3 money rules I swear by — and why they work

Hey everyone, I'm Genna Contino and I'm officially taking the driver's seat at Don't Short Yourself as lead writer, where I'll be delivering smart, actionable tips to your inbox.

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I may write about money for a living, but I'm still figuring out my own finances, just like you are. While the information out there can be conflicting and confusing, I'll dig up answers and advice you can trust through rigorous research and reporting. And I'm here to keep it simple and relatable — so you won't need a degree in finance to follow it.

To start things off, here are three personal-finance principles that I've come to swear by through my own wins and losses. Stacking these habits now can help you grow your wealth and confidence as you navigate your financial journey.

One of the best things about being MarketWatch's Smart Spending reporter is that I get to pick the brains of top personal-finance experts every day. I've distilled their wisdom into three nonnegotiable rules that I now live by.

Pay yourself first. I've set things up so that automated contributions to my 401(k) and high-yield savings account happen the second my paycheck drops, before I ever have a chance to touch the cash.

Boring advice is best. If a wealth strategy sounds incredibly dull — like index funds or compounding interest — then it probably works. High-risk, high-rewards plays like cryptocurrency investments or options trading may seem more exciting, but they're best suited for experienced investors with capital they can afford to lose. (In my case, as a MarketWatch staffer, I'm barred from actively trading in financial markets, anyway.)

Focus on value over restricting yourself. Budgeting and saving shouldn't be about painful deprivation. It's about being brutally honest about what you want, making smart trade-offs and cutting costs for the things you don't care about so you can spend on what you actually love.

My financial baptism by fire happened last month, when I decided to plan a multi-city European vacation at the exact same time my fiancé and I were running the gauntlet that is New York City's summer apartment-rental market.

Navigating that double whammy of monetary stress forced me to make some high-stakes personal-finance decisions. In the coming weeks, I'm going to share exactly how those played out — including the raw numbers spent on transatlantic flights, movers and real-estate broker fees. I'll dig into the conversations my fiancé and I had about what we could afford and how we would divide up expenses. And I'll make my financial case for how I justified writing a lump-sum check to a travel agency so large that I could picture my bank account clutching its proverbial pearls.

I don't want Don't Short Yourself to be a one-way street. Let's hear from you: What's keeping you up at night? What financial skill do you feel like you "should" have by now but are too embarrassed to ask about?

A few other financial topics I plan on tackling in the weeks ahead include deciding whether pet insurance is worth the money; living a frugal lifestyle; navigating conversations about prenuptial agreements; picking the best travel-rewards credit card; and investing as a beginner.

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Each week, we ask you to share your favorite ways to make your money work for you. Here are some submissions that inspired us.

Reader Karen DuPont says she was able to retire earlier because she avoided credit-card debt. "Don't spend more than you make. This was key to my financial freedom," she writes. "I retired at 59 but did not take Social Security until I was 67. I did this because I was able to save money by not paying all the credit-card fees most Americans pay monthly. Paying credit-card fees is putting money down a rathole. I combined this tactic with 'paying myself first' using an employer-sponsored tax-sheltered annuity."

Reader Tom Mertens says: "The best thing I did 40 years ago, when I was so broke that I couldn't pay rent, put gas in my car or buy some groceries to eat," was to audit his spending to figure out where he could save 15% of his take-home pay. "For one month, write down every penny you spend," he says. Create two columns: one for necessities, and one for nonessentials. Add them both up, and zero in on what you're spending on the nonessentials in particular. "You will be amazed at how easy it is to save 15%" of your income, he says. "I changed my habits, which still stay with me."

Send us your favorite way to save or grow your money, and we'll share it with our readers. Send it to dontshortyourself@marketwatch.com.

I'm Genna Contino, MarketWatch's Smart Spending reporter. I'm 27 years old, originally from South Carolina, and currently splitting the rent on an overpriced apartment in New York City with my fiancé. When I'm not writing about my hack for saving hundreds of dollars on airfare, or the four must-have money conversations before moving in with your partner, you can find me reading a celebrity memoir, overanalyzing reality TV, junk journaling, borrowing DVDs from the library or getting thoroughly humbled in an adult ballet class after a 10-year hiatus.

What financial questions are on your mind? Email me at dontshortyourself@marketwatch.com and let's figure it out together.

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