Michelle Slater
Local women are being invited to a free course to learn how to navigate their way through the world of money and how to become more financially literate.
The Financial Wellbeing for Women program was developed by Women Information and Referral Exchange and will be held at the Morwell Gathering Place.
Course tutor Maria Doganieri said the program was for any woman in the community who wanted to skill themselves in finance, but she stressed it was not to hand-out financial advice.
“This course will provide women with the confidence and skills to think about money. They will learn that money is not scary but how they can manage it and then who can help them,” Ms Doganieri said.
“People will be able to understand what they can do and where to go for help if they can’t do something themselves.”
The course will run through managing finances, how to pay the bills on time, managing debt accessing financial services, saving, and how to take out a loan while avoiding the pitfalls and dodgy lenders.
She said the course will be run in a relaxed environment one-day-a week over four hours to allow women to discuss their relationship with money and help other women resolve their issues.
Ms Doganieri said the course came out of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into family violence to help women who were being financially abused by their partners.
She said financial abuse occurred when an abusive partner controlled the purse strings and limited access to money or finances.
Ms Doganieri said there was a rising statistic of older women suddenly thrust into poverty as they were coming out of relationships without a reserve of superannuation behind them.
“Women coming out of abusive relationships miss out on learning how money works, and in some homes, men have traditionally controlled the money,” she said.
“This becomes a consequence if women don’t have skill set to look after themselves.”
The Financial Wellbeing for Women program starts on Thursday, October 17. To enrol call the Traralgon Neighbourhood House on 5174 6199.
