I recall one evening I came back from work and found dinner was not ready as there was no paraffin to refill on the stove. Imagine no paraffin, yet a twenty shillings worth of paraffin would have been enough at that time to prepare a meal for that night. At the same time, there was nothing to prepare even if paraffin was available. My children and the house help had been told, that was my responsibility.It was a very dark evening for my young family and I just didn’t know who to turn to. 

This episode  and many others were a wake up call that it was not business as usual when it came to my partners financial support.

It triggered my search  for answers  on how I was going to be a sole bread-winner at the early stages of our marriage.

My search led me to study, get coaching and mentoring and equally read a lot of books on how to find a breakthrough in these difficult circumstances.

Through this process which gave me a new perspective on what I thought was a big downfall in my marriage that turned out to be a disguised blessing, I was equipped with the right  tools, techniques  and techniques and tailor-made roadmap that empowered me to get smart about money and helped me and my family to achieve our family financial goals with ease and peace of mind while maintaining a healthy marital relationship.

Another scenario I observed is-

Financially well up married women losing it all when widowed. They had no idea what assets they had when their spouses were alive. Therefore, they lost it all to strangers who came knocking claiming that for instance that the- land they were occupying was sold before the man of the house passed on.

-Money in the bank forwarded to Government as unclaimed assets.

-Others became poor at an old age since they had relied all their married life to their deceased husbands and had no idea where to begin to sustain their lifestyle as it was before the husband’s demise.

Others due to income disparity, where the woman earns more than the spouse earns and ends up as breadwinners in their families.

All of these examples happen, as women are not prepared with financial skills, it is a new subject as it is not taught in school,  socialized to think that finances belong to the world of men as they are the head of the families. A husband or children are not a financial plan; it behooves us to be financially educated. Learn about finances while you can, long before you need it since knowledge is Power.