Money Advice

The trends are clear: as women age odds are they will be living alone, largely because of either divorce or widowhood.

What may be less clear for many of them is whether they are prepared for that life alone—both emotionally and financially. Although both men and women could live three or four decades in retirement, it’s more likely for women because they have longer life expectancies. A caveat is they often have less in savings, and smaller or no pensions so their longevity can work for them and against them.

There are many advantages of home ownerships, but it ain’t all roses and peach n’ cream and such. Before making (probably) the biggest financial decision of your life, you should do your homework. If you don’t, your dream can very well turn into your greatest financial nightmare.

Let’s face this reality, some people out there have no business owning a home at all, ever. Most of you, however, will eventually buy a home and be perfect homeowners. You just need to do a little legwork and for some of you, address a few poor early 20’s life choices.

Love is blind, or so it’s said, but when it comes to long-term relationships, there are some differences you can’t hide from forever. This is especially true when it comes to your financial compatibility. A multitude of studies have suggested that the No. 1 source of stress in many relationships is disagreement over money-related issues. Sometimes these disagreements can even lead to divorce for married couples.

When you first started dating your spouse-to-be, you most likely focused on things like similar interests, a sense of humor, shared values and other signs of compatibility. Unfortunately, what many people don’t take into consideration is financial compatibility, and how their partner’s financial habits may differ from their own. A significant source of frustration and stress, financial conflict may damage even the strongest relationship—and can often be a major contributing factor when it comes to divorce.

It’s hard to believe that only some 50-odd years ago, a woman’s financial identity was tied explicitly to someone else—her husband, her father or some other male in her life. In the modern age, women make up nearly half of the American workforce. In addition, the average age of marriage is now in the late 20s—and unfortunately, the divorce rate remains high.

In other words, women are in financial control of their destiny. Even if they’re married, most women are still financial earners and maintain their own financial identity. With that in mind, here are critical financial items that every woman should know regardless of their stage of life or marital status.

Healthy love and compatibility in any relationship are wonderful qualities that can take you a long way. If your attitudes about money matters don’t match, however, warning bells could be ringing.

Have you had "The Talk" yet? You know, that talk about money?

Have you talked about those taboo topics like a personal budget, spending and debt issues? Do you know where that special someone in your life stands when it comes to savings, planning and overall financial awareness?

There were millions upon millions of glittering lights shattering the night, tall neon-lit buildings reaching up to the sky, black limousines, bright red Ferraris and silver Porsches gliding slowly and elegantly down the main strip.

As my buddy and I walked down the Las Vegas Strip late one summer night, I asked, "What would it be like to own all of this—to own all the money, land, buildings, and cars in the world?" "I can’t even imagine," my friend replied.