Eight money moves from a single mom working towards financial independence.
As a single mom, I tend to get a lot of questions from women and single parents on career related and childcare topics. The number one question during this quarantine period is how to earn and manage money.
I’m grateful to receive these questions and provide my point of view. Having a solid financial plan ahead of emergencies is very important to the health of one’s family. Money is an important tool and learning to safeguard your financial home has helped ease anxiety during these uncertain times.
Here are eight money moves I’ve made so far that I’d like to share with any single mom or single parent. I’ll go into details after the image:
1. INCREASE earnings over time by networking, performing at a high level and negotiating for a raise. Use quarantine to find a side hustle.
- I have a corporate banking career that I’ve been working at for the last 12 years. The last 6 of those have been while being a single mom. I have consistently received top performance reviews and have negotiated a raise with each job move and once while in the same job, when I viewed my work wasn’t compensated fairly. I’ve quadrupled my income since starting my career and am incredibly proud of my accomplishment. I offer career coaching to help you get to the next level at your job. For a 30min discovery call to understand if my experience can help you, visit here to fill out a few questions.
- [July update] I started a side hustle in July and earned $1,463 extra revenue that month by teaching Instagram business how to grow their engagement online using tips I’ve used to grow to 10k organically in 8 months. Special $10 promo for blog readers here code : blog.
2. TRACK spend, live simply, but treat myself & my daughter.
- As a single mom, I have to be mindful of the money being spent because I have only one main source of income from my main job. I still spend money on things that matter for my family, though. For example, I just purchased a Dyson v11 for a hefty price to replace my 10-year old vacuum. (I used Rakuten and got $24 cash back bonus!- here’s my referral code if you’d like to sign up as well for cash back on any purchases. We both get a referral)
- I view this as an investment and opted for the most recent model. I’ve bought my daughter a Nintendo Switch that she enjoys (a bit too much…She loves Fortnite right now) and I’ve furnished the house with fancy-ish West Elm mid century furniture.
- To help make it more easy (and kinda fun), I use a weekly tracker to track my spend. I offer it as a FREE DOWNLOAD here, if you’d like to sign up to get it in your mailbox! I take this data and summarize it into monthly charts. I love that it is easy to read and reference months later. I’ve made calendars for all of 2020 so I have no excuse when a new month rolls around! I offer them at a small fee of $3 for anyone interested. Here is how they look and here’s a deeper look into how March looked as a no spend month
- I also use Personal Capital to track my daily spend and make pretty charts for me.
- As a single mom, I have to be mindful of the money being spent because I have only one main source of income from my main job. I still spend money on things that matter for my family, though. For example, I just purchased a Dyson v11 for a hefty price to replace my 10-year old vacuum. (I used Rakuten and got $24 cash back bonus!- here’s my referral code if you’d like to sign up as well for cash back on any purchases. We both get a referral)
3. NO NEW DEBT.
- Outside of my mortgage and car payments, I say NO to debt. I purchase things only when I have the cash for it and have carefully considered it.
4. ASK parents for childcare help.
- Asking for help is maybe the hardest thing for me to do. However, to thrive in a single mom household, you have lose the pride and ask for help. By having my parents’ supportive, I’m able to advance in my career because I have more mobility in taking on new clients that are not driving distance from the office.
5. MAINTAIN a larger Emergency Fund (9 months).
- Dave Ramsey would suggests 3-6months, but I have cushion enough to pay for living expenses for 9 months, possibly more. I like to evaluate various types of risk and having a bigger emergency minds puts my mind at ease and solves for various emergencies such as a Job loss or health scare.
6. PROTECT assets with a Living Trust & insurance.
- Insurance will cover other emergencies and I put together a living trust last year to protect the financial future of my daughter should anything happen to me. It’s a sad reality but we must consider this objectively and plan for the worst, while expecting the best.
- I am in the process of getting Term Life insurance, which is one of my 2020 goals I’ve written about before.
7. LEARN about investing and invest in Index Funds.
- Historically, all my investments were through a work 401(k). I track my progress to maxing out my 401(k) on my Instagram below. Although a bit later in life because my parents are immigrants and didn’t really know much about retirement accounts, I opened up a Roth IRA and a brokerage account to be more diversified in how I invest. The book that helped me learn more about index funds is The Simple Path To Wealth by JL Collin.
8. PRIORITIZE health, prayer, gratitude and pay it forward.
- I was sick with a cold the first few weeks of quarantine so I value my health so much more now due to that mini scare. I prioritize prayer to keep my mindset straight and aligned with what God’s will is for my life and I’m grateful for everything I have. I use this platform to pay it forward with free content for my followers with some Amazon ads that garner a few pennies with each post and purchase. Ideally I’d love for this platform to generate passive income through the resources I provide to further ease the burden of single mom hustles but for now, I’m enjoying sharing with you all!
