When talking about women empowerment, no story is juicier than a woman who goes through a NASTY divorce, and comes out of it stronger than ever. Heck, she remains in a male-dominated financial industry and becomes its queen—The Money Queen that is.
Now this is a story that all Invest Divas can relate to. I had the chance to sit down with the bubbly and ever motivated Cary Carbonaro, Author of the Money Queen book in NYC the other day, and asked her some essential questions that could empower all women.
A true Invest Diva, Cary came from a very traditional household. Growing up watching the dynamic of her mom and dad, she decided to become more like her dad… SHE wanted to be the one who made the money.
Her story is similar to that of many women; She’s had some great successes, great failures, and she’s had to re-chart her financial life in the face of change more than once.
She built a successful business, got married, experienced a painful and financially damaging divorce, and then had to rebuild.
As a woman in the male-dominated world of finance, with the passion of being the breadwinner of the family, she came into the marriage as exactly what she had long wished for: the primary breadwinner. However things didn’t quit work out well or as planned…
She was eventually bullied into giving away 50% of her business to her ex-husband through the divorce. Not only that, but he was also to receive half of her future inheritances as well. Quite the contrary to what you expect from divorces these days~
What was her mistake? Giving in to signing the agreement without reading it. It is much more complicated a story.
Did she kick herself for this mistake? For quite some time but she fought it in court and won. However, throughout her bitter experience, she remained positive and didn’t let fear to kick in.
Money Queen: 49% of women fear losing all their money and becoming homeless.
She is not your typical woman. She is an educated, successful, self-sufficient woman of means.
“It is not just about avoiding financial landmines,” she says “it is also about being able to recover when you step on one.”
“My financial landmine was marrying a man and allowing him to syphon off much of what I worked hard to build. He was not entitled to it and he did not deserve it. But I was manipulated and could not get out of the way of my own emotions. The important thing is to understand that if you save now, you will be positioned to absorb whatever life throws your way. I recovered and made it out of that relationship in one piece because I had the padding we all should have. For all of us, it has to start at an early age.”
We Asked the Money Queen…
What has been your absolute best achievement?
I would say writing my book and having all the media success around it. I had 400 media hits in a 5 month timeframe.
What is the biggest thing you can improve on?
I have no patience, it is a major character flaw and I expect everyone to be on my timeline.
What was the funniest thing or incident that has happened to you at work?
When a professional woman came into the bank and said something is wrong with her account and I looked it up and told her it was overdrawn. She said that can’t be, I still have checks left.
Epic!
What is your biggest dream?
That woman are all financially literate and not afraid of money and finances. I also want all women to be financially independent.
We can identify with that!!
What is your advice for women who are just getting started in finance?
Even though you are the minority, it is a great profession. Stick with it!
#1 Best Selling Author. Helping you accelerate your retirement with Triple Compounding™ Former engineer on a mission to help 1 million households take control of their finances. Founder & CEO of Invest Diva.
