Foundations of Finance

A major cause for marital problems and arguments stems from money and financial-disagreements. Because of this high factor in marital problems, it is important for couples married already or contemplating marriage to talk about finances and come together on an agreement. As the marriage continues, more finance questions will arise and the couple needs to be able and willing to discuss these issues. Each partner needs to know how his/her partner feels about finances and when and how is the best way to come to solutions on financial issues.

The following is an overview on an article, titled “The Six Financial Mistakes Couples Make.”

The six mistakes are as follows:

1. Merging the Finances:  This is a question many couples go through as they consider how to begin their lives together as well as their financial lives together. Each relationship is different, and therefore, not all solutions will work for every couple. Some may pool all their money together and some may have separate accounts with a joined account for part of the money. Whatever works for you and your partner, be sure to agree together and not be too selfish over your finances. Once you are married, money should be a joint commodity in one way or another.
2. Dealing With Debt: Even if you have remained debt-free your entire life, you may marry someone who has acquired debts. As frustrating as it may be to deal with this extra burden, calling it “his” debt or “her” debt will not help. When a couple gets married, the debt now becomes “their” debt.
3. Keep Spending in Check:  Many couples label each other as “the spender” and “the saver” or other delineating terms. In actuality, most partners probably spend about the same just in different ways. Because of this variance in perspective, couples do not see that they are both spending and a positive solution would be to create a budget.
4. Investing Wisely: Many couples disagree on which financial risks should be taken and how many of these risks they should take. There really is no fits-all-answer because situations vary, but the important thing is that these couples sit down at least once each year to discuss the financial investment risks that they are willing to take.
5. Keeping Money Secrets: This should be a no-brainer, but for whatever reason, many couples admit to having lied about how much they spent on a particular item. This causes huge financial distress in a marriage as you can imagine. Just be honest with each other and stick to the money-spending agreements you made in the budget, so you will have no need to feel like you must hide the price you actually paid.
6. Emergency Planning: No matter how financially stable you and your spouse feel you are, having a financial cushion to lean back on will bring more peace to your marriage where finance is concerned. Being financially prepared for an emergency, will put you in a better place if disaster does strike.

CNNMoney.com recently put out an article on the 15 Most Hated Fees that people have to deal with. Not surprisingly, one was having to give $2 or $3 away to an ATM when you withdraw from one that is not from your own bank.

It’s a big hassle, but the article gave some quick tips on how to dodge this annoying fee. Many big banks such as Wells Fargo now have phone apps that can automatically locate a proper ATM that is close by. That way, you can quickly find your own bank’s ATM so you don’t have to cough up a fee.

The article also suggests finding a bank that refunds ATM charges on your online accounts. These are banks like Charles Schwab.

Dealing with the BP oil spill off the Gulf Coast for the past several months has been a major mess for the government, the oil industry, and just about every Southern town that has had oil washing up on its shores. Luckily, there is one good thing that has risen out of this whole debacle–jobs.

BP is hiring 4,500 workers to clean up blackened beaches and other areas in Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. This is a good sight for sore eyes considering that many of these Southern states have seen double-digit unemployment and have been hit hard by the recession.

What is even better is that many of the jobs will pay a minimum of $18 an hour, with supervisors getting paid $32 an hour. BP has already hired many, but is receiving thousands of applications from each state that they have to deal with.

For an online article discussing the new clean-up jobs, visit CNNMoney.com