November 4, 2010 Archives

Have you ever heard of Mint.com? I just joined it and it’s awesome.
It’s like a free version of quicken. It links to all of your accounts (credit cards, brokerage/investment accounts, savings/checking) and lets you keep a budget there, track all transactions and even make savings goals to meet. If you go over budget in any section, you’ll get an email. That’s so handy! Plus it gives you a pie chart to show how your money is being spent. A real eye opener!

Opening the joint account with John re-lit a financial fire in me.

I’m a saver (hoarder, miser…whatevs) by nature, and was really into personal finance, budgeting, investing a few years back but then got slack about everything that wasn’t automated. whomp whomp!

So, I re-read Smart Couples Finish Rich last night.

Smart Couples Finish Rich: 9 Steps to Creating a Rich Future for You and Your Partner

Have you read this book? It’s by David Bach, the dude who wrote The Automatic Millionaire (another awesome money book btw) I read this book about 5 years ago and learned so much! It helped me start to save more, budget better, and finally start my retirement savings. Reading it again last night it inspired me almost as much as it did the first time I gave it a go.

I’m going to get serious about managing my money again. (and John’s) There’s a hidden stack of miscellaneous financial papers in our credenza that’s going to be organized this week. And I’m going to ~~force~~ ~~threaten~~ ~~blackmail~~ encourage John to make his own mint.com account too.

I’m now in the middle of Women and Money by Suze Orman. (love her! and her weird accent)

Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny

I’ve had this book for a few years now and I don’t think I ever cracked it open. It’s a great book in plain as day, easy to understand language for any woman who wants to start to take control of her finances. A lot of the material is redundant after reading the other book, but it’s still an informative read.

John and I agreed to sit down and have a serious money talk. We had a mini chat after I finished reading the David Bach book where he basically said that I will have to handle all the finances “so we can be rich” LMAO! We’re a long (i mean loooooooooooooong) way away from that!

How do you handle the finances in your household? Do you keep everything separate? Does everything get paid from a joint account? Is one person in charge of all the bills? I’d love to hear!