In this week’s Money Mistake Monday I wanted to get a little personal with you, as I am sure more than a few of you handle the finances for your family all by yourself – like I used to. I was never concerned with the “what-if’s” with our finances; I would be here to handle everything so there was no need for her to know everything that was going on! Boy was I wrong, and it took a heavy-duty cancer scare to get me to really start sharing financial information with my wife. It’s not that she didn’t know anything or want to know or that I didn’t want her to know; rather, it was just easier for me to handle everything, ask her opinion on the bigger issues, and get back to taking care of it. She knew our checking account was at Bank of America, but she did not know that we also had accounts at credit unions, online banks, a bond company in another state, where our retirement accounts were, etc…Granted, she is a very smart woman and would have figured it all out if I was not here to take care of everything, but still – why make her go through that at all? So when my cancer issue snuck up on us, we started talking about the “where” and “why” of how our finances are handled so she could easily take over if need be.
Click to continue reading...
