I’m a Bank Executive: Here Are 3 Money Habits I Swear By

Some money habits apply to everyone, such as spending within your limits, not going deep into debt and setting aside savings every month. But other money habits are more personal in nature. Andrea Brimmer, Chief Marketing Officer at Ally Bank , acknowledges the importance of saving money but also recommends using money in a way that enriches your life and the lives of others .

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As a bank executive, Brimmer spends her days strategizing over finances and market growth. But she also brings a different perspective to the job because she spent much of her career in advertising rather than banking.

Prior to joining Ally in 2008, Brimmer spent about 20 years at Campbell Ewald, a Detroit-based ad firm. She eventually rose to the position of Executive Vice President-Account Director, according to her LinkedIn page, where she led business development and ran the Chevrolet account.

“Being CMO at a bank was definitely not on the roadmap,” Brimmer said on a recent episode of the Living Richer Po dcast hosted by Jaime Catmull. “I always loved advertising and marketing from a young age, and my dream was to work in the advertising industry on an iconic account. The shift to come over to (Ally predecessor) GMAC was really a bit of a hard left that I had never anticipated taking.”

As Brimmer explained, she took a pay cut to join GMAC in the middle of one of the worst financial crises of the last century. But she was intrigued by the opportunity to help lead a rebranding effort that today has turned Ally into an online banking powerhouse with $193 billion in assets and about 11 million customers.

Brimmer’s background also includes playing varsity soccer for Michigan State University, which also provided valuable lessons she would later apply to her professional career.

“Playing sports made me really competitive and want to win,” Brimmer said. “Because of sports I have an insatiable appetite for never settling.”

Here are three important money tips Brimmer shared on the podcast.

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1. Spend Well So You Can Live Well

Brimmer’s favorite money tip is “probably going to counterintuitive,” she told Catmull on the podcast.

“I’m a big believer that you need to save well so that you can spend well so that you can live well,” Brimmer said. “I believe very deeply that money empowers us to do the best things that we want to do in life for the people that we care the most about and who we want to spend the most time with.”

2. Reward Yourself

Brimmer is a strong advocate of saving money, developing a financial plan and preparing for retirement . She also warns against spending unwisely. At the same time, she said you shouldn’t hold on to money so tight that you can’t experience the joy of it.

“Reward yourself,” she recommended. “Reward the people in your family. Experience that joy that comes with being in the moment that sometimes only money can help you get to.”

3. Embrace Better Management Habits

As Brimmer explained, she didn’t really know “how to care” for her money in the right way until she joined Ally.

“I just never really paid a lot of attention to it,” she said. “Being in the financial services industry made me more cognizant of how to manage it better, how to think about it better, how to invest it better, how to save it in better ways, [and how to] think through it and prepare better.”

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : I’m a Bank Executive: Here Are 3 Money Habits I Swear By