Book excerpt: When Heidi Evans's ninety-one-year-old aunt died, her sons were dumbstruck to discover a bankbook with a balance of $50,000 hidden in her top drawer. She had been a devoted housewife and mother all of her adult life -- so where had the money come from? But the women in the family just smiled. They knew. Like generations of women, Aunt Lee had been building a nest egg, stashing away a few dollars a week from her household allowance (and maybe sometimes from Uncle Irving's pockets) so that she could have a little money of her very own -- for a rainy day, for her kids, or just to pay for her dreams. Now Evans revives this age-old practice of stowing away money and shows women of all ages how a nest egg can make marriage more secure and more fun, and divorce or widowhood less devastating. This award-winning journalist shows us just how the nest egg works by introducing us to a fascinating variety of women whose marriages have been marked by the war over money. These intimate and revealing stories give us a clear view of the financial landscape within marriage today, from relationships in which men control the money -- and their wives -- to families in which women can openly save their own money for the years ahead. And so we meet Veronica, a hair colorist in her twenties who stashes $20 a day from her tips so she can pay for the little luxuries she and her new husband would like. And Meryl, whose husband left her for a younger woman after twenty-five years of marriage and who now finds that divorce has generated a desperate need for private savings. Later, we meet Irene, a seventy-seven-year-old for whom early widowhood might have meant poverty for her and her sons if she hadn't been so smart about creating a nest egg. The age-old tradition of the nest egg has become more important for women than ever. Indeed, financial security is the number-one problem facing women today, in and out of marriage. Women are still earning only 76 cents to every dollar earned by men and champing at the bit to have equal footing -- or at least the ability to buy that third pair of black pumps without an argument. What to do? Save a little for yourself...with the full knowledge of your husband (if you can) or on the sly (if you must). Whether you pick your husband's pockets or work like a dog for your own paycheck, money is marriage insurance, and it's nonnegotiable. So what are you waiting for?