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"\n\tAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\n\t\n\nWarren taught at Harvard Law School while fighting for a new consumer-protection agency. As senator, she's working to raise wages and lower college debt.\n\nHow did your family's struggles shape your career? Like a lot of families, we had our ups and downs. In the 1960s, my daddy was working selling carpeting for Montgomery Ward. When I was 12, he had a heart attack. He was ill for a long time, and we lost our family car and almost lost our house. My mom went to work at Sears, answering phones. I learned that good people can work hard but hit a bad patch, and their lives can be turned upside down. My whole life has been spent on how we make ourselves safer by building an independent financial life.Was it a hard choice to drop out of college to get married? It should have been, but it wasn't. My mother had taught me about the importance of finding a \"good provider,\" so when my boyfriend proposed, I said yes in a heartbeat. I was still just a kid, and I didn't know what was coming in life.  I persuaded my husband that it made sense for me to finish school. Then I went to law school and got a job teaching law.Was it difficult balancing motherhood and your career? It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I loved teaching, but every day that I went to work, I carried the worry that I was hurting my kids because I wasn't at home with them. Even years later, I think about trying to get out of the house in the mornings or picking up an exhausted toddler at day care and I feel my stomach tighten up.How did you make it work? I was lucky \u2014 my Aunt Bee came to live with us so I could keep teaching. She walked away from her life so she could come fix mine. Even so, I ended up getting a divorce. I put together a new life as a single mother, until I remarried in 1980. To this day, my husband, Bruce, and I love sharing fried clams and having a beer at our favorite spot, the Summer Shack in North Cambridge.\n\tAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\n\t\n\nYou've championed banking reform. Why is it needed? Banks were once places to hold money and were very careful in lending to finance families as they built a future \u2014 bought homes, bought cars, took out student loans. But the business model changed, and too many lenders sold predatory mortgages, dangerous credit cards, and other tricky products. When people couldn't pay, the whole thing crashed.What's the lesson for women? No matter how good a deal sounds, if your name goes on the bottom line, you need to understand it and be sure you'll be able to pay. You are responsible for yourself forever. Forever.Senator Warren's 5 Money Must-Dos\n\n1. Begin Saving Now. \"Don't wait for the perfect time to put money away \u2014 there never is one. Even $20 a week adds up.\"2. Build a Buffer. \"Put emergency savings in a community bank or credit union in case you get sick or have to take time off work.\"3. Auto-Invest. \"Fund a second level of savings in low-cost mutual funds with regular deductions from your paycheck.\"4. Pay Down Debt. \"Don't think of a first job as a chance to spend. Instead, live at home or with a roommate and start paying off loans right away.\"5. Keep Money in Your Name. \"Have your own credit card and savings. Don't let a guy you're fighting with ruin your credit.\"Sen. Warren's new book,A Fighting Chance, is on sale now.This article was originally published as \"The Woman Who Stood Up to Wall Street\" in the June 2014 issue of Cosmopolitan. Click here to get the issue in the iTunes store!RELATED: 6 Career Lessons You Can Put Into Use Now4 Ways to Step Up When the Pressure Is On5 Easy Ways to Get a RaisePhoto credit: Getty Images; Courtesy subject"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/career/advice/a6723/elizabeth-warren-q-and-a/>