INTRODUCTION
Money is a blessing that transforms our dreams into reality. It provides everything from the food we eat to the luxuries we drool over. Those pretty pieces of paper make the difference between misery and affluence. They make the world our oyster. They give us joy and fun and power. Money allows us to hide our mistakes, our shames, our stupidities, and start again.
Money is a curse that keeps people awake at night, tossing frantic with worry. It stirs up more quarrels between loving couples than any other reason. Money provokes the sort of jealousy that can smash a family apart or drive people to the cruellest of crimes.
Money - which is it for you, and for all the other women reading this?
The young woman looked up at me with the eyes of a whipped dog. 'I lost my lovely home,' she sighed. 'All because I signed a piece of paper. I'd never have signed if I'd known there was the tiniest chance. But my husband told me to.' I shook my head sympathetically. This was one client I could not help.
Eileen's husband had set up a limited company*. He had installed her as a director and told her to sign a personal guarantee for the bank. The company's business failed, so the bank used the personal guarantee to get its money back. Eileen lost her home. (Don't worry if you don't understand any of this. You will after five more chapters.)
'Now we rent a poky flat. If only I'd known.' She stuffed her handkerchief back into her bag and shuffled out of my office.
It is women like Eileen who provoked me to write this book. We women handle money all our lives, yet nobody tells us how. Schools give no guidance. Most books on finance overpower you with jargon or else recommend you to save two-pence by turning your husband's shirt-cuffs.
We women rarely talk about money among ourselves. Maybe we moan about rising prices or rave over a wonderful bargain we have discovered, but we never discuss money itself, still less wealth. When did you last speculate with your friends on how to get money, or how to make the most of your present resources or turn your pittance into opulence?
Men, by contrast, spend profitable hours on these subjects, during working hours and in the pub afterwards. Women are interested all right - who hasn't watched the transforming hand of money? - but few know where to start.
In twenty years of working professionally with money, I met hardly any women with practical knowledge about money. Time after time, I would phone a bank, a solicitor's office, a government department. A girl would answer. Perhaps she would hand over to a female clerk. But always, always, when she realized what I wanted to discuss, a male had to take charge. I grew to dread the change-over.
We women have taken huge strides in the last 100 years  towards independence. But not in the field of money. Finance remains overwhelmingly controlled by men and run in their own interests, as you will see later. Don't be deceived by the presence of flocks of girls shelling out banknotes over counters or frantically buying and selling, eyes glued to multiple computer screens.
Show me the most liberated woman you know. I can guarantee that when she needs help or advice on how to invest, borrow, run her business - anything short of walking into a shop and forking out cash - she turns to a man to provide it. I will also guarantee that, by and large, she does not understand the advice she gets. Outwardly, she may think herself liberated. Financially, she is as helpless as a baby.
Yet how can this be? We women have managed the family finances and balanced the budget for centuries. Traditionally confined within the home, it is easy to think small and not to plan beyond the end of the week. It is easy to be penny wise and pound foolish. Even worse: we are conned by the old wives' tales, the ten financial fallacies I list in Chapter 1.
In the chapters to follow, we will consider wealth: how to get it: how to stop it frittering away through your fingers: how to save it: what are real and what are false economies: how to invest it to make it grow: how to borrow it. Then we will look at problems most women can expect to encounter: divorce or widowhood: retirement: handing over to your children or grandchildren. Next, because it is a wide world we live in, a little about money overseas, inflation and fraud. To follow, there is a chapter on the easy maths you need and a glossary of all the terms I have used. We round off with a review of progress to date.
I have designed this book for women aged from 16 to 86, rich and poor. The rich face problems too, but they are different ones. I aim for it to be useful to you throughout your life. Despite the ever-changing jargon, most of the basic facts don't change. One thing I promise: not a word on the sober drudgery of budgeting or on how to enjoy your wealth. You must have a million ideas of your own on these topics. If not, other people will soon suggest them for you.
* Words printed in bold type are explained in the glossary  at the end.
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