As a young businesswoman, you might be at first unsure about the best ways to set up your personal finances for long-term success. Sure, you’re bringing in some serious cash with that awesome new tech or finance job, but it’s not just a question of income; it’s also important to know how to save, budget, invest, and plan.

In this post, we’ll cover what every young businesswoman should know about long-term finance. The long-term may seem far away, but trust us, the years will fly by once you’re in the swing of a full-time career. Here are the tips that every girl boss, lady hustler, and shentrepreneur should know.

Start planning for retirement early

If there’s one thing that young professionals just do not get drilled into their heads often enough, it’s that planning for retirement should be a top priority. Sure, when there are scrumptious lattes and avocado toast to be had, retirement may not seem like it falls high on the list.

But that’s where you’re wrong. Whether you like it or not, someday you’ll be old and gray and unable to work. Yes, even the fiercest hustlers must succumb to the passage of time. And, when you do, you’ll want a hefty savings ready to cover all the expenses you’re likely to encounter.

The best way to do this is with a 401k, preferably one sponsored and matched by your employer or an IRA that you can fund yourself. If you own property, reverse mortgages could be a solution in a pinch. What is a reverse mortgage? It’s a loan company buys your house by paying you for it while you live there – then they own the title once you pass away or move out.

Make a budget – and stick to it

Every boss babe needs to have a budget. There’s truly no way around it. If you’re not planning your finances out, you can pretty much swipe left on all that fun stuff you’d hoped to save up for. Sad.

So, what can you do? The Goddess Queen of all Girl Bosses, Elizabeth Warren, invented the essential go-to budget that you need to try if you haven’t already. It’s called the 50/20/30 budget and it works like this:

• 50% of your budget should be spent on necessities, like rent and gas.
• 20% should be put into savings or be put toward paying off debt
• 30% can be spent on whatever strikes your fancy – whether that’s monster truck rallies or pedicures!

If you can, keep track of your purchases on your credit or debit card, then carefully categorize each one to figure out if you’re spending within your budget in each category. Trust us, that Cabo vacation will look a lot more doable once you’re budgeting regularly.

Save, save, save

As implied by the aforementioned 20% allotted to savings, saving is pretty gosh darn important. Savings isn’t just for retirement and weekend getaways, though – you’ll also need your savings for those just-in-case whoopsies as well as catastrophic, life-altering disasters.

That’s why it’s important to have an emergency savings. Most experts recommend you keep about 3 to 6 months’ worth of income stashed away just in case.

• Pro tip alert: keep your emergency savings in a high-yield savings account, that way your money is still making money while it’s stashed away. That’s what we call a win-win.

Sure, it’s not pretty, but having an emergency saving will be a godsend if something terrible should happen to you or your family.

Invest if you can

If you’re just starting, and your salary isn’t quite at your dream-job level yet, investing can seem a world away. But trust us, with modern innovations in investing tech, investing is a possibility for almost everyone!

The easiest way? Try out a robo-advisor. Basically, instead of a traditional broker who you pay to allocate your funds, it’s usually just an app with an onboard algorithm that figures it out for you. That makes investing pretty easy – just specify your risk tolerance and future goals, and there you have it.

Remember to have fun

At the end of the day, you only live once. Money is made to be spent, and some of it should be put towards making your life as enjoyable as possible! By planning, saving budgeting, and looking ahead, you’ll have the freedom to do just that.