Gary Saitowitz highlights three smart money moves for every woman to attain financial independence

Are you concerned about your finances during this pandemic phase? If yes, there are you here. According to Gary Saitowitz in a Bank of America’s Workplace Benefits Report, close to 41% of women successfully rate their financial wellness as excellent. Also, today’s women are willing to take more time to cater to their accountabilities and also fight for equal pay. Hence, it is evident why women find their financial struggles challenging.

Women and finance – Three smart moves by Gary Saitowitz

Irrespective of age, relationship status, and employment, it is necessary for women to set their finances correctly. Here are three critical financial moves by Gary Saitowitz for every woman who wants to be financially independent.

1. You need to know your credit score

Knowledge is power. Hence, when you know your credit score, you can enhance your chances of taking complete control of the finances. It would be best if you saw the relevance of the credit score. Simply put, your credit score shows your ability to manage money and repaying debts. If you have a low credit score, you will pay an increased interest rate and might find it challenging to repay debts. FICO is one of the standard credit score models. You can enhance the low credit score with corrective measures. On the other hand, if there is no credit line, you might not have a credit score.

2. Negotiate your salary and other advantages

Most women have issues of not earning as much as their male counterparts. The Bureau of Labour Statistics affirms that for each dollar for a male salaried individual earned in 2018, the women made close to 81 cents. Several factors contribute to this situation. However, negotiating your salary can feel a tad bit intimidating if you have never done this so far. The following steps will help you:

• Research about the salary for your designation.
• Understand the worth of your work. If you want to figure this out, you need to keep an end-to-end list of achievements and contributions you made and quantify them.
• It would help if you also planned the thresholds. Create an aspirational salary and create a minimum cut beyond which you will not accept a job offer.
• You also need to practice negotiating your salary. You can request a trusted family member or friend to rehearse this conversation and learn ways to tackle negotiation with a senior manager in your office

3. Manage the student loans

Have you enjoyed a break from the student loan payments? If yes, you need to attribute it to CARES Act and also consider this to go ahead of the loans. The administrative forbearance tome will set the end of the year. However, you can still leverage the 0% interest payment suspension to avoid taking away from the student loan balance. According to the American Association of University Women, women today hold close to two-thirds of the entire outstanding student debt in the U.S. The amount is close to $929 billion in 2020. Most women repay the same in two or more years.

These are some of the apt financial moves for women to attain complete financial independence in today’s era.