Smart Couples Finish Rich - Softcover

Bach, David

 
9780767904841: Smart Couples Finish Rich
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0767904842 ISBN 13: 9780767904841
Verlag: Broadway Books (A Division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc), 2002

Inhaltsangabe

The best-selling author of Smart Women Finish Rich introduces a nine-step program to help couples overcome and prevent financial problems, examining the unique challenges of joint-finance ventures and explaining how couples of all ages and tax brackets can build a secure financial future. Reprint.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

A senior vice president of a major New York brokerage firm, David Bach is a partner of The Bach Group, which manages over a half-billion dollars of individual investors’ money. The national bestselling author of Smart Women Finish Rich, Bach is the host of his own PBS television special, “Smart Women Finish Rich.” His investment principles are taught nationally through his Smart Women Finish Rich¨ and Smart Couples Finish Rich¨ seminars, which are hosted by 5,000 financial advisors in 1,500 cities with more than 100,000 attendees annually. He lives in San Francisco, California, with his wife, Michelle. Visit his website at www.finishrich.com.

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Step 1

Learn the Facts and Myths About Couples and Money

John sat in my office smiling from ear to ear. Indeed, he was practically glowing. After putting in more than 40 years as a successful salesman at a printing company, he was just two months away from retirement. He had come to my office with his wife of more than 30 years, Lucy, to make some plans. Excited about getting started on this new phase of their life together, the two were interviewing me to see if I would be the right financial planner for them. As I usually do in such situations, I began the meeting by asking a simple question: "With only 60 days to go, what does retirement look like to the two of you?"

John leaned forward confidently. "We're moving to South Carolina, where we own some land," he said, "and, we're gonna build us a little two-bedroom house on a lake and I'm going fishing every day!"

With that, he sat back in his chair, grinning like a school kid.

Lucy, however, had quite a different look on her face--a combination of anger and disbelief. Glaring coldly at John as if he were a stranger she was meeting for the first time, she asked him, "And who are you planning to move to South Carolina with?"

Now it was John's turn to look shocked. "Well, with you, of course," he said meekly.

Lucy laughed out loud. "John," she said, "if you think I'm leaving our kids, our grandchildren, and our five-bedroom house in Danville so you can go fishing in Timbuktu, you've got a screw loose!"

John looked at me helplessly, then turned back to Lucy. "But we bought that land in South Carolina to build our dream house on when I retired. Remember, honey?"

"John, that was 20 years ago!" she snapped. "You haven't even mentioned that land in the last 10 years. I was hoping you'd forgotten about it!"


Peter and Mary sat in my office, both completely happy. The day before, after five years of meticulous planning, the two of them--both in their early fifties--had taken early retirement from their respective employers. That's right--two retirements from two separate companies on the same day! They had spent the previous evening celebrating, first at his retirement party, then at hers. The excitement they both felt was contagious. They reminded me of two teenagers who had just graduated from high school.

The couple had come to my office to take care of the paperwork for their 401(k) rollovers. Earlier in the day, they had met with their attorney and their accountant. Tomorrow, they would leave to fulfill a long-held--and long planned-for--dream of theirs: to move to an isolated village in Mongolia for two years as part of a church-sponsored program in which they would help build a new school for local children. An automatic payment program had been set up to take care of all their bills, their retirement accounts were fully and safely invested, and their expenses were covered for the next two years. Their kids were in college and the tuition payments were already arranged. Everything had been anticipated. Peter and Mary could not wait to catch their plane and start living out their dream.


I've started our journey with these two contrasting stories because they are both true--indeed, they both occurred in my office during the same week--and, taken together, they illustrate just how differently different couples can plan for their future. I'm confident that the first couple, John and Lucy, is not the model you want to follow. The second couple may not be your ideal either (especially if, like me, your idea of retirement isn't an isolated village in Mongolia). But the reality is that Peter and Mary's future does sound exciting. That's because it involves a dream they planned together and are now getting to live together. You can't hear about their story without becoming excited for them.

If you are in a relationship right now and have a significant other you plan to be with for a long time, it stands to reason that you want to have a bright future in which you live and finish rich together. But being smart and finishing rich doesn't just happen. It takes real action and positive commitment on your part.

It's Not Just About Money . . .

Here's another important part of Finishing Rich that many couples overlook: it's not just about the money. John and Lucy have money. What they don't have is a plan for the second half of their life together. Although they've been married for more than 30 years, neither has a clue as to how the other expects to spend his or her golden years. John thinks he's going fishing, and Lucy wants to know who he's going fishing with.

Having served as a financial planner for countless couples over the last 10 years, I can tell you from firsthand experience that way too many couples are like John and Lucy. They go through life without making any real plans for their future together; in many cases, they've never even discussed the subject. Each just assumes that somehow the other knows (and agrees with) what he or she happens to want. The result is invariably a disaster.

Then again, I've also seen the exact opposite. Every day I meet and work with couples who have been married for years, sometimes decades, who really do function as a team . . . as one. They really do communicate about their money and they really do plan for their financial future--in other words, they are Smart Couples who are living and finishing rich. This is my goal for you.

The Facts and Myths About Couples and Money

The truth about money management is that it's not really that difficult. If you know what to do and what not to do, it's actually pretty easy. The challenge is that we're not taught about money in school. As a result, much of what we learn about it comes from friends, word of mouth, and marketing. This is why a lot of otherwise smart people spend their whole lives doing the wrong things with their money.

I often tell people it comes down to this . . .

It's not what you know about money--it's what you don't know that can wipe you out.

Since so much of what people have learned about handling money is actually dead wrong, a big part of becoming a Smart Couple who finishes rich is about unlearning what the two of you think you know about the subject. To do this, I'm going to share with you some of the biggest myths about money and couples. By understanding these myths for what they are, and learning the true facts, you will instantly be better prepared to make better decisions about your finances.

Myth No. 1 If we love each other, we won't fight about money.

Fact No. 1 Money has very little to do with love . . . and a lot to do with how much you fight.

Repeat after me: love has nothing to do with money. It doesn't matter if you love your spouse or partner more than anything in the world. If the two of you have conflicting values about money and make financial decisions that fail to accommodate each other's feelings about the subject, you are going to have serious relationship problems.

Love does not conquer all. If it did, then one out of every two marriages would not end in divorce. Love usually gets you to the altar and creates passion for a few years, but a solid, long-lasting marriage takes more than just love. So please stop for a second and consider these basic facts:

1. How you spend money has nothing to do with how much you love each other.

2. The two of you were probably raised differently when it came to money.

3. The two of you probably value money differently.

4. The two of you probably spend money differently.

That's a lot of differences. So if the two of you happen to be fighting about money right now, I've got news for you: you're normal. And here's some even...

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Verlag
Broadway Books (A Division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc)
Erscheinungsdatum
2002
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0767904842
ISBN 13 
9780767904841
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
320
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar

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