Gather Little by Little

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How many times have you heard the money is the leading cause of divorce?  For years, this has been a common belief by most everyone, including marriage counselors, financial experts and myself.  Turns out, this may not be the case.

Jan Anderson, a family and consumer sciences professor at California State University Sacramento, set out to prove this theory by writing a doctoral dissertation on the subject.  Anderson both taught personal finance classes and came from a family that ended up in divorce as well.  Like me, Anderson enjoyed teaching money skills in hopes to not only educate people, but hopefully to save a few marriages as well.

Anderson started by looking for research supporting the claim that money is the leading cause of divorce.  He didn’t find much.  Actually, he only found one survey done in 1948 on postwar divorced women.  The survey, which asked what caused their divorce..  The survey showed that “non-support” (indicating their husbands hadn’t provided money to meet their basic needs) was the leading reply.

What is interesting about the survey is that non-support was one of the only valid reasons to get a divorce during that time.  The survey also focused only on women, not men.

More recent survey’s showed money as a cause, but it was seldom ranked higher than fourth or fifth as the leading cause of divorce or marital problems.

Anderson’s research

Professor Andersen looked at a national database of more than 2,000 husband and wife households for his research. The data was collected over a 12-year period from 1980-92. Andersen focused on questions related to money to see if financial trouble in one time period predicted the likelihood of divorce in a future time period.

The result - as predictors of divorce, financial problems are useless, he says.  Financial problems never explained more than five percent of the variability in divorce.  Anderson says, “If financial problems are so important, there would have been a stronger relationship. They appear to be merely a small part of the mix.”

Anderson speculates that that financial issues in marriage may not be as important as they were back in the 40s and 50s.  This is particularly true as far more women are now in the workplace and men are no longer the sole bread winners in today’s world.  Anderson also adds: “Or, perhaps, financial problems were never a major factor in most divorces, but were cited by respondents in earlier studies because they were legally or socially acceptable reasons for divorce.”

Anderson continues his research and is now currently looking at couples’ debt loads to see their is a relationship between credit problems and divorce. He also believes, personally, that learning to deal with money problems can make a marriage less stressful, and perhaps more likely to survive.  Well said Mr. Anderson.

Not everyone agrees

Not everyone is convinced though, including me.  Olivia Mellan disagrees.  Mellan is a therapist who assists people with money problems and author of Money Harmony: Resolving Money Conflicts in Your Life and Relationships.  She believes that money and sex are still taboo subjects, and she hears enough tales of money problems in her practice that she’s unconvinced by Andersen’s research.

Where Mellan agrees with Anderson (as do I) is that money is a symptom of more deep and complicated issues that lie underneath.  Mellan says: “It’s always what the money represents: dependency, control, freedom, security, pleasure, and self-worth.”

Communication and Control

Personally, I believe money can cause marital stress, but the underlying problems are control and lack of communication.  Most money issues in marriage seem to be related to lack of communication and control issues.  Dedicating time to talk about money together can and will address both of these issues.  Couples should do their finances together.

What are your thoughts?  Do you believe money is the issue?  Add a  comment!

Photo by: Ed Yourdon

Like most everyone, I enjoy earning money and supplementing my income.  I do this a number of different ways: through blogging, doing side jobs building and maintaining websites, running a few online stores, and by participating in various online surveys, points programs and rebate sites such as Mr. Rebates and EBates.

I’ve been trying out various services and programs now for more than a year, and thought I would share my perspective on the one’s I’ve tried.

MyPoints (my personal favorite)

My favorite thus far is MyPoints.  Why?  Because it’s quick and easy.  With MyPoints, I receive about 5-10 emails a day and they literally take all but about 30 seconds to work if you use the tips I recommend.  About every 2 months I get enough points to redeem them for either a $25 Amazon.com gift card or $25 Olive Garden gift card.

Online Surveys

I started off doing each and everyone of these from the various online survey sites.  This included surveys from MyPoints.  Over time though, I found that the survey’s take up far too much of my time, and for limited reward.  For example, some surveys take more than 15 minutes to complete.  I also got frustrated when I would spend 5-10 minutes completing a survey, only to find out that I didn’t qualify.  I seldom do these anymore, and when I do it’s primarily through MySurvey or MyPoints.  Given the various supplemental income streams I have, I can spend my time on other activities and make more money than I do through surveys.

I have been trying a new site called CashCrate this week though, and so far I’m impressed.  CashCrate pays cash for completing surveys and allow you to cash out at $10.00.  One of the nice things I like about CashCrate, is that most of their surveys tell you up front how long the survey will take.  For example, one this morning paying .80 cents was going to take me 25-30 minutes.  Too long for me.  Others though only take 5-15 minutes, far more worth my time.  My wife on the other hand does them while she is reading email or surfing the web during the day.  She says the time isn’t a big deal at all.  She surfs a little, completes a survey page, surfs a little more, etc.

Another nice feature of CashCrate is their coupons section.  The update their coupon selection daily.  So if you’re heading to the grocery store, check out their coupons page and maybe save a few bucks.

Signing up for both CashCrate, MySurvey, and MyPoints are all completely free.  I would encourage you to give them a try and see what you think.  Please post your feedback here in the comments section.

Rebate Sites

The sites I most use are rebate sites.  I purchase a large number of the things I buy online as I find it more cost effective and just plain easier.  I’m not usually in a big hurry to get the items I want, so waiting a few days for shipping isn’t a big deal.  Both Mr. Rebates and EBates have saved me more than $20 over the past 2 months.  These sites work by allowing you to purchase items online just as you normally would, but they give you a discount.  Both sites work with various online merchants and in exchange for driving traffic and purchases to merchants websites, they receive a commision for each sale.  A portion of this commision is shared with you in the form of a discount.  The amount varies per merchant.

This is a very quick and easy way to save money that literally takes just a few more clicks on your behalf.  Whenever I’m ready to purchase something online, I always spend an extra couple of minutes checking both Mr. Rebates and EBates to see who has the best rebate option.

Your Take

What is your take on these various programs?  Do you use them?  The rebate sites are a no brainier for me.  MyPoints and in particular the surveys do cost some time though and in my life time is money.  I’m always having to make a decision about how to best spend my time.  How do you decide which programs to use and not use?  Please share your tips for utilizing these sites.

Photo by: milst1

My 13 year old son spent a day with my Dad last week.  My Dad loves cars and my son has become more and more interested in them as he’s gotten closer to driving age.  The type of car he wants t has changed overtime, but his latest “obsession” is with Jeeps.  He wants one of the new Wrangler Unlimited models (the 4-door Jeep).  Since going to he Jeep dealership with my Dad, all I’ve heard is “I so want a Jeep”.

While driving to the mountains this past weekend, we talked some about how he was going to get one of these $21,000+ Jeeps.  He of course thinks I should just buy it for him…wrong!  We then started a discussion about how he could begin earning some money.  Here are some of the jobs for teens that I came up with (remember, he’s not old enough to get a job yet):

Wash Cars

I suggested he should get a wagon or wheel barrow, fill it with car washing supplies and go door to door charging $10.00 to wash our neighbors cars.  With a neighborhood our size, he could make a killing.  I wrote an article sometime back on the proper way to wash a car.

Pet Sitting

Many people are still heading out on vacation and need someone to take care of their pets.  Pet sitting would be a great job for a responsible young teen.  They could walk the dogs and feed and water everyone’s critters.  My son even has some experience with aquariums and could tend to them as well.  I have no idea how much to charge, but $5.00 - $10.00 a day sounds fairly reasonable depending on what needs to be done.

Newspaper Route

Teens less than 14 can deliver papers and honestly make a fairly good income.  The only problem is the hours, as most papers need to be delivered before 5:00am.  I’m don’t think I would be comfortable with my son delivering papers before 5:00am on his bike.  To be honest, I doubt seriously he would ever even consider getting up that early anyway.  But if you have an early rising teen, this might be a great option.

Yard Work

This market is pretty saturated in our neighborhood, but home owners are always on the look-out for responsible teens that can do a good job mowing and tending to their yards.  This can include trimming, seeding, aerating, leaf racking, weeding, etc.  There are lots of opportunities here.  Most likely, parents will have the tools to do all of this and will be willing to let their teen use them.  While it is a great deal of hard work, if your teen does a great job there is lots of opportunity.

Start an online business

Starting an online store is pretty easy these days and most likely your teen may have some great ideas for popular products to sell.  They also have a great marketing channel as well, school.  If they pick the right product, and work with a good affiliate they can literally get rich.  The great thing about this job is that it’s a skill they carry forward and maybe even pursue as a full-time job once they graduate.

Get Creative

None of these seem to interest your teen?  Sit down with them and begin making a list of potential opportunities.  Try to focus on things you do around the house or that you see your neighbors doing and ask the question “Would they pay someone to do that?”  Most likely the answer is yes, if the the price was right and the work quality was good.  Write down anything you can come up with.  Once you have the initial list, begin trimming it down based on your teens interest and the potential market for the work.  You want to pick something that has a good market, otherwise you profits will be low.

Once you’ve come up with an idea you’ll need to consider the following:

Marketing - How will you make people aware of your services?  A good book on the subject is Guerrilla Marketing.

Pricing - How much will you charge?  I would recommend having individual prices for each of the services and then packages of these at a reduced cost.  For example: $10.00 to wash a car, $5.00 to vacuum, $10.00 to wax.  Premium Car Wash includes all 3 for $20.00.  When choosing price, it’s better to start low until you’ve established a customer base, then you can slowly raise the price.

Consider Costs - Car washing has some costs, equipment, soap, towels, etc.  Make sure you factor these into the price you charge so you make a decent profit.  If you decide on a car washing business, consider making your own car cleaning products to reduce your overall costs.

These of course are just a few of the many jobs for teens.  What ideas do you have?  Have a great story to tell about your teen or a teen you know?  Please share.  Add a comment!

Photo by: Micah Taylor