Money

Career Contessa’s Best Financial Advice for 2021

Managing finances is easy, said nobody, ever. Take our best advice to learn how to manage. save, invest and make more money in 2021.

By Career Contessa Team
December 22, 2020

Money, money, money.

We're always thinking about it. We're never talking about it.

In fact, most of us were taught to keep quiet when it comes to money. According to a Bustle survey, 50 percent of people said they never discuss personal finances with friends, even though 28 percent reported feeling stressed out about money every single day. Add in a global pandemic and a mass exodus of women from the work world (only to do even more work at home—without pay), it's too much.

Traditionally, we aren't fans of stress—although we do believe that there is such a thing as good stress. (i.e.) we wouldn't mind you stressing about achieving your financial goals—what we don't want, is you stressing because you don't even have any financial goals, and what is saving money, and what even is a 401k?...Get it? We want good money stress. And really, that starts with education.

first and foremost

Our money mantra? Your self worth is not your net worth. It's quality advice from our founder + CEO, Lauren—a reminder that money isn't everything:

"This isn’t all on you. The link between salary and feelings of success may be hard-wired in you thanks to being asked to “know your worth” or “ask for your worth” in salary negotiation tips and techniques. Or the constant ability to compare what you have to strangers on the internet. Or the belief that if you had more money, you’d be happier."

We want to encourage y'all (and us) to put an end to this thinking, language, and technique. Not only is connecting your self-worth to your net worth a losing game, but it also throws a huge wrench into that whole self-acceptance thing.

One other thing. Women are so often told that they are "bad with money" and we're sick and tired of this narrative, so let's ditch it.

So before you read about money—how to save it, how to spend it, what it even really is—know that it's never a reflection on you as a person.

Laying The Groundwork

Think of these like flash-cards, for adults. Start from square one—by learning what's what when it comes to financial terms. Some of us weren't taught this in school—but we really all should have been. Quiz yourself—how many do you know?

Raises + Salary Negotiation

Ah yes, the classic money question—how do we get more of it? It's important to have an educated, research-backed ask when you're negotiating salary. Studies show that 43 percent of workers feel they're underpaid. In order to remedy (or avoid, by asking in the onboarding process) the uncomfortable underpaid situation, you need to know how to research your salary, and make an educated ask.

Budgeting + Saving

That thing that we all know we should be doing, but often, just...don't. The thing about making budgets, following budgets, and saving money, is that it's easier than we think. It comes down to organization and self-control. Long-term versus short-term thinking.

The Salary Project™

Our salary tool, The Salary Project™, lets you navigate a database of over 60,000 salaries from women across the globe, to give you a personalized experience so that you can look at salary research that's relevant to you. You can see real salaries from women working in your state, city, dream industry, current role, and more. We pull data and sort it for you—so that you can do your research in a fun way.

Have any content ideas for us this year? Questions you need answered? Email us at editorial@careercontessa.com!

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Career Contessa Team

Career Contessa is an online job search and career advice resource. Since 2013, Career Contessa staff have been writing career advice articles on a variety of topics from job search to advancing at work with insight from experts, research-backed tips, and personal stories to help you become more fulfilled, healthy, and successful at work. When tackling big pain points like job search, interviewing, and career transitions, we need all hands on deck. The articles attributed to the team feature hard work, research, and real experience.