Adapted from the book "Rich Bitch" by Nicole Lapin. http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Bitch-12-Step-Financial-Together/dp/0373893175

1. 10 Bitch Tips
for Getting
Your Financial
Life Together
NICole lapin

2. Let’s just go ahead and acknowledge it: people can be really nasty to ambitious woman.
As Jessica Miller Merrel writes, "When women are confident, calm, and educated, they
are often seen as trouble."
If you speak your mind, you’re called a bitch. If you don’t take shit from anyone, you’re
called a bitch. If you aren’t afraid to go for what you want, you’re called a bitch. If you
are empowered about your money and the life you want, you’re called a bitch. If you
demand respect, you’re called a bitch.

3. Let me be clear. Being a Rich Bitch is good. (Rich Bitches are the good
kinda bitches, like Glenda in The Wizard of Oz, not the bad bitches like the
Wicked Witch of the West.) It’s about empowerment. It’s about taking
control.

4. Being a Rich Bitch means going after what you want in life by getting the
financial part in order. Because let’s be honest: you need money to live
the life you want. My mission is to make you so financially fit that you’re
confident to call yourself a Rich Bitch.

5. What follows are 11 easy tips that will help you on your
path towards being a Rich Bitch and achieving your
financial goals.

6. 1.
Get your credit score
(aka FICO score)
*
*
You’ve probably seen a ton of gimmicks—catchy commercials or random pop-up ads or a
ton of confusing, seemingly official sites when you do a Google search for “credit
report.” But there is only one that offers truly free reports. Uno. One. It’s www.
annualcreditreport.com.
BONUS: If you apply for a loan, you can ask the lender for a copy of the report and FICO
score they pulled, so you don’t have to pay for them yourself.

7. Chill on the big purchases (like a big-screen TV or new
computer) and don't open any new lines of credit for
several months before you try to refinance or get a
mortgage. It could screw with your credit score and lead to
a higher interest rate.
2.
Chill on the big purchases
(like a big-screen TV or new computer)

8. New cars depreciate 15-20% the second you drive them off the
lot. And, they lose 70% of their value in the first four years.
3.
Buy a used car.

9. Lots of car dealerships work on a quota system, meaning that they have
to sell a certain number of cars every month. In the last days of the
month, the dealership will have greater incentive to knock down the price
in order to move vehicles off the lot and meet their quota.
4.
Buy cars at the
end of the month.

10. Are you in between health insurance plans? Even if you're not, make friends
with walk-in clinics. It’s cheap, quick and easy. You don’t need an
appointment. You just show up—so you don’t have to deal with those
middle- of-the-day times when you have to drop everything because your
doctor can squeeze you in.
5.
Walk-ins rock.

11. Debit cards make bookkeeping easier because you can see exactly what you are
spending on a cash basis every month. This will go straight into the outflow section of
your balance sheet*/cash flow* statement since it's coming from money you have. A
credit card bill, on the other hand, will have two steps accounting for the interest. That
is, the things you pay for with credit cards are listed out as expenditures and then re-
totaled with interest factored in.
6.
be a debit devotee

12. Stocks will drive you crazy if you watch them every day, and will cause you grief
if you let them...especially if you fall in love with them. There's an old finance
saying: "Falling in love is always expensive." If you can stomach the volatility and
possibility of getting your heart broken, "own" investments.
7.
Put your stock
blinders on

13. 8.
And you never know unless you try. You should always, always negotiate
the interest rate you get on your credit cards, and any late fees you may
incur. Never take the APR of interest rate offered as set in stone, it's not.
Everything is negotiable.

14. 9.
See if you can get your boss to pay some of your bills. Do your employers require you
to be available on your cell during off hours? That's a good reason to ask them to help
pay for your phone bill. Do you bring your personal laptop into the office for work?
Ask about that too. If your employers won't help you pay for it, you might be able to
write whatever item you're using for work off on your taxes.
Get your boss
to pay your bills

15. 10.
Many 401(k)’s allow you to contribute up to 15% of your salary until you reach the
cap, but there’s nothing that says you have to contribute that much. It’s ideal to
put in at least as much as your employer will match, typically 5% or 6%, so you
reap the benefit of that “free money.”
401(k) matching

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