Your salary matters.
"For many people, your biggest asset is your earning power, so you have to manage that as well as any other asset," says Dawn Rapoport, a certified financial planner and chief operating officer at Waddell & Associates.
This is especially important for people early in their
"In the early years, where you start very much has an impact on where you end up," she explains. "You want to make sure you are being very focused on negotiating your best opportunities, because that will help determine what you're getting paid in future roles. If you spend 10 years being undervalued, that doesn't set you up for the middle or later stages of your career, where you should hit peak earning power."
This advice applies to everyone - but research shows that women may have more trouble putting it into effect, whether that's because of their own socialized tendencies, a lack of history with effective negotiation, or the way their actions are perceived from across the table.
Anyone can make the following mistakes today that will cost them money tomorrow: