If you are worried about job security and do not have an adequate emergency fund (ideally eight months' worth of living expenses stashed away in a federally insured bank or credit union), you need to focus more on saving money than paying down the balance on your credit cards.

It's not selfish to give TO yourself as much as you give OF yourself

We women know how to take care of everybody so well. But the one person we have written out of the equation is us.

When you are starting out in your 20s, it is natural to think about all that you will have and do once you start making money, and making more money. That gives money way too much power over your life. It's not about how much you make, but the life that you make with the money you have.

You must trust yourself more than you trust anyone else with your money.

Imagine you waking up tomorrow and you can't get a bank account; you can't get a credit union account. Everything has gone away and you're now living in poverty.

Every financial worry you want to banish and financial dream you want to achieve comes from taking tiny steps today that put you on a path toward your goals.