
When my marriage of seven years ended, I walked away with next to nothing.
There I was — the former corporate "power woman," the financial expert, the breadwinner — suddenly single with two young children.
I did still have $25,000 in savings, though, so I decided I would buy a house — and not just any house, but a $2 million property on the Mornington Peninsula that had been sitting on the market for over a year.
I approached the vendors with what I thought was a brilliant plan: I'd put down my entire $25,000 as a deposit and rent from them for 12 months while I saved for settlement.
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Why I felt compelled to purchase such an expensive property immediately still baffles me today. I genuinely believed I would sail through my divorce and make more money than I ever had before.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
The downward spiral.
The following 12 months turned out to be the worst-performing year my business had ever seen.
I was tired, distracted and emotionally traumatised by the divorce — and I began drinking habitually.
By the end of that year, I'd lost my property — not to mention the small amount of savings I had left.
My unhealthy relationship with money had led me to overspend, overcompensate, and make foolish decisions. Everything I'd worked so hard for was gone, and neither my bravado nor my entrepreneurial spirit could save me.