How To Talk To Your Parents About Managing Their Money
October 7, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Family and Relationships
Dave Ramsey has a saying called the “powdered butt” syndrome, which means that your parents have a hard time taking advice from you, especially financial advice, because they were once powdering your butt as a baby. Some parents have a hard time taking criticism or advice from their children, because they don’t want to think that their kids have more wisdom or knowledge than them. Some of you have parents who were great at teaching you how to handle money, and their finances are in great shape. But, the rest of you have parents that have no concept of managing money. They have no retirement saved, and you find yourself wondering what will happen to them when they are unable to work. Move in with you? Wow, that’s a scary thought. So, what can you do to overcome the “powdered butt” syndrome?
Save Money On Baby Sitting and Save Your Marriage
January 21, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Budgeting, Family and Relationships
Many of us are cutting back on things that are not necessary to spend money on, and entertainment is one of life’s little luxuries that we tend to cut back on during tough economic times. However, there are a ton of date nights you can do with your spouse, and I will have a list of my ideas for tomorrow’s post. One reason many married couples with kids cut back on entertainment is because of the cost of babysitting. Young teenage girls aren’t cheap anymore. The days of paying them $5 an hour are gone. they want $8 to $10 an hour. If you’re gone for 4 hours, that’s a huge chunk of change to add on to your night out. Here’s a way to completely eliminate the cost of babysitting.
Richard Branson Makes It Easier To Borrow Money From Your Family
September 5, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Credit and Debt, Family and Relationships, Real Estate
Instead of sending the average joe to the moon, Richard Branson started taking on a much less glamorous endeavor. One of his many Virgin offshoots called Virgin Money, has put together a peer-to-peer lending system for families. You can visit the site here.
The products they offer are mortgages, business loans, student loans, and personal loans. Branson uses tactics to sell the product by encouraging you to “keep the wealth in the family”, and he promises better interest rates, because your friend or family member sets the interest, not some corporate bank. Sounds like a pretty good deal, right?
Lying About Money Is Breaking Up Marriages
April 23, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Family and Relationships
Here is an interesting article from MSN.com about financial infidelity and how it is affecting marriages.
It is no secret. Money problems is the number one cause of divorce in America. Whether it’s the lack of it, lying about it, or abusing it, money will destroy families and marriages if it’s not handled properly. This article talks about how lying to your spouse about your spending habits is starting to have a more profound affect on marriages. Little white lies start snowballing into larger lies about money, and before you know it, your spouse is oblivious to the fact that you’re pissing away all of your savings.
Marriage And Money: Approaching Your Spouse About Their Spending Habits
March 3, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Family and Relationships
One of the best things about my wife is that I never have to worry about her going crazy with the debit card and recklessly spending money. It never crosses my mind that she is going to use a credit card (she doesn’t have any) or use our debit card on a large purchase without discussing it with me first. However, some people are not so fortunate to have a spouse like this. Some of you out there constantly worry that your spouse is going to be careless with your money. So, what do you do? By the way, these discussions don’t just apply to marriages, they can also apply to dating relationships for those that are living together. But, most people don’t combine their money until they get married. I don’t have all the answers when it comes to marriage, but here is how I would approach the situation.
Four Tips On the Issue of Money and Family
February 5, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Family and Relationships, Kids and Money, Money Management
When I was in college, my first car had finally broken down. I needed another car, but I didn’t have any money to get another one. I didn’t want to go to a bank to get a loan for a car, because I was didn’t want to pay all of the interest and I didn’t want the possibility of it getting repossessed if I could not make the payment. After several discussions with my dad, he agreed to pay for the car and I would pay him a set amount each month until the loan was either paid off, or he felt that I had paid enough towards it for him to give me the title. I didn’t have to pay any interest, and if I was a few days late, I wouldn’t be penalized. It seemed like a sweet deal at the time, but once I started driving that car and paying payments to my dad, it just didn’t seem right. He wasn’t a jerk about it, and he didn’t hold it over my head, but I didn’t like the idea of owing my dad money. I thought to myself, “My family shouldn’t feel like my bank.” At some point in your life, your money and your family will mix together. You may not want it to, but it will. However, you can choose how you deal with money when it comes to you and your immediate and extended family. Borrowing money, lending money, and starting business from family can be very alluring, because you are close to that person and you feel like you can trust them. I understand why families borrow money from each and start businesses together, but I am going to give you a few reasons why you should not do it and how to avoid it.
Marriage and Money: What to Do When You and Your Spouse Have Different Risk Tolerances
November 14, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Family and Relationships
My wife and I are a perfect example of spouses with VERY different tolerances for risk. I am definitely more of a risk taker when it comes to investing money and Lindzee is definitely more conservative when it comes to money. I like the idea of flipping a house to make a quick profit, while she would rather put her money in a money-market account. However, Lindzee does not try to act like she knows more about investing and what levels of risk to take with our money. In most cases, we balance each other out. She helps prevent me from doing deals that will bankrupt us, while I help prevent her from allowing our money to rot from inflation and taxes. But, some of you might be in a situation where your spouse is stubborn about how to invest your money. Particularly, you might both have 401(k) or Roth IRA accounts for retirement. Just because the account is “your” account that takes money from “your” paycheck, it’s still both of your money. Which means that you should both be making decisions about that money together.
Marriage and Money: Taking Leadership Of Your Money
November 3, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Family and Relationships
If you’ve read any of my other articles about marriage and money, then you know I am a huge proponent for spouses working as a team when managing money. However, I also recognize that spouses tend to have different personalities, different passions, and different things that motivate them.
One of the big questions when it comes to personal finance and relationships is: “How do I get my spouse on board to becoming debt free or saving more of our income?”
Is it Worth it for Your Spouse To Go Back To Work?
October 13, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Family and Relationships, Kids and Money
Whether it’s the man or the woman that stays home with the kids during their early months or years, it’s always a good practice to see whether or not it is worth it for that spouse to go back to work after having kids.
This article from Free Money Finance reveals a comment of one of his readers that shows how they ran the numbers, and it really wasn’t worth it for the spouse to go back to work.
Things to Consider:
Marriage and Money: Spend 30 Minutes Each Week Discussing Your Finances
September 21, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Family and Relationships
We live in a fast-paced society. Our time is precious to us, even though we spend hours every week wasting it by watching television, daydreaming, and doing other meaningless tasks to kill time. But when it comes down to it, it never seems like there are enough hours in the day to get what needs to be done. I know that when my wife and I don’t sit down and go over our monthly budget at least 2 times a month, we end up spending more money as a result of it, because we’re not on the same page and we haven’t set forth a clear plan for our money.
