It’s Sunday, it’s Women’s Day, and it’s a public holiday. Here in South Africa, we have so many of them that it’s easy to lose track, and true to form, my phone has already been buzzing since early morning with the usual memes from mates asking, tongue firmly in cheek, “when’s International Men’s Day?” I have good, decent friends, and all of it is said in jest. But it did get me thinking, and I’d like to use this space to share something a little more personal.
I have a mother, three sisters, a wife, four daughters, a daughter-in-law-to-be, and 2 granddaughters. That’s a lot of women in one man’s life — all of them strong, capable, and yes, sometimes a little scary. When I reflect on what each of them has walked through in their lives, the premature loss of a parent, watching parents’ divorce, tough financial seasons, raising a difficult child, marital strain, careers quietly set aside for the sake of the family, it’s impossible not to feel deep respect for every one of them. Today, they range from six months old to ninety-two, and my life would look very different without a single one of them in it.
It’s much the same in my professional life. Over thirty years, I’ve sat across the table from countless women, breadwinners, widows, single mothers, who aren’t just holding things together – they’re flourishing, financially and personally, regardless of the path that got them there. And yet I still see it often: households where the finances default to the man, almost without either party deciding it should be that way. In our practice, we actively work against that pattern. Women are every bit as capable with money as men are, and in my experience, their instinct for the wider family picture, the school fees, the ageing parent, the child who needs a bit more support this year, often makes their financial planning sharper and more grounded than anyone gives them credit for.
This isn’t a dig at men. It’s simply a nod from someone lucky enough to be surrounded by remarkable women his whole life. Given everything, they carry, quietly and without much fuss, setting aside one day to say thank you feels like the very least we can do.
Happy Women’s Day.
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Dirk Groeneveld, Certified Financial Planner
t. 083 261 9287
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