Most couples celebrate Valentine’s Day with cards, flowers, candy and romantic dinners. They typically aren’t reviewing their finances over a candlelit dinner and glasses of wine. Even if you don’t invite your budget to your Valentine’s Day celebration, this is still a great time to take a closer look at what role finances play in your relationship. Couples and Finances: Your Money Personality Continue Reading
Money Personality and Your Relationship
What’s your money personality? If you’ve never heard of it before, Money Habitudes is a game-like assessment that helps people understand their approach to money, and how they can work with others. Everyone has a money style that impacts how they view, spend and save money. Understanding why you and your partner use money differently can cut down on financial fights and misunderstandings, which Continue Reading
Financial Literacy Resources for Kids
Financial literacy is important for everybody, regardless of their life stage. Teaching some essentials to kids is a great way to instill lifelong financial knowledge, and give them a head start in building wealth. Unfortunately, less than half of U.S. states require high school financial literacy classes. And at home, many parents avoid talking about money with their children because it makes Continue Reading
How to Have Money Conversations With Your Parents
For some families, money can be a taboo, complicated or uncomfortable topic to bring up. But it’s also necessary to talk about, especially as your parents hit retirement age and beyond. The more you open that line of communication, the better prepared your family will be to approach changes and challenges as they come up. Why talk about money at all? Talking about finances as your parents get Continue Reading
Smart Ways to Give Money Gifts
The holiday shopping season is in full swing! One gift that pretty much everyone on your list is guaranteed to appreciate is money. But if you want to put in more effort than just stuffing a couple of bills in a card, I have some ideas to help you jazz up your money gifts this year. Here are my top picks for money gifts that your friends and family will love: Money Gifts for the Kids An Continue Reading
Financial Considerations for a Stay-at-Home Spouse
In roughly 30 percent of all married couples in the U.S. with children under 18, one parent stays home. And while we place a lot of emphasis on the benefits, financial plans and insurance considerations that people in the workforce should have, there’s more of a gray area for the stay-at-home spouse. In most cases, the spouse that stays home is under the umbrella of their spouse’s benefits. Continue Reading
Involving Your Family in Financial Planning
In many families, money isn’t talked about much. According to this survey, 36 percent of Americans are uncomfortable talking about money. Eighteen percent say money isn’t talked about in their family. The benefits of involving the whole family in money discussions are numerous. It can help set your kids up for a healthy future relationship with money. If you’re not already treating your Continue Reading
Money Gift Guide – Easy Gifts Under $80
Holiday shopping season is here again! Last year I covered some of my favorite money board games for kids, and I've written about my ideas for giving money as a gift. This money gift guide is for fun extras that you can gift to anyone on your list. Here are some of my favorites: Planners Monthly Budget Planner: $6.99 This affordable planner is a great gift for the woman who likes to plan in Continue Reading