I don't have a credit card because I spend money like Ivana Trump on day release, writes KATHERINE MacALISTER. So, according to a new survey, I do not qualify as a FIT woman (Financially Independent Twenty or Thirty Something). But four in ten women do, and far from being a threat to men, they're a wanted breed...

More and more woman are becoming financially independent making it harder for them to find the right man, reveals the boss of a dating agency.

Helen Boucher, area director of Elite Introductions, in Kirtlington, said: "This can be a problem for the very rich woman, who wants a man on an equal level and, of course, there are men who still hanker after the yesteryear, but on the whole this is certainly true."

For example, just seven per cent of women expect the man to pay the bill on a first date, with 73 per cent saying they would be happy to pay their share unless the man insisted. Twenty per cent would insist on paying their way. The subject is such a potential disaster area that Helen issues a couple with written suggestions for their first date.

On the man's etiquette hand-out, she advises: "Some ladies get annoyed by actions which they see as an outdated code treating women as the weaker sex."

So, as a compromise, she suggests that the man pays the first time and the woman on the second date.

"What if the man takes her somewhere really expensive and expects her to pay half? She would have a right to be upset. On the whole women are happy to pay or contribute towards the bill."

So it comes as no surprise to discover that 78 per cent of young women are in control of their own finances, with just 18 per cent saying their money situation is out of control.

What's more, 87 per cent knew what their bank balance was to within £100.

Sue Keane, a consumer psychologist, said that the FIT woman is a product of the 90s. "Women are now facing much more uncertainty in their personal and professional lives. "Their chances of getting married have fallen by a quarter in the last ten years alone and divorce rates have quadrupled since 1961.

"They are likely to have children at an older age, if they choose to at all, and there is more job insecurity. Combine this with, the fact that the majority of this generation of women will live into their 80s and it's easy to see why financial independence is no longer a luxury, but a necessity."

FIT women will save to buy what they want rather than put themselves in debt.

Savings wise, the Prudential survey of 1,000 women found that 40 cent of women even had sufficient savings to tide them over if they lost their job for three months.

But a third have no savings at all. For mothers-to-be this can be disastrous.

When motherhood was thrust upon me, I realised that the little people need an inordinate amount of things.

A trip to Mothercare shut me up. My significant other started muttering about having to get a bigger car. And all this 'vital' equipment doesn't come cheap. So for the first time in my life I started saving in earnest, and thank God I did.

The money I would have spent on going out, drink and clothes were put aside.

Maternity frocks and carrot juice are much cheaper and I managed to set aside £200 a month.

So when we went back to Mothercare to hand over all my hard saved cash, we got everything we needed.

Otherwise I'd have been up said creek without a paddle.

But it seems that I'm a minority.

According to Barclays Bank, which has interviewed 2,500 prospective parents, it seems that when planning a family, money is the biggest concern.

A total of 86 per cent of parents-to-be say they will save ahead of the birth, but only 33 per cent actually do.

Not only that, there's the loss of earnings and whether the woman returns to work, to consider.

If she does you have to find the money for childcare. If not you're one salary down. So any savings will come in very handy.

Of course, while I'm patting myself on the back there are many larger bills to cater for on their way.

New clothes, schools, uniform, toys and so on.

The Barclays survey revealed that a total of 45 per cent of parents are saving for their child's future, with 60 per cent planning to use it on university and 30 per cent on helping their kids set up home.

GET IN SHAPE

*Start saving now

*Save a small monthly amount you know you can afford in a 30 or 60 day account so you cannot keep dipping into it.

*Set up a monthly standing order to make saving easy

*Give yourself a saving target and give yourself a small reward when you get there

*Consider saving your child allowance

*Pay your children's pocket money into their own saving account.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.