Today we bring you the second half of our reader questions for Sheila Heen, communcations expert responsible for much of the content on Have the Talk America. I wish I could bring her along on negotiations with wedding caterers, but that’s another post for another day. Onward to the questions! – Indebted asked: Hello, Please ... Read more →
Last week, we asked if you had questions about how to approach the topic of talking with your loved one about a particularly difficult money situation. Sheila Heen, communications expert responsible for much of content of Have the Talk America, made her advice available and answered your questions. We’ll present the first two today, and ... Read more →
Just a reminder: Do you have a tough money/relationship question you need to ask someone, but don’t know how to bring it up, or what to say? Leave a question for communications expert, Sheila Heen (bio), by MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. See the details here.
photo: How I Met Your Mother website Last week on How I Met Your Mother, Lily and Marshall considered getting a divorce “on paper” for financial reasons. Lily had bad credit, so she proposed that Marshall divorce her so he could apply for a mortgage without her. The odd thing about this scenario is that ... Read more →
I love blogging about my mom. Really. She gives me so much to talk about. My dad doesn’t speak much, and he’s not crazy, so I don’t write much about him. Ever since I’ve been more or less financially independent from my parents, I feel as if they don’t need to know the financial minutiae ... Read more →
“Listen, we have to talk…” At one point in your life, you have heard these words, and you know that it’s never the start of anything pleasant. Maybe they were being said to you, maybe you heard them coming out of your own mouth. Maybe, you are even thinking about saying these words to someone ... Read more →
photo: agiel Her and I met early on during our collegiate careers when we both had little debt, student loan or otherwise. To us, racking up debt was a normal part of college life, so it didn’t bother either of us when the other pulled out a credit card to pay for something (in retrospect, ... Read more →
This past weekend I went to lunch with a friend of mine from way back in the day. Although I haven’t seen this guy in quite a while, when we do get together it usually results in a crazy night where I wake up without pants (in my bed, mind you) and half-eaten Doritos all ... Read more →
Two days ago I wrote about the Asian cultural phenomenon of giving back to your parents. As I stated in that post, I don’t mind giving back during special occasions in the form of nice meals at restaurants or nice presents. I don’t mind because I feel like it should come from me, not because ... Read more →
I grew up as the child of two Asian immigrants (I’m not giving up my actual ethnicity for the sake of some anonymity). My parents came to America over 30 years ago, and have been naturalized citizens for a long time. I was born and raised here in the United States, exposed mainly to U.S. ... Read more →
Reader D writes to us with this question: Here’s my question, and I apologize if it’s long. My boyfriend and I have recently made the decision to move in together and this, of course, requires a certain amount of financial meshing. I was wondering if you have any advice or any readers’ stories about how ... Read more →
Yesterday’s post by Her garnered some good discussion, and there are a few details that I’d also like to address. This whole issue is not about a cheese grater or a vase, or any ONE particular item. Admittedly, I’m not that much of a cheese fan (lactose intolerance does that), but the grater was a ... Read more →
I can tell when something is bothering Him. Him gets all quiet and skulky, and last week Him had been skulky for over a week. Uh-oh. I finally pried out the problem: Money and Us. Yikes. Turns out I have been spending my allowance, plus some of our joint account money, on stuff that I ... Read more →
This is a part of our continuing series on reader submissions on relationships and finances. If you would like to share your story on relationships and finances, please see this post Without further ado, here’s JP’s story. Okay, I will admit it. Finances is one of our worst areas of communication. There are so many ... Read more →
This post is part of our week-long series on Creating Financial Transparency for Couples. 5. There’s no unified financial plan. Jay cuts right to the heart of the problem when he says, “It makes it very difficult to plan our future when half of the money isn’t really visible for planning.” Jay and his wife ... Read more →
This post is part of our week-long series on Creating Financial Transparency for Couples. 4. No dedicated time exists for talking about finances. Jay and his wife haven’t been able to set up a routine time to talk about finances. I’m guessing that this results in a feeling of dread every time the subject comes ... Read more →
This post is part of our week-long series on Creating Financial Transparency for Couples. 3. There are two different spending styles at odds. Jay says that his wife perceives his attention to her finances as evidence that she is a spendthrift. My guess is that she probably has good reason. It sounds as though Jay ... Read more →
This post is part of our week-long series on Creating Financial Transparency for Couples. 2. There are unclear privacy boundaries. Jay believes that he has a right to see his wife’s financial statements. Jay’s wife believes that she has a right to keep her financial statements private. According to Anne Kathering, author of Where to ... Read more →
Reader Jay has a problem: …One problem my wife and I have is that there is limited financial visibility into her accounts. She does everything on paper and in check registers. I do everything on-line and have a spreadsheet on our home PC that projects my finances 5 years into the future. Her contributions to ... Read more →
Reader JC sends in her story of her and her husband’s trials with money: When my now-husband and I met, we were both at a turning point in our financial lives. After several years living in one of the most expensive metropolitan areas of the country, separately, we’d each realized the gravity of our debt ... Read more →
