Archive for 'Life' Category

By Peter Andrew

Back in the 1990s, soon after my better half and I moved in together, my parents came to stay. We all went out for a shopping trip one morning, and when my dad saw my partner's spending habits, he was aghast: "Good grief!" he said to me, disbelievingly. "You're the financially responsible one in this relationship?!" 

Dad was right to be worried. I already had an unchallenged reputation for financial incontinence within my family, and he had naturally assumed it would be impossible for me find anyone worse in that respect. Yet here we were. And, amazingly, we're still here; still a couple more than 25 years later.

Ignorance isn't marital bliss

It's surprising we're still together because finances are a huge source of conflict within relationships. Back in 2012, Money Magazine commissioned a survey that found married couples argue more about money than anything else: more than sex, household chores, time spent together and (unbelievably) even snoring.

And yet it's something few engaged couples explore ahead of their marriage. And, you might assume, even fewer unengaged couples do before they shack up together. In May 2016, credit bureau Experian published the results of a survey that found just how poorly prepared many newly weds are for their spouse's financial foibles:

• Some 40 percent didn't know their spouses' credit scores.
• A third didn't know the extent of their spouses' student debts.
• A quarter didn't know their spouses' annual incomes.

Money matters matrimonially

The survey uncovered just how stressful it Read the full article »

By Justin Boyle

Earlier this year, a couple of my good friends got married to each other. After a a few months and the initial jubilation passed, the time came to turn their attention to the more business-like aspects of sharing their lives -- and their finances...

By Peter Andrew

Time was when it was, "In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." Nowadays, young and old, male and female seem pretty focused on the subject year-round, although Valentine's Day may well trigger many to seek out their perfect partner through an online dating site. But at what cost?

How not to get dates

When I was on the dating scene, in the days before the web, I had a tried and tested five-step process for attracting new partners:

1. Meet friends at appropriate bar/club
2. Pick from a distance the person/people I wanted to chat with
3. Drink bladder-bursting quantities of beer in order to build up Dutch courage
4. Eventually, stagger across to the object of my desire, and slur--in a haze of foul alcohol fumes--some corny chat-up line
5. Receive a withering put-down/slap/false phone number

Yes, it was tried and tested, and it almost invariably failed.

How to get dates

If I were in the market for a new lover now, I'd save a fortune in bar tabs, and do my liver an enormous favor. Because I'd almost certainly try online dating. And why not? It sure can work: the last two weddings I've attended have both been the result of Internet encounters through matchmaking websites, and one 2010 study suggested that 17 percent of new marriages over the previous year had come about this way.

But what I would save in beer, I could easily spend on dating site fees. Because online dating can be quite expensive.

Putting a price on love

It's not

By Jim Sloan

Plan a beautiful Valentine's Day this year but with a difference Read the full article »

By MoneyBlueBook

Dating is like walking on a minefield: You never know what your next step will bring. Now to make it even harder, dating experts are adding a new twist.

It used to be as easy as intuition, dinner and a movie, but now experts say that financial compatibility is an important factor in finding the right person. If turns out that if the man or woman you are dating is a financial mess, they can take you down with them.

If you survived the dating battlefield like me and are now married, you probably have some of your own war stories. But if you are still out there in dating never-never land, you may need a little help. I can give you a few tips on how to figure out if your date is a financial dud.

You just have to read the signs:

1. Overspends like crazy

If your date keeps trying to impress you with how much everything they own costs, you might think twice about your future with them. Wild spending can lead to all kinds of financial problems as witnessed by the record number of mortgage defaults and credit card delinquencies seen in the last couple of years. If your date seems overly impressed by their own spending, it may be that they are forgetting an important fact: Eventually they have to pay for it all.

2. Leases to impress

Although it is not a set rule, in most

By Barbara Marquand

In the wake of the financial meltdown, top money expert Saly Glassman says investors need to take responsibility of their finances and get their investments back on track. Glassman, ranked the nation's No. 1 woman financial advisor by Barron's, is author of "It's About More Than the Money: Investment Wisdom for Building a Better Life" (FT Press: 2010).

We recently chatted with her about today's hot personal money management issues, from coping with losses to investing independently with discount brokers.

MoneyBlueBook.com: What's your advice for investors coping with losses?

Saly Glassman: The best way to deal with a loss is to step back and make an unemotional evaluation of what happened. By looking with more objectivity at the situation, you can analyze what role you played in contributing to that loss. Were you overextended with your borrowing? Did you have unrealistic expectations with that return? Did you not save enough? Did you not do enough research on the kind of investments you were buying and the person who was advising you? Ask yourself, "What role did I play in the loss that I incurred?"

If you say, "It's everybody else's fault," where does that take you? How can you be part of the solution if you had nothing to do with the problem?

MBB: What are the biggest mistakes investors have made in the last two years?

Glassman: Common mistakes