Laura BogartSun, Jul 6, 2025, 2:16 PM 4 min readIf you were asked to imagine your personal finances as a house (go with it, like it’s a meditation exercise), you’d probably want to picture a sturdy foundation. An inviting porch, where influential people, like bank representatives who offer credit, will want to sit for a while. Walkways that make it easy for your friends and family to find side rooms you’ve reserved for them. Certainly, you wouldn’t want it to be a house of cards, capable of being brought down by a single financial shock.Read Next: Leaving a Legacy: Your 4-Step Guide to Creating Wealth That Lasts GenerationsCheck Out: 10 Used Cars That Will Last Longer Than an Average New VehicleThat’s the goal of financial security: building something sturdy and lasting. And while it may seem complicated, it’s easier than you imagine — especially when you strengthen your financial structure by following these four tried-and-true, expert-approved approaches.There’s not a lot of love between Dave Ramsey and Tori Dunlap — these financial experts disagree about everything from the right time to start investing to how you should vote. So, when they align on a piece of advice, you know it’s worth considering. Creating an emergency fund is the very first step in Ramsey’s famous “baby steps” toward financial stability. Writing for Ramsey Solutions, Rachel Cruze spells out the need for an emergency fund, and how it differs from your existing budget, quite clearly: “A budget helps you plan for regular expenses each month — like groceries, gas, insurance, etc. But what about those big expenses you can’t plan for? With an emergency fund, you’re ready for just about anything that may come your way.”Likewise, Dunlap suggests making an emergency fund your number one priority, going even further in her advice to suggest that you set yours up in a high-yield savings account. Typically, Dunlap has recommended saving between three to six months of essential expenses — however, with the state of inflation and overall economic volatility, she now recommends bulking that amount up to nine months.For You: If a Financial Advisor Doesn’t Ask These 5 Questions in Your Consult, Keep ShoppingInvesting may seem like the domain of people who have a more comprehensive financial education than you do, but it doesn’t have to be. Not when experts like Vivian Tu, aka YourRichBFF, are here to demystify the process of learning to invest. Calling herself “your favorite Wall Street girlie,” Tu’s years of expertise in the market have helped her hone a relatively simple way of getting everyday people involved in investing.Terms and Privacy PolicyPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore InfoS&P 5006,229.98 -49.37 (-0.79%)Dow 3044,406.36 -422.17 (-0.94%)Nasdaq20,412.52 -188.59 (-0.92%)Russell 20002,214.23 -34.81 (-1.55%)VIX17.79 +0.31 (+1.77%)Gold3,346.40 +3.50 (+0.10%)PortfolioSign in to access your portfolioSign inTop gainersENVX Enovix Corporation 13.03 +1.64 (+14.40%)WNS WNS (Holdings) Limited 74.70 +9.32 (+14.26%)RKLB Rocket Lab Corporation 38.88 +3.22 (+9.03%)BILI Bilibili Inc. 22.48 +1.60 (+7.66%)U Unity Software Inc. 27.86 +1.73 (+6.62%)Top losersBMNR Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Inc. 107.48 -27.52 (-20.39%)CORZ Core Scientific, Inc. 14.83 -3.17 (-17.61%)APGE Apogee Therapeutics, Inc. 39.24 -8.22 (-17.32%)SLAB Silicon Laboratories Inc. 139.75 -13.73 (-8.95%)ATS ATS Corporation 29.64 -2.85 (-8.77%)Most activeLCID Lucid Group, Inc. 2.1100 -0.0500 (-2.31%)NVDA NVIDIA Corporation 158.24 -1.10 (-0.69%)TSLA Tesla, Inc. 293.94 -21.41 (-6.79%)CORZ Core Scientific, Inc. 14.83 -3.17 (-17.61%)SOFI SoFi Technologies, Inc. 19.24 +0.67 (+3.61%)Earnings eventsTrending tickersTSLA Tesla, Inc. 293.94 -21.41 (-6.79%)WOLF Wolfspeed, Inc. 2.3100 +1.1300 (+95.76%)PLTR Palantir Technologies Inc. 139.12 +4.76 (+3.54%)RKLB Rocket Lab Corporation 38.88 +3.22 (+9.03%)SOFI SoFi Technologies, Inc. 19.24 +0.67 (+3.61%)Top economic eventsPowered by Money.com - Yahoo may earn commission from the links above.