Laura Bogart

Mon, May 12, 2025, 6:16 AM4 min read

With every headline about a potential recession, tariff shots fired in a looming trade war, and layoffs spreading across multiple sectors, many people are anxious about their financial futures — especially women.

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It’s not surprising. When GOBankingRates and New York Life teamed up to assess Americans’ financial outlook and surveyed a group about their money moods, nearly 17% of women said the statement “Thinking about my future sometimes keeps me up at night” described them perfectly. An additional 22.4% said the statement strongly resonated, though to a slightly less intense — but still significant — degree.

Despite these fears, nearly 4 in 10 women who responded to the survey admitted that they didn’t have a financial plan. That gap makes sense when you consider that many women and girls haven’t been encouraged to learn about money management from a young age.

The good news is, there’s always time to learn, and it doesn’t have to feel overwhelming.

One of the smartest things you can do to pave a path toward a brighter financial future is simply learning about personal finance. It’s one thing to know you need a budget, and quite another to understand exactly how you should go about creating one that actually works for your lifestyle and goals.

Understanding how debt works can help you come up with a plan to tackle it. And beyond immediate problem-solving, financial literacy empowers you to set long-term goals and develop the skills to meet them.

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Once you know what a high-yield savings account is, you’ll understand why it’s wise to earn interest on the money you set aside — whether for a vacation, a new car, medical care for your pet, or your emergency fund.

Financial literacy can also make you more confident in your use of different financial products, like life insurance, to help achieve your short- and long-term goals — from buying a home to creating generational wealth for your family.

No financial plan is complete without a clear vision for the future. Think of it as a road map showing where you want to be in five, 10, or even 30 years.

While paying off debt and building your savings are essential, it’s just as important to develop strategies that generate passive income over time — especially through long-term investments. A strong foundation should include diversified investments, such as index funds or target-date funds, which can help reduce risk while building wealth.