Like many savvy business people of the 21st century, DavidBach offered his first pearls of financial wisdom to women, in hisbestselling book Smart Women Finish Rich. Recognizing that thesewomen are often accompanied by significant others and that moneyarguments are the number one cause of divorce in America, Bach hasnow broadened his scope. Presumably intended to help change thisdepressing statistic, Smart Couples Finish Rich is a well-writtenfinancial planning tool, packed with useful charts and information,inspiring examples, and practical advice.
For people who"ve been disappointed by the shallowness of some ofthe "quick tips" self-help books out there, the subtitle of thisbook is a little misleading. Bach"s nine steps are not instantchange techniques or chirpy little quips to recite to yourselfwhenever you go to balance your checkbook. Instead, the first fewsteps include a series of exercises that will help you determinewhat you know (and don"t know, or understand) about saving andinvesting, what role money should play in your life (which includesunderstanding your values), and how to work together toward acommon financial goal. From there, Bach teaches his readers how toaccount for "disappearing" money, how to build retirement,security, and dream baskets of wealth (providing detailed optionsfor all three), and how to avoid the most common financial mistakesmost couples make. Though the focus of the book is predominantly onworking with your existing income, Bach includes a final chapterentitled "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 passionatelyin all the "fringe" benefits of being financially responsible butemploys a no-nonsense approach that makes financial smartsavailable to everyone. So whether you"re 25 and just starting outon the earning, saving, and spending road or you plan to retirenext year; whether you"ve recently got hitched for the first timeor you"ve just entered your fourth marriage; and whether financialplanning comes first or last on your list of fun things to do, theadvice in Smart Couples Finish Rich is worth heeding. It"s notabout becoming a money-obsessed bore, it"s about getting smart...and rich. --S. Ketchum
Why Smart Couples Are Taking Control of Their FinancialFuture
I"ll never forget the first fight I had with my wife Michelleover money. We were just back from our honeymoon, and the bliss ofgetting married was still in the air. Our new apartment lookedgreat. We were incredibly excited to be starting our livestogether.
As Michelle began to unpack, I sat down at the kitchen table andstarted sorting through the mail. Since we"d been gone almost twoweeks, there was a lot to go through. I began separating theimportant stuff from the junk mail, taking the bills that needed tobe paid and placing them in piles. Nice, neat organized piles. Inmy mind, this bill-paying stuff would clearly be a nonissue. Afterall, both Michelle and I were financial professionals. I managedmoney for hundreds of couples; she helped corporate executivestrade restricted stock. What"s more, I"d spent the last five yearsteaching classes on financial management and had just startedwriting a book on money for women. Paying our bills and managingmoney 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 herbills (like her car and her cell phone). We"d split the householdbills, which meant we needed a "we" pile. And . . . hmmm . . . whopays the insurance bills? Well, we"ll figure that out. Maybe wealso need a "to be discussed" pile. Let"s see, that"s fourpiles.
Oh, here"s a bill for the cleaning lady. I guess that could go inour "we" pile. But what about this American Express bill with allthe honeymoon expenses on it? Well, the card"s in my name and Iguess it"s pretty much the guy"s job to pay for the honeymoon, sothat should probably go in the "David" pile. Dry cleaning? Well,even though we now get our dry cleaning done at the same place, theaccount is in my name, so I guess I can pay it. Let"s see?how muchdoes this cost? No way . . . this can"t be right! How could mydry-cleaning bill have tripled in a month?
Michelle was in the bedroom organizing her closet. "Honey," Iyelled to her, "do you know they charge $7 to dry-clean one of yoursweaters? 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-cleaningaccounts, because I"m not paying these ridiculous prices foryou."
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 withall 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 needto waste your time doing that. This is going to be easy. We aregoing to put all of our money in a joint checking account and payeverything together."
"We are?"
"Of course we are. We"re married now, we love each other, andfrom now on everything we have is one and everything we do asone."
"Well, actually," I said, "that"s not exactly what I had inmind." Sensing a little tension, I quickly added, "In the beginningat least, I think it might be easier if we sort of split this stuffup."
"But David," Michelle replied, "you make more and spend more thanI do. You can"t expect us to just split all these bills down themiddle."
"Well, no, of course not," I said. "I thought I"d sort of splitthem up in a way that"s fair."
"Well, what"s fair?"
Good point, I thought. "Well, I need to think thatthrough."
Michelle shook her head. "No, you don"t. I"ll tell you what"sfair. What"s fair is that we put all our money in one account andpay all the bills out of this account."
Something"s Not Working
Fast-forward a few months. Michelle and I still hadn"t totallyagreed on who was responsible for paying what. Unfortunately, thebills kept arriving, just like clockwork, every 30 days. Only nowthey were starting to get paid late (and, as a result, we weregetting hit with late fees).
Upset about all the money we were wasting on late fees, I beganfreaking out and blaming Michelle for the problem. In turn, she wastelling me it was all the fault of my stupid "pile system."Needless to say, what we were doing wasn"t working. And rather thansorting itself out, the problem was only getting worse. Instead ofsitting down and discussing how we might reconcile our clearlydifferent attitudes about handling money into one simple systemthat worked for both of us, we were running on "assumptions." I wasassuming Michelle knew how I wanted our money to be managed, andshe was assuming I knew what she wanted to do. We were eachassuming the other was paying certain bills. We weren"t on the samepage?and the consequences were that this "money stuff" was creatingmore stress than it should.
The Good News . . .
Eventually, Michelle and I did come up with a system to manageour finances together. As a result, I"m happy to report that thingsare much, much better for us on the money front. We now worktogether on our finances, and instead of making assumptions abouthow the other one feels, we put our heads together and bounce ideasoff each other. In short, we"ve learned to make a priority ofdiscussing our finances and planning our financial goals and dreamstogether. Doing this changes everything: it ends the fights and itfocuses the energy of a relationship on the positive instead of theproblems.
Looking back, it"s not surprising that as newlyweds Michelle andI had a hard time figuring out how to handle our finances. Eventhough we both had financial backgrounds, we had never taken aclass or gotten any coaching about how to manage money as a couple.As a result, neither of us had ever thought about how differentthings become when you go from being two single people managingyour money separately as individuals to a couple managing yourmoney together.
Needless to say, what Michelle and I went through was hardlyunique. Most couples have never been taught how to plan theirfinancial future together. As a result, most couples rarely talkabout money . . . unless they are fighting about it. My goal withthis book is to change that. Having been a financial advisor fornearly 10 years, and a husband now for 3, I"m happy to report thatit"s both possible and fun to become a Smart Couple Who FinishesRich. The key to being able to "win financially" is learning how totake the right actions in the right order. It"s really notdifficult at all?especially when you do it together as acouple.
In this book, we"re going to work on how the two of you, as acouple, can both talk about and handle your money in a smart way.Whether you"re just starting out or are well into midlife, whetherthis is your first marriage or your fourth, this book will show youhow to get your financial goals and your personal values in synchso they?and the two of you?can work together to make your dreams areality! What"s more, if you have financial fears?and most peopledo?you will learn how to address and overcome them as a couple.
Fighting about money is the #1 reason for divorce in America.From first-time newlyweds at the start of new careers to peoplemarrying later in life or on their second or third marriage,couples face an overwhelming task when creating and managing atwo-income household. Most couples find themselves frustrated whenit comes to combining their complex financial histories, and, as aresult, both their relationships and bank accounts cansuffer.
David Bach, nationally renowned financial advisor and author ofthe bestselling Smart Women Finish Rich, knows that it doesn"t haveto be this way. After years of first-hand experience working withcouples young and old, David Bach reveals that throughcommunication and partnership, planning your finances together canbe both fun and easy when you have the right tools.
In Smart Couples Finish Rich, David Bach offers couples astep-by-step guide to building and maintaining financial wealth foryears to come. Instead of avoiding each other when it comes time tobalance the checkbook, you and your partner will learn how to cometogether and identify your core values and dreams, creating aspending and saving plan that reflects your values as a couple.Packed with easy-to-use tools that will take you from credit-cardmanagement to long-term care, each chapter will guide you and yourpartner as a team toward a more rewarding financial plan based onthe same overall financial objectives.
The Smart Couples Finish Rich nine-step journey provides everycouple with strategies for organization, communication, and smarterspending that you can put into action immediately. This journeyreveals:
* The Couples" Latte Factor — how to build a million-dollarportfolio 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 financialclean-up
* The 10 biggest mistakes couples can make
A book for couples of all ages and all tax brackets, SmartCouples Finish Rich is the ultimate guide for creating a lifetimeof wealth—both personal and financial.
A senior vice president of a major New York brokerage firm,David Bach is a partner of The Bach Group, which managesover a half-billion dollars of individual investors" money. Thenational bestselling author of Smart Women Finish Rich, Bachis the host of his own television special, "Smart Women FinishRich," airing on PBS nationwide. His investment principles aretaught nationally through his Smart Women Finish Richworkshops, which are currently being hosted by 5,000 financialadvisors in 1500 cities with over 100,000 attendees annually. Helives in San Francisco, California with his wife, Michelle.
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