Imagine that moment as a wife when you need money to take care of a few things but you have to get the money from your husband who in turn comes up with different reasons why you can’t get the money despite your desire to have it. It can be so….what’s the suitable word for it though? Depressing!
However, consider this scenario where you can actually make those big plans, buy those beautiful kinds of stuff for yourself and your family, without having to be worried about how and where you can get the money from, especially from your husband.
Checkout: 18 High-paying Side Hustles for Women
A lot of wives these days find it difficult to spend a few dollars on their needs because not only can they not afford it but they have to depend on their husband for every single dollar. Having control of your own finances as a wife is not a bad idea, after all, there may be moments when your husband may not be there to foot in the bills for you or the household, take for instance when he can’t pay the insurance bill, or health bills, tuition fees for the kids, mortgage and other bills at home.
However, imagine you are financially independent of your husband; you won’t have to face all the challenges that come with depending on your husband.
If you are a wife, ready to be financially independent of your husband then, here are 10 ways you can achieve that:
1. Find your Financial Purpose
This is one very important point to becoming a financially independent wife. You should be able to identify your area of financial strength. Identify those things that you drive joy in doing that can help you make money.
This could be running a counseling service, a college tutor, a nanny, an entrepreneur, a stockbroker, etc. You’ve got to identify those things that drive you to become your own boss.
When you identify such, you invest yourself in it until you achieve that position you want to see yourself. Imagine if as a wife you love to sit down and write, you can actually channel that passion to make money, you can write great content for a media house and take it for submission.
2. Become an Entrepreneur:
There are always options if you don’t see yourself as one of those wives that want to sit in an office doing all the paperwork and legwork for an employer who pays you what he or she wants at the end day.
Your paycheck might not be what you want it to be and that is why entrepreneurship is the most popular way of earning serious money these days.
Start your own business! Identify that problem that people are willing to pay for be sure that these ideas of yours can solve these problems. Starting your own business can be tough but with consistency and determination, you are sure to become your own financial boss.
Search for a business option you can go into and draft out a plan for it. You can also seek business advice that will help you start and grow your business successfully.
3. Establish an Investment Goal or Goals:
It’s not necessary that you must go into business, you can be an investor. Put some money out there in a business and allow your money to grow while you make a profit, you could leverage your opportunities with people out there.
You can search for investing platforms and become an investor, for instance, buy stocks or own a share in some promising companies.
There are wives who go into the real estate business and have their business manager oversee the business while these wives make money from the comfort of their homes. You can also partner with some people on a small profit-making business. Investment options are too many to mention.
Checkout: 16 Ways to Invest with Little Money
4. Identify that money triggering factors in your life:
There are wives who make a lot of money but end up spending them on things they can’t even account for at the end of the day. If you are on your way to becoming a financially independent wife, you must identify those things or areas that make you spend excessively then look for means to cut them off.
You can’t be spending so much on designer bags, clothes, shoes, or expensive vacations and you want to become a financially independent wife! This is the easier way to go bankrupt and you are back on depending financially on your husband.
Take control of your finance, you need to be prudent. Identify your core value and see if it matches your lifestyle.
5. Have an emergency fund:
Saving for the rainy day has proven to be a financial lifesaver. Imagine saving those monthly tips or bonuses or monthly funds your employer, customers or husband may give you, you’d be surprised by how much you can save up in a year doing so.
Have you ever wondered how much you would need to survive if your job or your husband stops giving you money?
As a financially independent wife strictly define your emergencies. Shore up your emergency fund. A smart wife doesn’t wait for financial surprises; she systematically saves towards her emergency fund because she knows that this is the foundation of her financial journey.
6. Know where your money goes:
Often times we spend without knowing what and how to spend. I was in a period in my life running bankrupt despite earning quite well. But when I began to pay more attention to where my money goes I realized that I had been spending much on frivolities.
As a wife seeking financial independence, it is important to know where your money goes. Keeping a tab on where your money goes helps you to track your spending. Learn to know what percentage of your income goes to food, clothes, vacation, or other necessities.
If it is possible, write down everything you spend your money on in the last of months. Separate your findings into wants and need. Limit your wants and prioritize your needs. If you don’t treat the money you earn with respect, it will leave you with no respect.
7. Look for cheaper ways to have fun:
It is understandable that people want to have fun to unwind and relax with friends at the beach, throw a party, go on a vacation, and some other expensive way to have fun thereby throwing so much money on things that are actually not important.
There are cheaper ways to have fun without affecting your fun routine. For instance, you can hang out with your friends at home, after your facial treatment and your gym sessions at home, this way you can save lot of money and also have quality time with your home girls.
Looking for cheaper ways to have fun will not harm your fun routine but help you save. Also, you may want to consider homemade food instead of ordering food for the family all the time. This can be money consuming.
8. Create multiple stream of income:
Creating a different means of earning money keeps you above your financial level. You can involve yourself in different kinds of businesses that will give you great income at the end of the day.
Imagine not worrying about a particular paycheck because you have other means of earning money.
You can achieve this by investing, buying shares, establishing a small-scale business, leveraging on a partnership, or through side hustles. It is advisable to seek business advice and ideas before embarking on a particular business to avoid the risk of running loss.
Remember that no business is too small; as long as it gives you income at the end of the day, it should not be neglect. These little incomes at the end of the day give you plenty of income at the end of the month and year.
9. Have a retirement plan:
People make plans for the major aspect of their life but a retirement. Imagine if a wife should find out that the husband that she has been dependent on all through her life left absolutely nothing for her for retirement!
Or you as a wife kept working without anything to fall back on at your old age. A period in your life where all the vacations and spending will definitely matter.
A retirement plan is basically how you maintain your lifestyle even after you stop working. After all the hard work invested in yourself while you are still working but nothing to show for when you stop working, you are sure going to be living in denial, that’s a fact!
Protect your future, plan for your golden age by having and investing diligently in a well-crafted retirement plan.
10. Get all the Neccessary Insurance:
There may be a point in our lives where anything can happen and we will need some financial assistance that may not be coming from our husbands, but with the right source, we could cross such a phase swiftly.
I’ve got this story I know about a widow whose house got partly burnt; she had to depend on her children who were also not financially stable to fix her home. But imagine that she had her properties insured with an insurance company; they would have taken at least part or the majority of the expenses for her without having to carry and place such a heavy burden on herself and her children.
Make a bold step to get insurance. It could be health, or properties insurance to have your future secured in case of eventualities.
Bottom line
A financially independent wife will take the risk of controlling her financial status by taking those few steps which are recommended in this article to live a financially independent life from her husband. Don’t forget that you are investing not just in yourself but for your family as well.
Don’t forget to:
- Invest in yourself
- Make great financial decisions
- Seek for financial/business advice
- Live within your means
- Have a short and long term financial plan
- Manageable debts in a way also helps you to be financially independent because it makes you have a sense of responsibilities that you are paying back something, which given to you by your husband, there is a possibility of not paying back.
- Seek for partnership
Florence is a personal finance writer, who is passionate about helping others attain financial freedom. She covers topics from side hustles and debt payoff to investment and retirement.
