We share lots of brilliant budgeting tips here at Ellevest … but which one is most important? Money coach Sofia Figueroa shares her favorite.
Ellevest’s answer:
My number-one budgeting tip would be to pay yourself first. I know it might sound cliche, but it is so important — and it can have a really big impact on your future. So the idea here is to factor in your savings goals — so emergency funding, retirement, other investing — into your budget, so that each month you are making those contributions before you spend on any other expenses. That way, you know you’re making progress towards all of those goals. And Future You will definitely thank you for that.
In order to make this happen, I recommend figuring out how much you need to save toward all of those goals, either on a monthly or per paycheck basis, and then automating the process — setting up either direct deposit from your paychecks or automatic transfers from your checking into all of those savings accounts — so you won’t even be tempted to spend that money in the first place, because it's no longer in that spending account.
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