Standing up for myself – with a wee bit of help

Less than a week and an email has arrived saying that he is struggling with finances and therefore would like to make some changes to the arrangement that we made – pay me less in fact.

This is a man in a 5 star hotel suite room on a tropical island with a fat salary and two pensions…

So this is me, first time I read it, I think, poor him, he is having a hard time. Second time I read it I think, wait a minute, he is cutting left right and centre and has already asked for £500 – yes, which I gave him….FOOL and then he is saying that his making cuts are really to benefit me in the long term as he will be able to save for my new tiny home…..does not that mean in fact that I will be the one saving if the cuts are coming from me?

I almost responded but decided to run it by my solicitor instead. Harsh? No bloody way. He wants to cut the cost of a ‘holiday to Australia’ for me  (among other things). Believe me, it might be God’s own country and holiday heaven to some, but it is my family home, my father is battling two types of cancer and recently had most of his stomach removed. My mother is slowing deteriorating. All my siblings are there and I think I am entitled to see them once in a while. So I do not count the long, long trip home as a holiday. It is a family visit.

And anyway, how can one cry poor when one posts videos of their luxury lifestyle all over Facebook?

So I am standing up for myself with a wee bit of help. I am not saying no to a discussion, but I am saying no to the wheedling, manipulation that has gone on for so long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you savvy?

On the long drive home on the M25 today I listened to BBC Radio 4’s Money Box about Cohabiting and the legal/financial pitfalls of having a home, children, business etc if one is NOT married and that relationship breaks down. It seems that the cohabitors of this land have very few of the rights afforded their married friends and family.

One of the panel was Sarah Pennell, founder of the SavvyWoman website, which is about money issues for women. How cool is that? Fortunately the snazzy name meant I could remember it and I have had a look, and like it.

I will be 55 in a few short weeks and have almost no UK pension and his nibs ain’t sharing a penny of his, despite our decade together…..SO I need to be a lot more savvy about what I do with any money that comes my way.

This sort of site, along with MoneySavingExpert.com which I have been a big fan and member of for YEARS, provide a lot of good information (disclaimer of course that they do not provide ADVICE). We could all do with understanding our finances better. The thing about the SavvyWoman site is that it is for women and therefore seems more appealing.

Over the next months there are going to be huge financial adjustments to be made and I am pretty scared but it is good to know that I am a good saver, thrifty and there is a ton of information available. Fingers crossed I don’t stuff it up!