Ladies of a Certain Age ~ for those invisible powerful, dynamic, vital women

Sorry, I’m a day or two late with this blog.  Actually, it is a good thing because I did not know what to write about until I almost finished my taxes.  Boy, doing the taxes was hard this time. 

“A time of our own,” is a phrase often used for ladies-of-a-certain-age because we no longer have child rearing duties and our professional lives have ended or will soon.  It is a “time of our own” also because many of us are divorcing after decades of marriage or our spouses have died. 

For me and many of my friends, financial bookkeeping is a real chore because someone else did it in the past; we don’t want to face the realities of reduced income; we have to use computer programs; and we don’t want the burden of managing and organizing our finances.  Bookkeeping is no fun!

It seems to me that my life is becoming increasingly complicated at a time when I thought it would be simpler.  I don’t know what some women and couples do in today’s world.  It is so arduous to keep track of financial matters even with good computer tools and a financial advisor.  If you don’t have those tools or are still resisting using a computer, I don’t know what you do. 

My ex-husband used to take care of all the finances.  Thank God I took a course (he did not know) about divorce prior to serving him papers.  A portion of the course was about finances.  I had little idea of where the money went or even how much money he made.  When he took an extended business trip, I went looking into the files.  It was a real educational experience!  Also, I had no idea how much money I needed to live on.  Shockingly, I did not know how much of a budget I would need for clothes or how much I could pay for housing.  The course also went into “finding hidden money.”  Do you know there are people who do forensic accounting? Forensic accountants can find out where money is hidden.  These accountants can be very very helpful if you have not been involved or had little involvement in household finances, and you need to know where big bucks are hidden.

Another part of the course dealt with hiring an attorney or mediator.  I learned it was a good idea to interview several before making a choice and also to do my own research.  When you rely on an attorney, you are at their mercy.  When you do your homework, you first, save money by not using the attorney’s time and secondly, have an idea of the soundness of the advice. 

Several years ago, it dawned on me that the person doing my taxes for years and years had it made in the shade.  My job, collecting and correlating all of the information, had gotten much more difficult; his job had gotten easier and easier with the introduction and refinement of tax preparation software.  All he had to do was plug in the numbers I gave him.  The software prompted him to put in specific information in specific places.  Each year the software is updated for current tax code

So, I have done my own taxes the past couple of years using TurboTax. (No, they do not pay me for telling you this.  I’m not a huge fan of this software anyway because customer service stinks.) Thank God I have used the accounting software Quicken for years and years.  (My ex-husband told me I would go into bankruptcy if I ever divorced him.  Well, 20 some years later this divorced woman is still solvent; but out of fear, I do watch my dollars and cents.  Thanks,” Honey.” It’s a great personal practice.)The thing is you have to routinely put into Quicken your charges and checks.

 Having moved in October, I was a little behind in this.  Finally, I got through all the charge slips and check numbers.  What a relief it was to throw away all those little pieces of paper.  There were lots of other little details, too.  Like the donations I made to various nonprofit organizations.  I would have thought that having just downsized and moved three years ago, there would be no more things to give away.  Wrong! Real estate paperwork increases every time I buy and sell. Also, I still do some consulting and have a small business.  More stuff I keep track of for that little company.

My grandmothers at my age never went through this grueling process.  If you told me when I was 50 that I would spend days getting information ready for taxes and then a good part of another day to actually do them, I would not have believed you.

What I have learned since I turned 50 is the time spent on doing some bookkeeping each week is well worth it.  I believe I will be “left in the dust” if I don’t continue to learn new computer updates and programs.  Getting rid of stuff on a routine basis and asking myself do I really want this or do I really want to move this at some future time helps keep the clutter down.  Cleaning out hard files and computer files pays off.  I have also learned to delete emails, unsubscribe to enewsletters, request to be taken off mail lists of catalogs I have no interest in, and to thank God I need to do all of this stuff because I do have a roof over my head, clothes on my back,  and food on the table.

Don’t miss my spring fashion report in the next blog!!! Life can be fun you know, particularly when you know how much money you can spend.