This is the second part of a two-part series on money. Check out Part 1 here: Money Matters: How to Talk about Money Without an Argument One of the more difficult steps early in marriage is working to combine finances and spending styles. We’re strong advocates of all money being shared in joint accounts. But that brings the task of spending responsibly as a team, and the best way to start that is with a budget. Now many people have a “budget” where they don’t pay much attention to what … [Read more...]
Money Matters: How to Talk about Money Without an Argument
This is the first part of a two-part series on money. Part 2 is available here: Money Matters: How to Build a Functional Budget as a Team One of the biggest topics of conflict in marriage is money. When you combine two lives and two established financial styles that can be vastly different, it’s really no surprise. But how do we work together to overcome the struggle and start to have productive conversations about OUR money? When it comes to handling money, there are two personality … [Read more...]
Debt Free: How We Paid Off $33,171 in 447 Days
Debt is a fact of life for so many these days, but it doesn’t need to be. From school and cars, to credit cards, so many of us have accumulated a crushing mountain of money that we owe to others. Much of the debt we have begins before we get married, and we bring that into our new marriages with us. For Jess and I, on the day we got married, that number was just over $43,000, all in student loans. For the next few years, we paid the scheduled payments of about $500 a month and would pay a bit … [Read more...]
No Exit Strategy: 11 Ways to Be “All-In” In Your Marriage
The year is 1519. Hernán Cortés and a crew of 600 men had just landed on the shores of Mexico. Their mission was simple: To conquer it. Many better-equipped armies had failed before them, but on landing, Cortés gave an order that was brand new. “Burn the boats,” he told his men. As they watched the boats burn, a new resolve was cemented in their minds. They would conquer this new land, or they would die trying. There was no other option. With this resolve, they went on to achieve victory in … [Read more...]
5 Important Steps to Protect Your Family
Did you know that on average women live longer than men? This is true for most countries around the world. Most people just dismiss this as a statistic, but there’s actually wisdom here worth acting on … [Read more...]