Get Financially Naked

How to Talk Money with Your Honey

Manisha Thakor, Sharon Kedar

• Publisher: Adams Media
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781440504495
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Finance

You may think that marital bliss means money doesn't matter, but in today's troubled economic times, that's simply false hope. And with layoffs galore and debt mounting, financial stress is through the roof. Think keeping afloat and affectionate is impossible? Think again.This inspiring, action-oriented guide helps young women in committed relationships understand and manage their money matters. Complete with charts, graphs, case studies, and tip-based advice, this succinct, straightforward guide speaks to worried women in the same way that made On My Own Two Feet a mega-success.Accessible and easy to follow, the three-part process presented in this book teaches you how to:

• Accurately interpret your current financial condition
• Become truly involved in the costs of the couple
• Move forward using the "three powers steps to financial success"

This expert author team is here to help once more. Clearing up confusion, stating the truth, developing a plan—and now, helping create a happy home.

SEVEN

Save Wisely for Your Financial Goals

There are some who might argue it's no small irony that “save” is a four-letter word. When we ask people to free associate with the word “saving,” we get all kinds of answers, most of which relate to deprivation and feeling constrained. Ironically, the practice of routinely saving money is about achieving freedom and spending that money down the road.

Amy and Matt's experience is an example of why saving is so powerful. Amy and Matt love each other dearly, but they both hate their jobs. They each work more than sixty hours a week and have no time or energy to look for new jobs. Because they are working so hard, they feel like they should be able to buy what they want when they want it, but as a result, they currently have nothing in savings. They feel trapped because they are living paycheck-to-paycheck. And Amy and Matt are not alone.

If the entire nation were asked to Get Financially Naked, you'd be stunned at the view. A shocking number of people, across the income spectrum, are lacking even the most basic level of financial protection: a savings cushion. From the 1950s through the early 1980s, we Americans were pretty good savers, socking away an average of 10 percent of our incomes each year. But something happened on the way to the new millennium — complete consumer craziness. Over the past twenty-five years, we witnessed a super-sizing of our consumptive appetites that has left many of us financially obese and bloated with debt. It appears as if the time-honored American tradition of thrift has gone into hibernation. How did this happen? Well, before we talk about that, let's talk about your personal attitude toward saving. Answer these questions by writing down whatever pops into your head when you first read it — and ask your mate to do the same. These exercises can be done together or separately on different sheets of paper. And don't forget to wait to share your responses until both of you have completed the exercise.

When you hear the word S-A-V-E, what comes to mind?

Now ask your partner to do the same exercise.

How can saving make your life better?

If the word “S-A-V-E” conjured up thoughts of deprivation and made you think it was no small irony that it is a four-letter word, you are not alone. Millions of people feel this way at first. If you need a stronger motivator to shift your impression of saving, consider this:

Contrary to popular belief, saving is actually about spending money — just in the future, not right now.

Knowledge Is Power

The truth is that millions of people feel lost when it comes to saving. You might not know how much you should be trying to save or what that money will be used for in the future. When you don't know what you should be doing and why, you often adopt a default attitude of ignorance is bliss and just hope everything will work out okay.

However, without a clear financial roadmap for saving, all too many people simply live it up, going from one paycheck to the next. After all, if you are in a store and see the latest electronic gizmo, but you don't have a savings plan firmly in your head before you go out shopping, the odds are very high that you will spend more than you should. And if all of your friends and coworkers are doing the same, well, the odds are even higher.

We've seen this behavior time and again. The good news is that once you are making a livable wage, saving is really about a mindset. We know people who can manage to save money routinely on annual incomes of $30,000 a year and people who say they can't find anything left to save on annual incomes of $300,000 — or more — a year. You can start with any amount, and as your savings start to accumulate, you'll have something to feel very proud about. With that background, let's move on to the nuts and bolts of saving.

The Three Reasons You Save Money

This is a book about Getting Financially Naked, so we're going to ask you some intimate questions about your personal savings situations. First, however, let's talk about each of the three key...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• INTRODUCTION
• OWN YOUR FINANCES, OWN YOUR LIFE
• Get Financially Naked
• Uncover Your Current Financial Beliefs
• Do It with Your Partner
• TALKING MONEY WITH YOUR HONEY
• How Financially Compatible Are You?
• The Five Power Steps to Financial Success
• For Better or for Worse … You Get the Family Too
• TIME TO GET TACTICAL
• Save Wisely for Your Financial Goals
• Invest Your Hard-Earned Money So It Works Hard for You
• Sustain Your Financial Plan
• Commonly Asked Questions
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• ABOUT THE AUTHORS