My wife and I recently resumed reading Smart Couples Finish Rich. The book helped us discuss our different values, sync on our current retirement savings plan, and start talking about our insurance needs. The last section in the book...
Continue reading "Smart Couples: Dreams Basket" »
My wife and I recently resumed reading Smart Couples Finish Rich. The book helped us discuss our different values, and sync on our current retirement savings plan. The next section in the book was focused on security including emergencies,...
Continue reading "Smart Couples: Security Basket" »
Wow -- I am still amazed at how complex managing personal finances gets once you get married. It's like that corporate project that gets extra headcount to speed things up, but yet everything slows down because more communication, more interlock...
Continue reading "Managing Cash Flow" »
I have pretty much taken over all the money management, including investing, bill paying, and account management. However, I still think it so important that my spouse takes an active role in at least understanding what is happening on a...
Continue reading "Meaningful Personal Finance Net Worth Reports" »
Before my wife moved over with me to China, I ate out at restaurents every meal. I was working like a dog and had little time to even eat let alone think about preparing a meal. When my wife came...
Continue reading "Paper Envelope Budget System" »
Back when we got engaged I had ambitious plans of quickly moving to merge accounts and making some changes to optimize things a bit and squeeze a bit more savings out of her expenses. This enthusiasm was met with a...
Continue reading "Consolidating Our Finances" »
Back when my wife and I got engaged, I setup a new MS Money file to track all her financial accounts, just like I do with mine. I wanted to get everything of hers in one place and build...
Continue reading "Merging MS Money files" »
This hasn't been an easy financial decision for us -- especially given our akward state as an "engaged" couple who haven't really merged our finances yet other than a joint savings account for the wedding fund. There were a lot...
Continue reading "My Fiancee Has Quit Her Job" »
Since January the wedding planning has gone into full swing. We were able to open the floodgates when my fiancee's parent agreed to pay for a large portion of the wedding (although amounts were not discussed). My fiancee and I...
Continue reading "Wedding Planning Update" »
Its been a multi-year effort, but my fiancee has finally agreed to cancel her CPI security system service in her townhome. I think she held on to it an extra couple months just to iritate the heck out me...
Continue reading "Canceling Fiancee's Security System" »
In December I decided to take an opportunity to possibly spend up to a year in China for a project I am now working on. As if my life wasn't crazy enough trying to get married I had to throw...
Continue reading "Im Taking A Year-long Assignment in China (I Think)" »
With all the one-sided insight I have provided into my fiancee's finances, I thought I should share a financial decision that I think puts her financials in perspective. My fiancee is very conservative with her money. She has managed to...
Continue reading "Best Financial Decision My Fiancee Made" »
Last month, my fiancée agreed to start making $50/mo contributions to her Roth IRA. We setup her up with an automatic contribution program so she wouldn't have to think about (otherwise it would never happen). I was really excited that...
Continue reading "I Tricked My Fiancee Into Doubling Her Retirement Contributions" »
As I previously mentioned, the wedding budget has been a sensitive topic for my fiancee and I. She quickly jumped off to the races thinking that we needed to book a reception location immediately and I just as quickly got...
Continue reading "A Savings Goal for the Wedding Budget" »
Here are the financial actions my fiancée and I have taken since getting engaged: 1) Opened a joint savings account with monthly contributions for future vacations. 2) We started reading Smart Couple Finish Rich. 3) We reviewed my fiancée’s checking,...
Continue reading "Small Steps Towards Merging Finances" »
Fresh off a big vacation, my fiancee and I have decided to start a regular savings program for future vacations. We always talk about putting money aside for vacations, but in the end we haven't done it.So our plan now...
Continue reading "First Joint Savings Account" »
I apologize for the lack of posts, my girlfriend and I took a 8-day road trip through the Northeast with stops in the Adirondacks; Quebec City, Canada; Golden Pond in Maine; Cape Cod; and Mystic Seaport, CT. We had an...
Continue reading "We're Engaged!" »