly shop online or spend money without thinking about it. Your spending should match your priorities, if not, ask why you are spending it.

ii) Set Smart Goals. Your yearly financial goals should include numbers and dates.  I will save x$ in my 401K by 12/31/2020. I will fully-fund my Roth IRA.

iii) Ignore Peer Pressure.  It’s easy to think I deserve an expensive car or a luxury handbag.  If it’s not a priority or a goal – skip it.

Holly Wolf

12. Have an emergency fund

Have a spending PLAN

Think LONG TERM

Don’t spend money you don’t have

If you go into debt, make it profitable

Become very aware of needs versus wants when a “want” uses money from your emergency fund.

Ilene Davis

13. Some women seem never to be broke, the truth is they are just disciplined and smart with the way they handle their money. These are some helpful money habits for women who never get broke:

1. They established financial goals.

2. They know what and how to prioritize.

3. They know when to say “NO” to unnecessary spending.

4. They live below their means.

5. They save up and track their expenses.

6. They have several streams of income.

7. They prioritize their needs more than wants.

8. They are optimistic.

Marcus Clarke, Founder of Searchant

Create A Budget

14. Study your spending behavior based on facts – not what you think you might be spending. When I export and sort my credit card transactions I’m oftentimes baffled as I had completely forgotten about certain costs. Without looking through my actual spending – I would completely forget these expenses when budgeting.

Based on your spending habits – create a budget and work on optimizing it (can you do away with some subscriptions? Can you set a goal to cook at home and not order out/ eat out 6 nights a week? Etc). 

Once you have your budget i.e ‘allowance’ – make sure thats all the money you have available in your bank account for the month. The way I do it is that I configured my bank account to transfer out any money in excess of the ‘allowance’ I have given myself. If I were to leave the money in my account – I’d be too tempted to spend it

The ‘transferring out’ happens to my various investment holdings, mostly stock market investments. Once my stock market investments grow to a certain amount – I move part of the money to other investment categories such as real estate.

Julia Lemberskiy, JJ Studio

15. One money habit of women who are never broke is that they spend less than they earn each month, whether their earnings are six-figures or more or minimum wage. Every woman who is able to set aside some of her income each month will always have enough and will be able to save for her future at the same time.

Stacy Caprio, Fiscal Nerd

16. i) Keep a register of your expenses and income and revise it every month. Analyzing and tracking data is essential!

ii) Be realistic, expending beyond your income when it’s not necessary will lead you to bankruptcy.

iii) Reflect on WHY are you buying something and think about which psychological necessity you are trying to fulfill. Then, look for substitutes for those things that are more affordable to you and that still fulfill the same necessity.

Alejandra Marqués Méndez – Time Management and Planning Mentor

17. Every woman should feel the joy of reaching financial freedom in her lifetime.  The sooner the better. If you want to build money habits that will guarantee you never go broke, it starts with creating a budget and never compromising on your money goals. Be intentional about your spending and saving habits and you will see success in your finances in no time.

Samantha, How To Fire

Put Yourself First

18. (i) Women who are never broke take good care of themselves. There is a direct correlation between the value you place on yourself mentally and monetarily.

ii). Women who are never broke know how to be honest with themselves. This makes it so they can make adjustments when necessary to their plan.

iii). Women who are never broke practice foresight. Foresight leads to financial success. She looks ahead to see where she wants to be and comes back to the moment to do what is in her power to make progress toward that goal.

Jacent Wamala, Wealth Wellness University

19. A few money habits I have that keep me in a state of financial abundance: being grateful, meditating, visualization, and spending money from a high vibration place. 

Whenever I spend money, I also say thank you. In addition, I think it is important to set aside time to list things you are grateful for in your life. The attitude of gratitude magnetizes more blessings to you. Similarly, setting aside time at some point in my day to meditate helps me to reset and keep my mindset high vibe. During meditation, I often visualize the money I spend flowing back to me. Lastly, I don’t spend money to feed my ego or out of fear. I spend money on things that light me up and as an investment in myself whether that investment be in my self-care, survival, or business. 

Alliciyia George, Digital Marketing Strategist/ Owner, A.T.G. Photography & Marketing L.L.C.

20. I am going to say it and probably it will make some women mad but it is true…Women who have money in the bank have learned to say no without guilt. It is unfortunate that so many women do not remember to care for themselves first emotionally, physically, or financially. They put it all on the line to help others succeed trusting that is the same that will be done for them. 

Women who don’t have empty pockets care for themselves first in order to care for others later on their own terms. We are able to care for ourselves because when anyone is taking advantage of us it is not empathy that kicks in, it is self-confidence. We always say no until we know it is the right move for us to say yes. Maybe I would see it differently if I was not single having raised 2 successful, independent daughters.

I learned putting my oxygen masks on first is the only way I could care for my daughters. That is what I have for you.

Anneliese, American Nightlife Awards

Wrap Up

Knowledge is not beneficial until you put it into practice. In which case, it becomes wisdom.

Employ these tips in your daily life and spending to start your journey to financial freedom. Cheers to never being broke again!

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