For Seema Menon, a 37-year-old life coach in Mumbai, money lessons were learnt the hard way and early on in life. She had seen her father struggle through a business downfall and the resulting debt deluge. Then, when cancer took him away in 2002, the family was left floundering in financial distress.
Menon, who is from Chennai, was sure from the time she stepped out of college that she would be independent. She booked herself a one-way ticket to Mumbai where she found a job as a human resources (HR) professional. “For me, being financially independent was important. My father used to help me during the initial stages but once I had a job, I was on my own.” When her father passed away, Menon found herself thinking and worrying more about money. “My brother and I managed finances while I had to run the house since he had to leave for the US, again as a means to help the family kitty,” she says.
Tough experiences had taught Menon to be financially prepared. So, when she got married in 2006, she found herself worrying more about financial matters than her HR professional husband. “My husband comes from a background that didn’t see the kind of money struggles I did. So, I am more anxious of the two of us,” she says. “He views money without the anxiety. He is very stable and safe with money matters.”
