Women’s Learning Place » How Financially Savvy Are You?

How Financially Savvy Are You?

Posted on November 14th, 2008 by admin

Now that you’ve fulfilled your motherly, wifely duties, the children have grown up, at least grown up enough to take care of themselves, the relationship with the husband /partner going steady, well, what more could a woman ask for?

Hello, babe, that’s not all there is to it. How about your finances? Can you handle them independently? Do you understand your finances enough to rest securely even if your husband/partner is not on the scene? How financially savvy are you?

Can you make informed decisions about your money or do you leave it all to your partner and shrug it off and say, “Heck, why would I need to understand money? My husband/partner is taking care of it and when he feels it’s necessary, he tells me about certain investments etc. I trust him completely”.

Hold on, hold on! Do you mean to say you leave it entirely to him? You don’t even bother to ask or take an active interest in major financial decisions? Honey, it’s not about trust or love or anything like that. You owe it to yourself to be aware of the household finances and not only that, you need to be handling it by yourself by now.

You’ve got to take charge; you’ve got to put yourself in the enviable position of understanding your money. There are many preconceived notions about women being the spenders, not the earners, that women primarily love to shop but don’t know how to grow money or create additional money. And then there are those comments you have to listen to about how men buy what they need but women buy because they want something.

Now, I’m not an overt bra-burning feminist, but such comments irk. Gone are the times when women were the nurturers and men the providers. No longer is it savvy for you to be ignorant of where your money is being spent or invested on.

If you’re a woman who has to go out and earn her money, you’d be sensible and have a PLAN. You’ll have a plan to save, invest and spend your money and have it properly charted out according to priorities. And you’d be financially savvy if you were to review your finances periodically, every month or three months or six months or whatever your plan is.

If you’re a stay at home woman and if you don’t already have one, invest in an education. You may probably be content to keep the home fires burning now but you’ve got to have a contingency plan. What if your husband/partner were to suddenly become bankrupt? You need to be able to run the show. It’s all very well to have a partner who’s your bank but jeez, babe, don’t be naïve, you need to be able to stand on your own feet.

Keep the dialogue box open. Every time you or your partner wants to spend on something big, consult each other if it’s not there in the PLAN. Talk about your finances and your debts and review it frequently and make changes according to changing times. You don’t want to be unprepared if caught unawares like in the current financial crisis.

Read up and keep abreast of the latest financial trends and news. You’ll have a very good idea of how to manage your money. Are you aware of current loan interest rates? No? Then that’s the first thing you need to educate yourself on.

Take charge. Be aware. Be financially savvy. Change your mindset. Show the world and your partner you can be smart and financially savvy about your money.