What a topic to write on…on Women’s day! Right? Hell, no.

I just choose this title because I think many women will search for this line – and hey I have your attention, do I not?

Well here is a list. Believe me..if I had said what MEN should know about money, the list would be the same…

1. Learn about money. The basics of money include – why you should have a savings bank account, a term insurance, a health insurance, and some kind of a retirement pathway.

2. Do not depend on your father, husband and son to look after your money. If Chanda Kochchar can run Icici Bank, Shikha Sharma ran Icici Prudential Life Insurance successfully and now runs Axis bank, Ashu Suyash can run Fidelity Mutual fund, Swati Kulkarni can manage funds at UTI, Naina Lal Kidwai can run HSBC, Renu Karnad can be on the Board of Hdfc Ltd.,  Uma Shashikant teaches money and wealth to all of India’s mutual fund agents and bank relationship managers, stop hiding behind ‘Money management is a man’s job’. In fact as I was enumerating this, I was wondering, where are the men??

3. Taking off on point no. 2 please remember that at some stage of life you could be alone – never married, divorced, widowed, …etc. Also it is possible that your dad did a good job of handling your money, but your husband may be a guy who knows nothing. You cannot suddenly look like Alice in Wonderland – well you should not, right?

4. If you let the man in your life handle money, make sure you know what he is doing. Trusting your husband is fine – but a woman’s instinct helps many a time.

5. 99% of husbands I know love their families, so they will not cheat their wives. However those husbands who want to opt out of the marriage will make money moves in advance. I know of women who have no clue what hit them when confronted with a husband who wants to walk out. Do not get conned.

6. Some men may have taken life insurance policies with their mother /brother / father as a nominee when they were single. It may sound morbid, but hell no – the nomination in the pf, ppf, nsc, bank, life insurance, mutual funds…..has to be the WIFE, not anybody else.

7. Assuming you have a fantastic husband who knows all about money – remember at some time you may need to know how to handle it. At least know what he has, why he has bought them, where to find the documents, ….maintaining an investment / ‘what your spouse should know’ book helps (I have such a book, am willing to publish it if a bank, mutual fund or a life insurance company is willing to sponsor it – free nahi doonga, effort has gone into it).

8. Involve your family – your parents could be a financial mess and your kids may be learning wrong things about money. Kids should know what is legitimate to ask and what is not. Parents should know that old age care (from age 80 to 92) is expensive (bloody expensive if I may add). An old age home which takes care of bedridden patients charges about 25000 per person per month. Kids should know it can cost US $ 75000 for a year in a good US business school 🙂 …if you know, share. If you do not know, read subramoney.com

9. Do not fight or quarrel about money with your spouse in the presence of the kids – they get all wrong ideas about MONEY.

10. Do tell kids ‘Money is NOT the root cause of all evil’. Learn to value things – and tell them people, experiences, things, money – is the correct order. So a vacation with a family is far more enjoyable than an asset BOUGHT from the market…