When Love Isn’t Enough: Why Financial Independence Is Every Woman’s Safety Net
- hello1287789
- Sep 3
- 2 min read
The car is still running.
A quiet suburban street stretches out behind her, the late afternoon sun bouncing off neat rows of mailboxes. Magpies chatter in the distance. The house smells faintly of dinner—onions sizzling in butter, maybe. It’s the smell of someone’s comfort, but not hers.
She grips the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles ache. The radio hums static, a low white noise that makes the air feel heavier. Her lips move soundlessly as she rehearses what she might say.
If she leaves.
Her hands are shaking because she already knows the truth. She doesn’t have enough in her name to go anywhere.
So for now, she stays.
We were raised to believe love would keep us safe.
That if we worked hard, raised the kids, supported his dreams—if we were careful and good—we’d be looked after.
But women in their 50s are now the fastest-growing group of homeless Australians.
Not because they weren’t smart. Not because they didn’t plan. But because financial dependence left them with no escape hatch when life unraveled.
It’s easy to look from the outside and ask, “Why didn’t she just leave?”
But coercive control isn’t always loud.
It’s not always black eyes and broken dishes.
It’s quieter than that. It’s:
The career she stepped away from because “they didn’t need the extra income.”
The joint account she never questioned.
The business she started but never scaled because there was no room for her dreams alongside his.
It’s small freedoms, eroded year after year, until she looks around and realises she owns nothing—not even her choices.
One in four Australian women has experienced violence from an intimate partner since the age of 15. Financial abuse is power. And it’s invisible until it’s too late.
This is where I meet her. Not in the shelter line, but at her laptop at 11pm.
She’s running a business, but it’s barely paying her. She’s got a beautiful brand, a growing Instagram following, clients who adore her work—but cash flow feels like quicksand.
Here’s the hard truth: Your business can’t just be a passion project. It has to be an asset.
One that can carry you—not just in the good times, but if life ever forces you to choose between safety and staying.
This isn’t about scaling to seven figures.
It’s about knowing your “enough.” The amount you need to live, to breathe, to choose.
I’ve sat across from women who thought they were fine until they weren’t. I’ve been the woman who thought she was fine until she wasn’t.
And I’ll tell you this: financial independence isn’t optional. It’s your seatbelt.
You hope you’ll never need it. But when the crash comes, it’s the only thing between you and disaster.
The house still smells like onions and butter. The kids are laughing in the lounge, their voices floating out through the open window.
She exhales, turns the key, and goes inside—for now.
But tomorrow, she’ll open her spreadsheet. She’ll send the proposal. She’ll price properly.
Because love may be beautiful. But it isn’t always enough.
Small Business Support to Get You Financially Independent
My Worthy Collective is for women running service-based businesses who are sick of winging it — tired of the noise, the spreadsheets they don’t trust, and the advisors who don’t get it.
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