Single mothers need to create a financial game plan and stick to it

While divorce places financial strain upon both the man and woman in a relationship, it more often than not affects the woman more. Traditionally, men earn more income than women do and in most cases, children end up living with mom. This has the potential to place an extra financial strain on the woman in the divorce. Getting divorced means ripping away the comfort zone of living together and sharing income and expenses. After the divorce, the mother is going to have to learn to fend for herself financially.

When a couple gets divorced, they usually sell the family home, and this means incurring more costs in moving to a new place and possibly even a new school for the children. Moms have had to put their careers on hold while raising the children and this makes it tougher to get back into the workforce and to earn market-related salaries.

If the husband has been handling the finances during the marriage, the wife will have to quickly add this skill set to her repertoire. There is a huge difference between receiving an allowance each month and budgeting for rent, utilities, school fees, extracurricular activities and the like.

There is the added stress of settling any debt that was incurred during the marriage. Some spouses can become quite nasty and leave the other spouse to deal with the financial burden of paying off debt. Likewise, if the husband refuses to pay child maintenance, the wife will have to be running to and from the courthouse to get the money.

Single mothers need to create a financial game plan and stick to it. It may be worthwhile hiring a financial planner to devise a financial plan that can be adhered to by the single mother. It’s important to keep focused on the future and to make sure that mother and child can live a full and fruitful life without having to be co-dependent on anyone else.