finance

"There is one reason why I could never, ever leave my husband."

If my husband and I broke up today, I’d be completely and totally financially screwed.

He’d be just fine. As the main income earner in the family, in a lucrative profession with enormous opportunities my husband would probably hook up with someone 20 years younger and they’d sail off into the sunset on his luxury yacht while I cried over my banking app wondering what happened to my life and all of the money I’d made during it.

“Sugar Mamma” Canna Campbell on how women can empower themselves when it comes to money, on the latest episode of ‘I Don’t Know How She Does It’. Post continues below…

Not that we have any plans to split. Of course not. We are more in love today than we were when we first met and completely devoted to each other and our amazing children. But the feminist in me resents the fact that I am more financially vulnerable than he is.

Sure we’d go to court and come up with some sort of financial arrangement. But with no savings (and no debt thankfully), not much superannuation due to the time I took out from work to raise our kids, limited earning potential, and the fact I’d be the primary carer of my children, I’d be pretty much stuffed.

I love my husband, but I would sleep better at night knowing I was in control of my own financial situation because at the end of the day, who knows what may happen? The kids will grow up and leave, my husband and I may split or he could die (God forbid).

And then what?

Listening to financial adviser Canna Campbell, also known as ‘Sugar Mamma’, on this week’s episode of I Don’t Know How She Does It really woke me up to the fact that I need to take financial responsibility for myself for the sake of my future and to set a good example for my daughter.

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'I would be financially destitute and he'd sail off into the sunset on a yacht with his new girlfriend.' (Image via iStock)

Canna says there are a few things women need to start doing to make themselves more empowered financially:

1. Educate yourself about money

"As soon as you understand something you're at peace, you see the benefit of what you're doing, it's not so painful," Canna says.

"You can feel the positive emotions that come with being responsible with money... it's just an untapped world where you open up this whole other new way of looking at things."

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2. Be responsible with how you manage your cash. 

"It's very hard to get ahead financially when you're struggling to stick within a budget or you're living beyond your means or you're owing money left, right and centre," Canna says.

3. Manage your debts 

Know what you owe and make a plan to pay them back, Canna says. "Then obviously managing your debts, making sure your debts are under control and that they're coming down and that you've made a decision to - once they're paid off - that you stay out of debt."

4. Start investing

Investing for yourself is the next step.  "Start building and buying long-term passive income streams so that when you hit a certain age and you think you know I don't want to work anymore, I want to work part-time or I want to take some time out to do a new course or just have a sabbatical or retire, you have that complete luxury of choice and freedom to do so."

She also says it's not rocket science which for those of us who have never invested before is a huge relief.

5. What you put in is what you get out

Canna says you are the one who has to do the hard work, and her role as a financial adviser is like a swimming coach. She won't manage your money for you but will give you advice on how you can do it yourself. "That's what I do and that's why I love sharing my knowledge and most importantly, I share my experience because I practice what I preach."

Learn more through Canna Campbell's official website sugarmamma.tv.

Listen to the full episode of I Don't Know How She Does It with Jackie Lunn and financial adviser 'Sugar Mamma' Canna Campbell.