Whether you are young and single, have always been single or find yourself suddenly single, the full responsibility for managing and planning your financial future rests with you.
In many families girl children are subjected to gender bias. Having too many girls in a family is considered a great financial burden since the parents may have to pay large dowries for their marriages. The girls have no right of inheritance. The ancestral property of the family invariably goes to the male children. Parents have the right to distribute their own wealth to their daughters. But generally they do not do so unless they do not have male children.
In a Hindu family it is an obligatory religious duty of the sons to look after their aged parents, parents, unmarried sisters and provide them with decent means of living. Many do so. But like in other societies, aged people are increasingly suffering from problems of alienation, isolation and their children's indifference and neglect. Old age homes which were non existent a few decades ago are now coming up in many parts of India. Unmarried women, widows are at the mercy/good will of such individuals.
For better or worse, women need to think about life without their mate. Statistics show women live an average of seven years longer than men, and more than 50 percent of women become divorced. At some point, a woman will be forced to manage her personal finances on her own.
I believe that control of the finances should be a joint responsibility in a marriage, especially if both parties are contributing to the household. Communication in everything is very important to any marriage. You work together as a team and when things get tough you work it out together. Money is one of the number one topics that cause fights in marriages.
Obviously there are some instances where one spouse is better at handling finances than the other, and therefore that person is the one who plans the budget and arranges the bills. But there still needs to be communication, not a solid, end-of-story hand off of the bills.
Women should always be a part of the finances because if a woman relies solely on her spouse to manage her finances, when something catastrophic happens such as an illness, divorce or worse case scenario death she will be lost. The time for a woman to manage her own finances starts before she even becomes a wife.
Sometimes marriages don't work out. And one or both partners are ready to split, the result may be divorce. Divorce can mean heartache and disappointment. Regardless, divorce can have a lasting impact on your finances, so that's why it's important, especially for women, to clearly understand the implications of dividing assets, dividing debts, child support and alimony, insurance, and other issues.
One of the greatest dangers that the average woman faces when it comes to financial planning is not knowing where all of the financial records are. This predicament can turn into a full-blown crisis if a woman's husband or partner should suddenly seek a separation or divorce, or if her mate dies unexpectedly. Some women have learned to their shock that they have no idea where their mate invested their money or that they're deeply in debt and have to go back to work.
Anupamaa
Naagin 7
