“Diamond are a girl's best friend" may be a catchy song, but it's hardly a solid financial plan. 

Unfortunately, Cary Carbonaro, a Certified Financial Planner and author of the book "The Money Queen's Guide," says many women are not taking the reins when it comes to managing their finances and that can be a costly mistake down the line.

"Women live longer than men,” Carbonaro says. “So at one point in their lives they're going to have to be handling this solely on their own and the sooner they learn this, the better."

Taking control, she says, requires you to look both at the short and long term. Let us start with the "now" as it effects how you plan for later. Carbonaro says it all starts with making a budget. 

"I don't care if they do it on a napkin,” she says. “They just need to know what's coming in and what's going out and then they can figure out from there what's left over."

Those leftovers can then be dished out to several different goals:  emergency fund, college savings plan, and most importantly, a retirement account.  

"You should always put your retirement first,” Carbonaro says. “Even more so than your children's college education because there's other ways to finance that.  There's no other ways to finance your retirement."

But what if you do the math and realize there just isn't anything left over to squirrel away?

"Then they have to make the difficult decisions to figure out what can they do to simplify their life, to cut down on expenses so that they do have more money to save for retirement or for a rainy day or for their future,” Carbonaro explains.

While some of the easier steps, like making a budget,  can be done on your own, at a certain point it helps to work with a pro - which is something women are less likely to do.  A Prudential Research Study done last year found only about a third of women are using a financial professional. 

However, regardless of whether you go it alone or hire a pro, Carbonaro says the important thing is educate yourself and overcome your fear of finances. Doing that doesn't just protect your bottom line; it protects your peace of mind.

"All those fears actually get, ‘Ahhh’ when you can do these things and you feel confident with your money," Carbonaro says.