Financial freedom for women 101 – Do not pan for gold in an urban sewer.

 This article was first published in The Standard in Zimbabwe in November 2017.

Recently, I attended a prayer service for a late Aunt at the Willowvale branch of a leading funeral parlour. The Chaplain, a one Mr Ngwenya (if I remember the name correctly,) was leading the short service before we collected the remains of the deceased. His sermon was focused, surreal and unbelievably perplexing. With a great sense of confidence and finality, he rambled on about “how women were not human beings, that they were created to be helpers, and only to their husbands.” I thought, really, what is informing this man’s thinking? With emphasis, he repeated it twice. “Women are not human beings, they are not people, just mere helpers to men.” He quoted a verse in the bible to that effect and proceeded to mention that “women must not work and must just wait to be led and directed by their husbands.” His ramble included his distastefulness of women who go jogging in the avenues in the morning etcetera. As my Aunt’s body lay in that sealed white coffin, I got a clearer view of how sorrowful platforms like these, are hijacked by self – styled clergymen like him, for the sole purpose of propagating their offensive, misogynistic and patriarchal views. Behind me were women and men clapping and loudly agreeing to every mind - boggling disingenuous commentary he spewed about his perceived role of women in our society. 

Zimbabwe is generally a prayerful society. Close to 90% of the population believe in one form of religion or another. In chapels where people go to fellowship and hear the Word, the set up is often a monologue with one or several people talking to the attentive congregation about their understanding of the Word. Attendees are expected to listen from an hour to even as long as the whole day. Some of the sermons are clearly programming and brainwashing interventions, like the one at my Aunt’s funeral. There is no room for debate and often, afterwards, no one is allowed or musters the courage to interrogate preached narratives that they might not necessarily agree with.  

So as I sat quietly choking on my very own rage, it became obvious to me, why the majority of women, as they approach their fifties, find themselves either flat broke, financially dependent or financially vulnerable. Many women are unable to leave abusive relationships because they are financially disabled. It is part of Zimbabwe Incorporated ethos, to socialize and acculturate women to be completely dependent on a male figure, a father as a child (here all children have no choice) and then a husband as an adult. In a case where there is no husband, a brother, another person’s  husband or a partner is expected to foot the bills. No wonder many from amongst our young women today are searching for men “with resources” to partner with. It is risky and dangerous to depend on a man to deliver your standard of living. A balanced and more respectful relationship is when both partners contribute to that mutually agreed to standard of living. 

I have said this before and I will repeat this again now: if you are not demented, deaf, dumb, blind or disabled, you have no reason to be financially dependent on another human being. After all, many deaf, dumb, blind and disabled people across the country are economically productive, so should you.  Being financially dependent on another is like panning for gold in an urban sewer. It is settling for less. It is choosing the low road over the high road and as a woman, you will never achieve financial freedom.

In the last two instalments, I put forward a compelling case why it is a necessary imperative for women to achieve financial freedom. Financial freedom and the security it brings, can be achieved when the income from your assets and investments exceeds your cost structure. Whilst there are numerous ways of achieving financial freedom, below please find four (4) ways of starting your path towards financial security.

1. Eliminate debt and reduce your living expenses

It does not matter how much you earn, the point is, if you are not earning more than you are spending, you will never achieve financial security. The principles of personal money management are universal, maximize your income as you minimize your expenditure. As long as you borrow long term to finance recurrent expenditure, financial freedom is a pie in the sky. As long as you remain beholden to overdraft facilities, credit card debt, car loans, loans to finance consumption of household good and so on, you are not financially free. Your bank or the money lending institution that advances you loans, owns you. It is oft wise to spend what you have than you rely of short - term loans.

If you have given him a license to rule over you and agreed to languish at home, completely dependent being a woman who is clueless about the financial decisions that impact your household, please pay close attention to #2, below.

2. Be part of the financial decision - making process

As much as I would like to stand on top of Harare Kopje and shout out loud about financial freedom for women, the point is, all relationships are different and so are agreements in those relationships. Be that as it may, there is one issue that women ought to be top of mind about – the financial decision - making process. If you are in a matrimonial setting or in a long-term relationship, it is important to ensure that you embed yourself in the financial planning process. Not only is it vital for you to know where all the financial information about the family is kept, it is necessary that you be the gate keeper of the safe, including a clear understanding of what investments the family has, where, in partnership with whom, the location of title deeds, if under a trust, study the trust deed and seek understanding of the legal jargon, establish the presence of local and foreign accounts, knowledge of specific account numbers and in particular passwords. It is important to be part of discussions with financial advisers/planners locally or offshore that your partner intends or has already hired.

 

In the event there is secrecy around money matters and an argument ensues when you insist on being part of the financial decision - making process, then you are compromised. Get busy. Establish the reason for lack of full disclosure by your partner. What is being hidden? Why? Do not wait for surprises. Get up and go make your own money if you have not already wised up to it. It is never too late to work towards your financial security.

3. Create alternative income streams

Alternative income stream is income derived from secondary activities that you do not rely on for your day to day living expenses. They provide you with extra income to invest elsewhere. We live in a country where to have one income stream is as wise as mining for diamonds in a local municipal public pool. There is none. That one income stream used to be a day job, but with many people unemployed, spaces have been created for self - employment or new business creation. Many women I have had conversations with, whilst having multiple and alternative income streams, are actually living off those income streams. That strategy is a threat to financial freedom. If you are unable to set aside money to invest elsewhere so that investment makes money for you whilst you work elsewhere, you remain compromised and vulnerable. 

A good starting point is to look around your household, assess and unlock value in the excess assets you already have. Cars parked for long periods in your garage without use is depreciating steel. Dispose  of some of them. Have a garage sale; sell off excess household furniture, clothing, shoes and so forth. Recently, a neighbor got rid of excess items, and from the proceeds built a two bedroomed cottage she is now renting for $600 per month. That $7200 per annum would have been forgone had she not disposed of excess household items.

4. Be in a small network of girlfriends with financial freedom values

There is a reason why birds of the same feather flock together. It makes sense to be in a network of like - minded women that benefit from the sharing of their collective wisdom and are increasingly aware that marriage is no longer a safe haven for aging women, that understand that women tend to live longer than men and question what independent quality of life one would have when one gets good innings – without relying on the goodwill of millennial children, that money is a like a visitor – and therefore sometimes it visits in abundance and sometimes it does not – and therefore relying on one income, or the financial acumen of one person can be risky, that women ought to be financially independent regardless of their marital status, is the best thing you can do for yourself. Ideas and knowledge are far much more valuable than money itself. When you move around and within circles of financially independent women, they will share with you ideas on how to be financially free. If you are unable to find such grouping, start one. 

Financial Freedom for Women 101 – A husband is not a viable retirement plan

This article was first published in The Standard a newspaper in Zimbabwe in October 2017.

Every woman needs a private rescue fund (PRF) that only one trusted person knows about. That trusted person does not necessarily need to be someone you are living with. We are surviving in unpredictable and risky times and many families have lost everything they worked for, including their homes because a spouse/partner who was supposed to be knowledgeable about all things financial, made a gamble with family assets and lost. Yes, there are many others who have taken calculated risks with family assets and won, but this discussion is about women who find themselves in a financially bankrupt situation and the importance of them achieving financial freedom, that benefits the whole family, but most importantly, themselves. 

The issue here is, it is risky business to transfer the responsibility of the family’s financial management to one person because no one person or gender has the monopoly on great ideas. The PRF is a hedge against poor financial decision-making, mitigation for unforeseen circumstances or your own retirement if you are lucky to get good innings. Where you locate your PRF is key. Do not bank the money, for when you need it, might not be readily available. Cash is currently in short supply within the banking system and when you need your loot, the banks will be dispensing $50 per day and you might need to wake up at 4.00am to get that miserable amount. The best way is to apply for a safe deposit box and thus far the best one in town is at CABS by Northridge Park near the racecourse. 

To achieve marital status is a blessing from the Almighty, not an achievement. To marry and then agree to down tools waiting for a spouse to fund your lifestyle all the way to retirement is as good as setting up an open fresh meat stall in the middle of Hwange National Park and expect to come of there with all limbs intact. A husband is not a viable retirement plan, neither is any spouse for that matter. Your children are not viable retirement plans either. As a woman, you have to work hard and smarter and achieve your very own financial freedom. 

If you are an adult woman of 50 years and above, is not deaf, dumb, blind or incapacitated in whatever shape or form and you find yourself flat broke, all is not lost, not yet, but it is most likely your fault you find yourself in this quandary because you should have made different choices when time was on your side. If you are an adult female, who is in an unhappy or abusive relationship, by staying put for economic reasons, you are in trouble because the trauma you endure everyday is likely to distract you from achieving financial freedom. If you are a married woman, with a high achieving spouse, who has convinced you that you do not need to work because he makes more than enough bacon for both of you, you need to go back to the drawing board and ask yourself whether this is truly what you signed up for. No one achieves financial freedom from controlled handouts. Often, to make you redundant is a control mechanism to ensure financial dependence. At the end of the day, it is your choice what outcomes you desire for yourself and your life.

Being married does not necessarily entitle you to his funds. Even if you control the family bank account, you still need to be accountable. Staying at home doing nothing except the school run is a foreign concept. Our mothers worked, so did our grandmothers and those who came before them. They worked and the clever ones kept their PRFs hidden under mattresses. I am not advocating the same, but there are smart ways to work for your financial freedom even though you are a stay home Mum. 

In an ideal world, when one spouse is the bread - winner, you are entitled to a share because you indirectly contribute in a supportive role. But in the real world, in the event of say, a divorce (I am not wishing that on anyone) it is always hard to prove you did. In the eventuality that he changes his mind about promises made agreed to whilst under the crispy comfort of the warm sheets, you could easily find yourself vulnerable, wondering how the hell you got there. Stand up, use your hands and do something, now! It is not too late. After all many men are not coping. Often, when the burden of bread - winning becomes unbearable for them, they start viewing you as a “chipfukuto”/weevil, and abuse in all its dimensions sets in.

Many women are already vulnerable in their matrimonial settings and with courage, could be making different choices. Many are trying, but many more are emboldened with a thick blanket of confusion and dizziness. If you are the other woman, a “small house”, living large without any knowledge of his financial affairs or who owns the house you are living in, beware, for one day you might just find yourself and your children in the streets. There are many scenarios that women find themselves in and the ones listed above are a few examples.

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The point I am making is, women, regardless of their marital status need to work at achieving financial freedom for themselves. We have come a long way. Since independence in 1980, there has been sections of the law that have been reformed in order to include and empower women. Some of the several pieces of legislation as outlined by Machirori F, in a January 2015 article entitled, “15 Legal Reforms that Impacted Zimbabwean Women’s Rights in the 1980s and 1990s” published on herzimbabwe.co.zw include but are not restricted to the following:

• Equal Pay Regulations (1980)

o This provides for equal pay for equal work, in addition to providing for half an hour’s time before and after lunch for breastfeeding.

• Customary Law and Primary Courts Act (1980)

o This piece of legislation was established to empowered community courts to administer maintenance laws. It also provides for maintenance claims for women in unregistered customary marriages.

• Legal Age of Majority Act (1982)

o This confers full legal capacity on every Zimbabwean aged 18 years and above. It also gave daughters the capacity to inherit their fathers’ estates. It also authorised women (including widows) to qualify as guardians of minors and to administer deceased estates.

• Labour Relations Act (1984)

o This provided for 3 months’ maternity leave with some reasonable reduction in salary. The Act outlaws discrimination against any employee on grounds of race, tribe, place of origin, political opinion, colour, creed, or sex, in respect of wages, promotion, recruitment, training and retrenchment.

• Matrimonial Causes Act No 33 (1985)

o This provides for equitable distribution of matrimonial assets upon divorce. It also removes the ‘fault principle’ (that is, when one partner is said to be at fault in the breakdown of the relationship) as grounds for divorce.

• Public Service Pensions (Amendment) Regulations (1985)

o This allowes for women to contribute to medical aid schemes in their own right. Female contributors in public service could also now contribute to their pension at the same rate (7.5%) of pensionable enrolments as men.

• Deceased Person’s Family Maintenance (Amendment) Act (1987)

o This provides for the surviving spouse and children – in the case of death – have a right to continue occupying the matrimonial house, use the household goods and effects they were using before the deceased’s death, use and enjoy crops and animals belonging to the matrimonial estate. Property grabbing by relatives of the deceased therefore became illegal.

• Infanticide Act (1991)

o This Act allows the crime of infanticide to replace the murder charge out of consideration of a mother’s post-natal depression, rejection by boyfriend/ husband, parents and/or relatives.

• Deceased Person’s Family Maintenance (Amendment) Act (1987)

o This provides for the surviving spouse and children – in the case of death – have a right to continue occupying the matrimonial house, use the household goods and effects they were using before the deceased’s death, use and enjoy crops and animals belonging to the matrimonial estate. Property grabbing by relatives of the deceased therefore became illegal.

• Infanticide Act (1991)

o This Act allows the crime of infanticide to replace the murder charge out of consideration of a mother’s post-natal depression, rejection by boyfriend/ husband, parents and/or relatives.

• Deeds Registry Amendment Act (1991)

o The Deeds Registry Amendment Act allows women to register immovable property in their own name (and can apply to urban and rural commercial land where title deeds were obtainable).

• White Paper on Marriage Inheritance (1993)

o This was proposed as a replacement of the African Marriages Act with legislation equally applicable to all Zimbabweans. As such, it seeks to give the surviving spouse, and children, equal rights to inheritance as opposed to one heir.

• Administration of Estates Amendment Act (1997)

o This Act provides for the rights of the surviving spouse/s, in an intestate estate, over the matrimonial home, and also for them to receive a share in the deceased spouses intestate estate. An intestate estate is one in which the deceased’s estate is not effectively disposed of by the deceased’s will.

• Maintenance (Amendments) Act (2002)

o Under this act, the non-custodial parent is required to contribute regularly to the maintenance of minor children in the custody of the other parent. In the Act, the courts are empowered to attach terminal benefits (e.g. pension benefits) accruing to the person who was ordered to pay maintenance if he/ she subsequently left employment. A woman could now file maintenance claims from the court nearest to her, with the man legally obliged to travel to that court. A woman could also claim maintenance from an ex-spouse any time after divorce if there was need for it, and a woman in an unregistered customary marriage was entitled to maintenance from the man after dissolution of the union.

• Domestic Violence Act (2006)

o To make provision for the protection and relief of victims of domestic violence and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing. 

Despite the enabling legal framework, more than three and a half decades of independence in Zimbabwe, the status of women, gender equality and most importantly the issue of economic empowerment of women, have reached an all time low. It is a low I have never seen nor witnessed before. Less than five women are heading up Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed companies. Less than five women are CEOs of State Owned Enterprises, less than 5 women are permanent secretaries of government ministries. Women’s representation of parastatal and private sector company boards are negligible. 

Although this is the situation at the higher echelons of formal employment, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) 2016 report entitled, Understanding Equality in Zimbabwe: Women and Men, Zimbabwean women make up 54% of the workforce in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector, 62,1% of the wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles. Women also dominate education at 57%, health and social welfare work at 64,2%. Female dominance also extends to categories defined as ‘other service activities’ at 57,6% and ‘activities of households’ with 79,5%. But gainful employment of women is not necessarily translating to savings or wealth creation by women. As women get older and leave employment for whatever reason, the feminization of poverty spikes. When the data on the predominance of women in employment is disaggregated it shows that many women are employed at the lower end of the market including the informal sector where their existence is survivalist. 

Financial literacy amongst women, both educated and uneducated is low and generally speaking women are less confident to make good savings and investment decisions with their own money. The tendency by most women is to fund household expenditures with their money throughout their working lives. As a result, on retirement, many women are exposed, without adequate financial security even to cope in unplanned emergencies.

The deafening silence of the women’s movement on many issues affecting women has grown acute. A country with a high propensity for excluding women and relegating them to the fringes of society involved in menial and survivalist roles, in essence marginalizing them, a whole constituency of 52% of the population, is a country going nowhere slowly. The fact is no one gender should be preferred over another and if you leave more than half of your population behind, progress will be hampered. 

In my next write-up, I will talk about several ways to achieve financial freedom for women.

Disruption the only way to level the playing field.

 The violence of poverty has a systematic habit of emptying our faculties of all goodness. When this happens, only ugliness prevails. 

We must fear the savagery of poverty, at all costs, for brutality and cruelty begets cruelty and brutality. 

All systems, cultural, political,  economic, control measures, etcetera, in the past and present, that excluded and as a result pauperised a people to a state of indignity, created a henious crime against humanity. Colonialism, apartheid, imperialism, capitalism neo-colonialism, the feminization of poverty and so on and so forth, are some of these treacherous systems. Our governments continue to pursue elements of this treachery at our very own peril. No one is untouchable. We are all affected, in one way or another. We are now a generation moving around whilst being scared of each other. We live in gated communities to keep other human beings, whom we know succumbed to predatory behaviors because of the violence metted on them by these acts of barbarity against humanity. It is cold comfort, for the non predatory minority from all hues, to believe they are safe and sustainable, when the majority are clearly excluded, hungry and perishing of disease.

Disruption of that which does not include nor benefit the currently excluded might be the only way to level the playing field. Maybe we all need to start from ground zero, where there is no other way except going up, for everyone, particularly those currently traumatized, by the viciousness of poverty.