Since I am a divorce attorney, I have represented many women who are facing a financial shift in their life. For example, I had a client who had never had a car valued at less than $50,000.00. She was facing a shift from having “spending money “in the amount of $6,000.00 a month with all of her bills paid, to having to live on $2,500.00 per month and whatever she could earn (which wasn’t much). The lease on her Mercedes was up and she had to get a new car. She could not grasp the concept that she could drive anything else. She kept telling me “Well, John drives a $60k car I should have at least a $30k car.” She was unwilling to drive a car that cost $10k. I tried to explain to her the freedom she would feel if she paid cash for a car instead of getting into a $800.00 a month car payment. I know now because I am living it that it can be done. The good news is that it doesn’t really hurt. Once you stop worrying what other people think. “What will the mothers in the car pool think of my Kia”? It doesn’t matter. Being able to live within your means and afford to save for you and your children’s future is more important. Unfortunately, I think her game plan is to quickly find another rich husband. The sad thing is that she will not know the freedom of being self supporting, the freedom of being debt free or, the freedom of having a secure future.
I think this is a very sad thing, especially for women, who should be independent and learn how to make themselves financially secure. Unfortunately, life in America is mostly about keeping up with everyone else.
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