How to pay yourself first

If we had a dollar for every time someone told us they don’t care about money, we’d have enough of it to actually not care about it.

You care about money. You do.

Money is the thing that bought the device you’re reading this on, the clothes you’re wearing, the home you sleep in, the cleaner who frees up your time. Your toothpaste, car, food, holidays, electricity. The ability to sleep at night without worrying about bills? That takes money. 

Look around you at all that money-powered stuff and embrace the fact that you have to care deeply about it. Unless we overthrow capitalism, money makes the world go around. 

We love money

Money has a bad rap, and women give it a worse one. It’s time to get over it.

At Powrsuit, we’re proudly motivated by money. We want to grow global GDP by trillions of dollars, we want you to pocket equal pay, and we want more wealth to be in women’s hands. We also want to prove that women aren’t a ‘niche target market’ but a financial superpower – after all, we control 85% of global spending.

Money is freedom

However, somewhere in our cultural psyche, the word ‘money’ has negative connotations. When someone says ‘I care about money’, what we hear is ‘I’m greedy’. It’s true, isn’t it? That’s exactly what you think when someone proudly and actively accumulates cash. We like a little wordplay, so let’s keep substituting the word ‘money’, but swap it for what it really means: ‘freedom’. 

Money is the ability to walk away from a bad relationship or a job that doesn’t align with your values. Money is the ability to take time off with your family, choose your retirement age, and support the charities you believe in. Money buys you the freedom to live the life you want. And that’s why you, like us, should proudly care about it. Sold? Good.

Buy yourself some power

Powrsuiters embrace negotiating and networking our way to strategic career opportunities. But unless you do something with the extra money you get as a result, why bother? 

If your financial plan is still a blank sheet of paper, don’t panic. The best place to start is building an emergency fund, money you set aside for the unexpected. No, not an unexpected sale or night out, but an unexpected life event. It could be an issue with your car, a large power bill, or even redundancy. Think of your emergency fund as a financial safety net – the bigger it gets, the less powr the unexpected has over your stress levels (money = freedom!). 

So today, we’re going to teach you a simple habit to buy yourself some mental and financial freedom. Often called ‘paying yourself first’, it means prioritising your future self over all other costs:

1. Block 30 minutes in your calendar now

We know how easy it is for life to get in the way, so block out 30 minutes in your calendar sometime this week so you make time to get this done.

2. Open up a high-interest savings account

They call compound interest the eighth wonder of the world for a reason: when the interest you earn also earns interest, the rate can make a big difference in how much you end up with. 

Do a quick Google and find a reputable financial institution that offers good interest rates for savings that you can access whenever you need. In New Zealand, the bank rates currently vary from 0% to around 5.25%. While these vary from country to country, you want to be at the top end of the scale.  

Convenience is usually queen, but there’s a good argument for opening this account in a different place to your everyday banking. You want it out of sight, out of mind.

3. Set up an automatic payment

You want your automatic payment to go out as soon as you get paid and to your new high-interest bank account. There are a couple of good reasons for the urgency: first, it’s a reminder to yourself that you come first, and second, money has a way of evaporating, so paying yourself first locks it in.

The amount doesn’t matter; you can increase it over time. What does matter is that it’s small enough that you won’t miss it—your ‘emergency’ shouldn’t run out of money before your next payday. 

Seriously, start with $5 or $10 per pay. The worst thing you can do is get into a position where you need to dip into your emergency fund because you overcommitted. This is about establishing a habit of paying yourself first, one that will result in an ever-increasing stockpile of money.

4. Don’t touch it

When they moved in together last year, Nat and her girlfriend started a similar account. While the money is accessible at any time, they haven’t checked it again until writing this newsletter. Over the last 52 weeks, they’ve built up a healthy bank balance – and an even healthier level of peace of mind.  

Don’t touch your emergency fund unless you really have to. Shoes might be nice, and holidays are fun, but what about the ability to sleep at night without worrying about money? It’s priceless.