When I was in middle school, my best friend told me that her father had been cheating on her mom. Her mom had zero qualifications or job experience, had married her rich dad and been a SAHM ever since, enjoying vacations, expensive shopping trips, a villa etc.

My friend said something like, "my mom won't leave because she has no money. I will never be in the position of having to stay with a man who treats me badly because I have no money. I will have a very good job so I can leave when I want."

I never, ever forgot that, and it became one of the core elements of my life phylosophy.

I'm reminded of it over and over again when I see reddit posts or hear stories (how many there are, especially in my country where female unemployment is very high) of women who are being abused, beaten, cheated on, treated like servants, and even if they reach the point where they finally decide to leave, they can't. Because they have nothing to their name and are effectively financially trapped. Let's add all the middle aged women who get dumped for a 20 year old and are left with nothing and a 30 year gap on their resume and zero marketable skills. Or maybe they are simply widowed and left in a lurch - there are a billion things that can happen.

So ladies, please, please don't EVER get trapped. If you want to be a stay at home spouse, make sure your butt is financially covered. Have your own money, pension plan, investments, property, something. Make sure you have a skill you can fall back on if need be. Find a financial advisor that can help figure out how you can protect yourself no matter what happens.

Financial dependency has been the bane of women's lives throughout most of history. Don't blindly put yourself in the same exact trap now that we have other options.