3 Savvy Money Moves Every Woman Should Make

March is Women's History Month, and while women should be celebrated every single day of the year, I'll admit this is a really excellent time to focus on women's finances in particular. Making positive changes to the way you save, invest, and even think about money can help you build more security, freedom, and happiness. Here are three key moves that can improve your financial standing, this month and long into the future.

1. Save for emergencies

Could you handle a $500 emergency from your savings? According to SecureSave, 63% of U.S. employees couldn't. Growing your savings account balance is easily one of the best things you can do for yourself.

The typical recommendation for an emergency fund target is enough cash to cover three to six months' worth of regular expenses. But if you're starting from $0, that probably sounds daunting. So don't focus on that -- instead, focus on making savings contributions a regular part of your financial life.

Some people have success through automation -- you can set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to savings on a regular schedule (say, whenever you get a paycheck). If the money lands in a high-yield savings account, it'll grow even faster with interest.

And if you don't earn enough to save much, I have been in your shoes. Increasing my income was the only way I managed to build savings. Consider asking for a raise at work, or even changing jobs; that can be a more effective way to boost your pay than assuming your current employer will. You could also pick up a casual side hustle for a few hours a week. Nothing feels better than getting a big bill from the auto mechanic and having it be an annoyance rather than a catastrophe.

2. Prioritize investing

Did you know that women are less likely than men to have retirement savings? According to 2018 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 50% of women aged 55 to 66 have $0 in personal retirement savings -- compared to 47% of men. And since this data is a few years old, I wonder how much worse the problem is now, after a few years of COVID-19 and inflation worsening many people's personal finances.

What's more, data about women investors collected by the Motley Fool shows that we're actually more successful investors than men are. This is despite the fact that we're less likely to actually do it (and sadly, have less money to put in thanks to the continued gender pay gap). This could be explained by our more conservative and less impulsive approach to investing.

Investing money to grow for the future (especially for your golden years) is absolutely crucial -- you'll find it difficult to get by on Social Security alone. If you have access to a 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan, that's an easy way to get started. And if you qualify for an employer match to your contributions, that's like getting free money. If you don't have access to such a plan, it's easy to open an IRA, be it Roth or traditional. Roth IRAs grow your money tax-free, but traditional IRAs lower your taxable income now.

3. Maintain at least some financial independence

I'm certainly not shy about advocating for women's financial independence. In fact, yesterday I was chatting with my downstairs neighbor. She's currently weighing her options for work after leaving a toxic job situation, and her sweet boyfriend is stepping up a lot financially. I flatly warned her to never leave herself without money and a way to earn it. Domestic violence (which includes a financial component 94%–99% of the time) can happen to anyone -- and life can be unpredictable under the best of relationship circumstances.

Even an amicable breakup can leave you in dire financial straits -- after a divorce a few years ago, I was seriously afraid I'd end up living in my car due to my inability to cover all my bills alone. Things turned out OK, thankfully -- but this isn't the case for every woman.

This isn't to say that women should never split the rent with anyone -- living alone is expensive. And if you're in a relationship, you likely have shared financial goals, such as having kids, buying a home, or retiring early. Just be cautious about combining finances with another person -- it's a wise idea to open a joint account for shared bills and also maintain your own bank and retirement accounts, for example. And investing in your professional development to give yourself a leg up on staying employed (and increasing your income) is one of the best ways you can maximize your financial growth.

This is easily the best time in history to be a woman, but we're still not where we should be as far as equal pay and equal access to human rights -- even in such a rich country as the United States. Use these tips to build financial success and the opportunities that come along with it.