Life Changes

Seems like a heavy topic to start blogging about, doesn't it?  Well, it is a subject that seems to be coming up a lot lately for my girlfriends and family members.

Let's define Life Changes first....death, unemployment, divorce, empty nest, retirement and moving are just a few that come to mind.  One of the things I can not stress enough to all you, my dear girlfriends, is to save some dang money!!!  Your man is not a plan!!  Things go wrong.  Life happens.  If you don't  have money in the bank then you are at the mercy of whoever and whatever.

Personal experience has shown me that our judicial system tends to favor the person with the most cash.  When I was a young, impressionable twenty-something, I needed to acquire the services of an attorney to help with custody and child support issues involving my oldest daughter.  I could only afford the attorney for one trip to court.  My daughter's father had an advantage in our custody battle because he had more money.  If he hadn't backed off and offered joint custody as an option I wouldn't have raised her.  As the years rolled on, I went back to court to fight for more child support.  I was smarter, wiser, and wealthier.  I understood that money talks.  I could afford an attorney who would do the legal battle I needed to wage.

I have dear friends of mine who have slogged through the divorce process.  It is not easy by any stretch and not having a nest egg compounds the problem.  This is NOT an avenue I advocate at all, but if you find yourself here please start saving before you leave.  Here's a startling set of statistics:

 New data released today by the Census Bureau shows a statistically significant increase in the national poverty rate in 2008. Most adults (18 and over) in poverty are women; 59 percent of adults in poverty are women; and 13 percent of all adult women are in poverty. (http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/09/census_women.html)

If I give all my girlfriends one piece of advice to take from any of this....save, save, save.  I know sometimes it is hard.  Trust me, I get it.  And no one wants to plan for the negative, but even if you stay together forever statistics say you will outlive him.

Okay, enough lecturing for today.  But we forewarned....this subject will be a recurring theme.