3 Things I Wish I Knew Then That I Know Now About Money
By Kastle Waserman
When starting my journalism career, I landed my dream job right out of college - an assistant position with the Los Angeles Times. Over five years, I worked my way up to lifestyle, music and fashion editor/report for the paper’s Calendar section. I was making good money and spending it as fast as I made it. I loved my job and planned to be there for life.
Then I was laid off. I felt like someone sucker-punched me. I never saw it coming. And worse, I had no savings, I never looked into what a 401(K) was, and the newspaper industry was in a death spiral with the rise of digital media. As much as I desperately scrambled to find another job and had good credentials, it wasn’t happening. I was broke and running up my one credit card because it was the only money I had to live on.
This went on for three, long years.
I sat on my couch wondering how I got myself in this position. I cried, a lot. And I was scared I would end up homeless on the streets. My scarcity issues were running high. Filled with embarrassment and shame, I borrowed money from my parents to pay the rent. I vowed that once I landed a job, I would learn to manage my money so I would never have to go through this again.
I realized I needed to build my skills to make a career shift. A friend told me to look into marketing copywriting, so I bought all the books I could find, and I found it an easy transition of my writing skills. As soon as I put “copywriter” on my resume, I landed a good job writing marketing content for a cosmetics company.
From there, I kept my vow to educate myself on personal finance. I bought all the David Bach and Suze Orman books, and read all the blogs I could find. As soon as my first paychecks came in, I started separating my income to cover living expenses, save for an emergency fund and my retirement fund.
I only wish I knew to do this with my first job. I started working in my teens at little retail jobs and throughout college. I never thought to save anything during that time. My father didn’t teach me about personal finance. He only told me to invest in the stock market but never explained what they meant. And I didn’t get a financial education in the public school system. I was doomed from the start.
I eventually went back to school to earn a degree in marketing to build my skill set to land better jobs – partially paid for by tuition reimbursement from my jobs, something I also wasn’t taught about early on.
Now I use my writing skills to help financial services companies, advisors, planners and educators promote their businesses so they can connect with people who were like me. I don’t want others to fall into that hole of struggle and debt. I write with empathy because I’ve been there. I know what it feels like to feel intimidated by a lack of financial knowledge and too embarrassed to ask for help.
People only need a taste of the basics to set them on the right path of good personal money management. If I were to name three things I wish I knew then that I know now, it would be:
Starting with my first job, I would have put 10% in a high-yield savings account to build at least six months of emergency savings. When interest rates are high, I’d move some of it into high-yield CDs laddered out to mature at different times. Then I wouldn’t touch it unless there was an actual emergency (car repair, dental work) and let compound interest work its magic to grow it. Oh, when I think what I could have had!
I would have put 10% of all my paychecks in retirement savings, whether an IRA/Roth IRA or my employer’s 401(k). I didn’t know what employer matches meant until very late in my career, so I didn’t know to contribute up to that amount. That’s a lot of free money I left on the table!
I would have kept better track to not spend more than I made to stay out of debt. Now I know about reward credit cards and use one for every purchase andbut then pay it off every month. That way I can track my spending on the statement and use the rewards for fun stuff.
If you want help on your financial journey, know that you have choices. The Pledgettes recommends you build a Financial A-Team.
There are many stats that show the gender wealth gap.
Women have a longer lifespan than men, so you’ll need more retirement savings to cover those years. For every dollar a man earns, women are paid only 82 cents, so you’ll have a harder time-saving money than men. Plus, women often take time off for caregiving for children and elderly parents, which lowers the amount of time they earn money.
Financial Literacy is one path to level the playing field . Money gives you options, power and freedom to do what you want with your life. I want to connect women with those who provide financial services and education so they can have that money!
Now let’s do this!
Kastle Waserman is a copywriting, storytelling and women & wealth expert who helps financial professionals create content that simplifies complex personal finance topics to acquire more female clients who need financial guidance. She’s written for BOK Financial, Transamerica, Jackson National Life Insurance, Lockton Insurance and Trilogy Finance. See the articles she’s done for others that she can do for you here and learn more about Kastle and stay in touch with her here.
