Falling Short

Over the weekend I watched the historical drama series "George & Mary", about Mary Villiers and one of her sons, George, who eventually became the first Duke of Buckingham thanks to his services in the bed of Janes I of England.

Anyway, the series wasn't all that great, but Julianne Moore played the part of Mary Villiers well and there was a scene set soon after she was widowed. Her first husband had died and it turned out his estate was so much in debt there wasn't anything for her to support herself and five children. What she said in that scene really stuck with me. She said "I have no property in my name, no assets and no money. What am I to do?" In Mary's case, she did what most women of the early 16th century had to do, remarry. And she soon got to work addressing the shortfallings to ensure financial independence. 

She was right, whether the real Mary Villiers said it or not. Being financially dependent as an adult is a perilous thing.  Unfortunately, I find myself in that very position. You would have thought after many years of working I would have something to show for it, but I don't.  I have no property, no assets and little money. Come July I will have the income from two small government pensions, one Canadian, the other U.K., that wouldn't keep a cat in today's economy. 

And I have no one but myself to blame. When I should have been contributing to a private pension, I wasn't. When I should have been putting money into some sort of asset that was mine alone, I wasn't. 

The house is in my husband's name because we couldn't get good mortgage terms had I been on it and there was never any possibility of ownership during my first marriage. I had a sum of money from an old workplace pension scheme in Canada that I ported over here and cashed in to help buy our first house. Again, I wasn't on the mortgage so therefore not on the deed of ownership. U.K. banks won't allow it. I can only think its some 19th century throwback and it needs changing.

Every penny earned, including a small inheritance from my late father, from both my marriages has gone to keeping other people and paying debt. Houses, cars (I don't drive either), loans. This has left me as an individual falling very short financially and its too late to play catch up now. 

I'm not suggesting my husband has been sponging off me, he certainly hasn't. He is younger than I and makes  more money than I ever could. But we always had a joint account and he managed the budget. And did a decent job of it.  However there was no reason for me to have not made provision for myself, especially over the last decade when I was working steady. 

It was stupid and shortsighted. I'm not looking for answers or sympathy, just sending out a warning. Don't be stupid.