Seven ways you can protect your money as a woman so you’re never left high and dry
Worried about money? It can sometimes feel like money is difficult to look after, it’s hard to protect and it can feel as though it’s always in danger in some way.
While that’s not strictly true, it’s still important to protect your money where you can. And there are some simple measures that you can take to keep your money as safe as possible. But it’s important that you know what they are and how they work to be able to put this into practice.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at seven of the things that you can do if you are a woman who is trying to protect her money. Being left high and dry is the last thing that you want in your life when you work so hard, so make sure that you are protecting yourself against this.
1) Don’t rely on a new partner
The first thing that we are going to say is that you should never, ever rely on a new partner to help you through anything. When the relationship is new, and for a good time afterwards, you should not be financially involved in each other’s lives.
This means that you should not have access to their bank, they should not have access to yours, and as far as finances are concerned, you know nothing about each other. The reason for this is that there are people out there who will use what they know about financial positions to get what they want. There are also people out there that will pretend to want a relationship or a friendship just so that they can steal from you.
Of course, you can’t go into every single relationship thinking that someone is going to steal from you, but that doesn’t mean that you should not be cautious. It’s always better to be on the safe side of things, rather than risk someone taking from you what does not belong to them.
If they ask you for details of your finances at any point, just be sure to tell them that you do not get involved like that for a while. If they react negatively, they are not the relationship that you are supposed to be in anyway.
2) Make sure you’re saving
You should always make sure that you are saving where possible. If you have some extra money at the end of each week or each month, you need to ensure that you are putting at least some of it away. Of course, it’s true that in some cases this just isn’t going to be able to be done. However, if you do it as much as you can, then you are never going to be in a position where you are having to scrape the bottom of the proverbial barrel in order to get what you need.
Ideally, your savings should be somewhere that not a single other person has access to. For example, you can either keep it in cash somewhere safe in your home if this is what you want to do, but there are also options such as secret bank accounts and other places that you can store your savings in.
Make sure that you choose whichever you think is going to be best for you based on your individual circumstances. The important thing is that you know you have got it when you need it.
3) Never give someone your bank details
We know that you already know this, but it’s an important point so we are going to reiterate it anyway. You should not be giving anyone your bank details. This means that they should not know the pin number to your debit or credit card, they should not know any of your account information, they should not know a single thing about your bank account.
If they do, then they may be able to get some kind of access to it and this is not what you want. Ideally, you want your bank account to be locked up so tight that not even your parents and close loved ones can access it.
This also means that if you have mobile banking, you should keep your pin a secret. Don’t save it onto your phone, and if you have a phone that has facial recognition, make sure that you don’t allow this with your banking app. If you do, then someone could easily add themselves to the face ID when you aren’t looking.
4) If you need a loan, choose your lender carefully
If you find at any point that you are going to need a loan, then think carefully about where you are getting it from. A lot of lenders charge you a ridiculous amount of interest and ask for some kind of collateral that you likely don’t have.
This is the case for small loans as well as large ones, so you could be subject to some extremely harsh conditions if you are not careful and don’t choose the right lender. It’s a lot more complicated than going online and seeing who will provide you with the money that you are looking for, and this is what a lot of people don’t understand.
Ideally, you should be looking somewhere like a bank for a loan. If you are getting a small loan this might be a lot simpler than a larger one. Or, if you are thinking of asking for a small business loan, this could be a little more complicated. We do think that it is worth looking into bank guarantees as they can be helpful if the bank that you are looking at offers them. Of course, some don’t and it’s not hard to see why, but it’s worth a shot.
5) Never lend to friends and family
We know that this sounds kind of harsh, but you should never lend to friends or family. This is where money gets extremely complicated, and some families are rather manipulative without you even knowing it. They will try to tell you that because they are family they don’t have to pay back the money that you kindly loaned them and that you are the one who is in the wrong for asking for it back.
This is simply a little piece of advice to protect yourself against some of the harshness that others have received from those they love. Of course, we’re not saying that everyone is like this, but we don’t want you to be in this position.
6) Have a separate account from your main one
Everyone knows that you should have a separate account from your main account. Some people have two or three, but you need to make sure that not all of your money is in one place. Then, if something does happen to it, at the very least it’s not all going to be gone. It’s easy to open a separate bank account from the one that you have already got, it’s just a case of finding the time.
You should ensure that you are using one as your main account and one as your side account. Or, if you want more than two then make sure they all have purposes. This is the best way to avoid confusion within your mind. Even if someone does manage to get access to your information for one bank, they’re unlikely to be able to do it for more than one. So, if you are unlucky, you still won’t be left high and dry.
7) Look into the best types of account
The final thing that we are going to look at is the best types of account. As a woman trying to protect her finances, you should be aware of the different types of bank accounts available to you. Look at those that have high interest rates as these are the ones that are going to pay off in the end. If you are worried about getting the wrong account, then you can ask a financial expert as they should be able to provide you with the help that you need.
Ideally, you should be looking at different types of accounts for each account that you open. Where one might be a standard account for your daily expenses, the other could be a high-interest savings account. You don’t realize how much money you can add to your total just by having one of these accounts and leaving your money in there.
We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the things that you should do when you are trying to protect your money as a woman. Getting left high and dry is not the thing that you need in your life right now, so it’s essential that you are taking the right measures to protect against this.
Some of these might sound a little bit extreme to you, but we promise that we are only trying to ensure that you are looked after when it comes to your money. We wish you the very best of luck with this, and hope that you follow some of the advice that we have given above.
Photo by Tamara Bellis
