描述
开 本: 32开纸 张: 胶版纸包 装: 精装是否套装: 否国际标准书号ISBN: 9780767904834
Like many savvy business people of the 21st century, David
Bach offered his first pearls of financial wisdom to women, in his
bestselling book Smart Women Finish Rich. Recognizing that these
women are often accompanied by significant others and that money
arguments are the number one cause of divorce in America, Bach has
now broadened his scope. Presumably intended to help change this
depressing statistic, Smart Couples Finish Rich is a well-written
financial planning tool, packed with useful charts and information,
inspiring examples, and practical advice.
For people who’ve been disappointed by the shallowness of some of
the “quick tips” self-help books out there, the subtitle of this
book is a little misleading. Bach’s nine steps are not instant
change techniques or chirpy little quips to recite to yourself
whenever you go to balance your checkbook. Instead, the first few
steps include a series of exercises that will help you determine
what you know (and don’t know, or understand) about saving and
investing, what role money should play in your life (which includes
understanding your values), and how to work together toward a
common financial goal. From there, Bach teaches his readers how to
account for “disappearing” money, how to build retirement,
security, and dream baskets of wealth (providing detailed options
for all three), and how to avoid the most common financial mistakes
most couples make. Though the focus of the book is predominantly on
working with your existing income, Bach includes a final chapter
entitled “Increase Your Income by 10 Percent in Nine Weeks.”
Bach’s writing style is engaging and his advice is user-friendly.
A successful financial planner, he obviously believes passionately
in all the “fringe” benefits of being financially responsible but
employs a no-nonsense approach that makes financial smarts
available to everyone. So whether you’re 25 and just starting out
on the earning, saving, and spending road or you plan to retire
next year; whether you’ve recently got hitched for the first time
or you’ve just entered your fourth marriage; and whether financial
planning comes first or last on your list of fun things to do, the
advice in Smart Couples Finish Rich is worth heeding. It’s not
about becoming a money-obsessed bore, it’s about getting smart…
and rich. –S. Ketchum
Fighting about money is the #1 reason for divorce in America.
From first-time newlyweds at the start of new careers to people
marrying later in life or on their second or third marriage,
couples face an overwhelming task when creating and managing a
two-income household. Most couples find themselves frustrated when
it comes to combining their complex financial histories, and, as a
result, both their relationships and bank accounts can
suffer.
David Bach, nationally renowned financial advisor and author of
the bestselling Smart Women Finish Rich, knows that it doesn’t have
to be this way. After years of first-hand experience working with
couples young and old, David Bach reveals that through
communication and partnership, planning your finances together can
be both fun and easy when you have the right tools.
In Smart Couples Finish Rich, David Bach offers couples a
step-by-step guide to building and maintaining financial wealth for
years to come. Instead of avoiding each other when it comes time to
balance the checkbook, you and your partner will learn how to come
together and identify your core values and dreams, creating a
spending and saving plan that reflects your values as a couple.
Packed with easy-to-use tools that will take you from credit-card
management to long-term care, each chapter will guide you and your
partner as a team toward a more rewarding financial plan based on
the same overall financial objectives.
The Smart Couples Finish Rich nine-step journey provides every
couple with strategies for organization, communication, and smarter
spending that you can put into action immediately. This journey
reveals:
* The Couples’ Latte Factor — how to build a million-dollar
portfolio on $3.50 a day
* How to talk to your partner about money without fighting
* How to increase your income by 10 percent in nine weeks
* The FinishRich File Folder System — giving yourself a financial
clean-up
* The 10 biggest mistakes couples can make
A book for couples of all ages and all tax brackets, Smart
Couples Finish Rich is the ultimate guide for creating a lifetime
of wealth—both personal and financial.
Why Smart Couples Are Taking Control of Their Financial
Future
I’ll never forget the first fight I had with my wife Michelle
over money. We were just back from our honeymoon, and the bliss of
getting married was still in the air. Our new apartment looked
great. We were incredibly excited to be starting our lives
together.
As Michelle began to unpack, I sat down at the kitchen table and
started sorting through the mail. Since we’d been gone almost two
weeks, there was a lot to go through. I began separating the
important stuff from the junk mail, taking the bills that needed to
be paid and placing them in piles. Nice, neat organized piles. In
my mind, this bill-paying stuff would clearly be a nonissue. After
all, both Michelle and I were financial professionals. I managed
money for hundreds of couples; she helped corporate executives
trade restricted stock. What’s more, I’d spent the last five years
teaching classes on financial management and had just started
writing a book on money for women. Paying our bills and managing
money as a couple were bound to be a breeze.
Neat and Simple?
As I sorted out the bills, I created a “David” pile and a
“Michelle” pile. This was going to be so easy. I’d pay my bills
(like my car payments and my cell phone) and Michelle would pay her
bills (like her car and her cell phone). We’d split the household
bills, which meant we needed a “we” pile. And . . . hmmm . . . who
pays the insurance bills? Well, we’ll figure that out. Maybe we
also need a “to be discussed” pile. Let’s see, that’s four
piles.
Oh, here’s a bill for the cleaning lady. I guess that could go in
our “we” pile. But what about this American Express bill with all
the honeymoon expenses on it? Well, the card’s in my name and I
guess it’s pretty much the guy’s job to pay for the honeymoon, so
that should probably go in the “David” pile. Dry cleaning? Well,
even though we now get our dry cleaning done at the same place, the
account is in my name, so I guess I can pay it. Let’s see?how much
does this cost? No way . . . this can’t be right! How could my
dry-cleaning bill have tripled in a month?
Michelle was in the bedroom organizing her closet. “Honey,” I
yelled to her, “do you know they charge $7 to dry-clean one of your
sweaters? How can it cost so much to dry-clean women’s clothing?
And do you know you had them dry-clean seven sweaters this month?
This is insane. We’re going to have to get two dry-cleaning
accounts, because I’m not paying these ridiculous prices for
you.”
Michelle stopped what she was doing and came into the kitchen.
“Of course I know it costs $7 to dry-clean a sweater,” she said.
She looked down at my nice, neat piles of bills. “Hey, what’s with
all this?” she
asked.
I grinned up at her. “Oh,” I said, “I’m getting things organized.
I’m separating our bills to see who pays what.”
Michelle looked at me a little strangely. “Honey, you don’t need
to waste your time doing that. This is going to be easy. We are
going to put all of our money in a joint checking account and pay
everything together.”
”We are?”
”Of course we are. We’re married now, we love each other, and
from now on everything we have is one and everything we do as
one.”
”Well, actually,” I said, “that’s not exactly what I had in
mind.” Sensing a little tension, I quickly added, “In the beginning
at least, I think it might be easier if we sort of split this stuff
up.”
”But David,” Michelle replied, “you make more and spend more than
I do. You can’t expect us to just split all these bills down the
middle.”
”Well, no, of course not,” I said. “I thought I’d sort of split
them up in a way that’s fair.”
”Well, what’s fair?”
Good point, I thought. “Well, I need to think that
through.”
Michelle shook her head. “No, you don’t. I’ll tell you what’s
fair. What’s fair is that we put all our money in one account and
pay all the bills out of this account.”
Something’s Not Working
Fast-forward a few months. Michelle and I still hadn’t totally
agreed on who was responsible for paying what. Unfortunately, the
bills kept arriving, just like clockwork, every 30 days. Only now
they were starting to get paid late (and, as a result, we were
getting hit with late fees).
Upset about all the money we were wasting on late fees, I began
freaking out and blaming Michelle for the problem. In turn, she was
telling me it was all the fault of my stupid “pile system.”
Needless to say, what we were doing wasn’t working. And rather than
sorting itself out, the problem was only getting worse. Instead of
sitting down and discussing how we might reconcile our clearly
different attitudes about handling money into one simple system
that worked for both of us, we were running on “assumptions.” I was
assuming Michelle knew how I wanted our money to be managed, and
she was assuming I knew what she wanted to do. We were each
assuming the other was paying certain bills. We weren’t on the same
page?and the consequences were that this “money stuff” was creating
more stress than it should.
The Good News . . .
Eventually, Michelle and I did come up with a system to manage
our finances together. As a result, I’m happy to report that things
are much, much better for us on the money front. We now work
together on our finances, and instead of making assumptions about
how the other one feels, we put our heads together and bounce ideas
off each other. In short, we’ve learned to make a priority of
discussing our finances and planning our financial goals and dreams
together. Doing this changes everything: it ends the fights and it
focuses the energy of a relationship on the positive instead of the
problems.
Looking back, it’s not surprising that as newlyweds Michelle and
I had a hard time figuring out how to handle our finances. Even
though we both had financial backgrounds, we had never taken a
class or gotten any coaching about how to manage money as a couple.
As a result, neither of us had ever thought about how different
things become when you go from being two single people managing
your money separately as individuals to a couple managing your
money together.
Needless to say, what Michelle and I went through was hardly
unique. Most couples have never been taught how to plan their
financial future together. As a result, most couples rarely talk
about money . . . unless they are fighting about it. My goal with
this book is to change that. Having been a financial advisor for
nearly 10 years, and a husband now for 3, I’m happy to report that
it’s both possible and fun to become a Smart Couple Who Finishes
Rich. The key to being able to “win financially” is learning how to
take the right actions in the right order. It’s really not
difficult at all?especially when you do it together as a
couple.
In this book, we’re going to work on how the two of you, as a
couple, can both talk about and handle your money in a smart way.
Whether you’re just starting out or are well into midlife, whether
this is your first marriage or your fourth, this book will show you
how to get your financial goals and your personal values in synch
so they?and the two of you?can work together to make your dreams a
reality! What’s more, if you have financial fears?and most people
do?you will learn how to address and overcome them as a couple.
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