4 Ways to Be More Confident With Money

Believe it or not, many Americans lack confidence when it comes to money. A recent survey by LendingTree revealed that only 54% of respondents are confident that they’re on track to meet their financial goals. Women tend to have less financial confidence than men even if they’re extremely successful career-wise. Rachel Rodgers, author of We Should All Be Millionaires, found that 90% of high-earning women don’t feel confident making decisions about money.

Before I became a personal finance writer, I also felt unequipped to handle my finances. However, taking advantage of all the financial education resources available online enabled me to get up to speed. If you have money-related imposter syndrome, here are 4 ways to be more confident with money.

Educate Yourself on Personal Finance

The best way to become more confident with money is to educate yourself on personal finance. I wasn’t taught basic financial literacy by my parents or teachers. When I reached young adulthood, I wasn’t familiar with simple concepts like compound interest or credit scoring models. It’s hard to manage your money when you’ve never made a budget and don’t know how investing works!

That’s why I did a personal finance deep dive online and learned everything I could about money. I read dozens of articles from reputable finance publications such as Nerdwallet, the Simple Dollar, and the Financial Diet. I also binge-watched Two Cents and the Dave Ramsey Show on YouTube.

There are countless free resources such as blogs, YouTube channels, and library books that can help you gain the personal finance skills you need. Just make sure you’re consuming content produced by trusted sources. Although scrolling on TikTok is fun, it’s not the best place to go for financial education.

Drop the Expectation of Perfection

One of the reasons I lacked financial confidence was because I thought being good with money meant being perfect. However, you don’t always have to make the most frugal money decisions to consider yourself good with finances.

Budgeting is all about creating a financial plan tailored to your specific values and goals. If you enjoy living in a nicer apartment, you don’t have to rent the cheapest studio in your area. But you do need to make sure you can afford the higher rent payment while saving enough.

Experts recommend setting aside three to six months of expenses for emergencies and saving at least 10% to 15% of your income for retirement. Plus, you may want to save for other goals such as sending your kids to college, buying a house, or purchasing a vehicle outright.

If you’re saving enough money and staying out of debt, you’re doing pretty well even if you don’t feel like it. Sometimes you may slip up and stray from your budget because you’re human, but what matters is that you get back on track. You don’t have to be perfect 100% of the time to feel confident with money and manage your finances well.

Use Budgeting and Investing Tools

Luckily you don’t need to know everything about personal finance to manage your money well. There are lots of budgeting and investing tools that can help automate your finances and keep you on track, such as robo-advisors.

Robo-Advisors

Robo-advisors are a type of digital investment software that can automatically design and manage your portfolio for you. These tools take into account your risk tolerance and goals to create an investing strategy that suits your needs. Robo-advisors can also rebalance your portfolio for you and even execute certain tax strategies like tax loss harvesting.

Robo-advisors usually have pretty low management fees, so you won’t have to pay an arm and a leg to automate your investments. If you lack confidence when it comes to investing, this can be a great way to get started while you’re learning the ropes. Then when you’re ready, you can take a more active role in managing your investment portfolio.

Budgeting Software

Another tool you should consider utilizing is budgeting software. Personally, I use a budgeting tool called Mint, which syncs with your bank account and credit cards to track and categorize your transactions. This means you won’t have to scroll through your bank account’s monthly summary and add up all your purchases manually.

Mint also allows you to set saving and investing targets and view your current net worth at a glance. The tool even suggests a budget amount for each spending category based on your purchase history and available cash. These suggestions can help you create a realistic budget and avoid overspending so you can achieve your financial goals.

Consider Speaking to a Financial Advisor

Although there are many free educational resources and financial tools available, you may still need to speak to a financial advisor face-to-face. Sometimes you need more guidance than a robo-advisor or budgeting tool can provide to feel confident about money.

Fee-only financial advisors can assess your financial situation and point out areas where you can improve. They’ll assist you in creating a budget and investing strategy that’s tailored to your circumstances, values, and goals. Speaking with an expert can be especially helpful during big life milestones such as starting a business or getting married and combining finances. There’s nothing wrong with seeking out an expert opinion if you’re feeling unsure about your finances.

Do you feel confident in your money management skills? What steps have you taken to become more confident with money? Share your tips in the comments below!

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Vicky Monroe

Vicky Monroe is a freelance personal finance and lifestyle writer. When she’s not busy writing about her favorite money saving hacks or tinkering with her budget spreadsheets, she likes to travel, garden, and cook healthy vegetarian meals.