Dave Ramsey has done well for himself as a financial advice guru. He was one of the first people to recognize that our culture is steeped in debt, dependent on debt and that debt was enslaving the American culture. Ramsey has not been successful in changing our cultural dependence on debt, however, there are many individuals and families who owe him a great deal when it came to turning their financial house around. One of Dave Ramsey’s more controversial pieces of advice deals with FICO scores, also known as a credit score. Ramsey has said things such as: your credit score is an “I love debt score” and, Americans today are “worshiping at the altar of the FICO score.” He downplays the importance of a credit score on a regular basis and emphasizes his strategy of paying cash for everything.

I think that if you have had the misfortune of going into debt, a certain amount of credit score maintenance is necessary. My credit score has been checked by potential landlords, insurance companies and potential employers. Since credit was a big part of the last ten years of my life, I don’t want them to check my credit report and see bad news. I like my high credit score, but I do not plan to use it for financial credit ever again . . . I hope.

I did not realize how much I had been affected by Ramsey’s advice until the other day when I told a friend of mine to not worry about his credit score and actually delay repayment of a loan. I think I gave the correct advice. Here is the scenario:

“Vince” is in his early thirties, no children, single and has a limited criminal record. About five years ago, he trusted in Christ and began to attend our church. Although there are some consequences from his past that pop up now and then, he has pretty much forsaken the influences and habits that hurt him during his twenties. For the past five years, Vince has been sober, faithful to church, hard working and stayed out of trouble. Lately though, he has run into a string of bad luck – lost his job due to the economy, has been unable to get into college, had to move back with his parents. Then, two weeks ago, he was in a car accident – not his fault – that left his only vehicle totaled. To make things even worse, Vince had not purchased “gap insurance” – not a mistake that he will make again – but the fact still remains. Vince has no job, very little money and now he owes $2,000 on a car that he cannot even drive.

Vince is struggling to pay his rent and even purchase food, yet in the aftermath of the accident, he was worried about his credit score that he had been carefully cultivating for the last five years. He told me that he thought he could partially settle the balance of the car loan using IRS tax refund of about $1,500 that he was due to receive this month. I made the following suggestion to him:

1. Forget the car loan for now.
2. Use the tax refund to purchase a $400 or $500 beater.
3. Save the balance of your refund to live on.
4. Get the best job that you can find – fast food, janitorial, whatever – hopefully within walking distance of your house.
5. Start paying on the loan again when you have regular income.
6. Never use a loan to pay for a car again.

Vince’s response to me was, “but won’t that kill my credit score?” I told him that it would, but right now, he has much bigger fish to fry than FICO. Vince was almost ready to go without food in order to “please” his credit monitoring service. I believe that God expects us to settle our debts. Not paying or refusing to make payments on money that has been lent to us is sin. Vince definitely needs to eventually finish paying off the car loan because it is the right thing to do, however, right now, the credit score can wait.

Article by Stew

Photo by Library of Virginia

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I think that on the whole, most Gather Little by Little readers are not major credit card users, so most of you will not notice any credit card changes. Last Monday, several new laws regulating credit cards went into effect. I listed the changes in a post here at GLBL a couple of months ago. This month, we start to see the effects of the new laws. Here is what I have noticed so far this year:

• Fewer balance transfer offers: In 2007 and 2008, 0% introductory APR balance transfers helped me to make extra income through balance transfer arbitrage. When savings account interest rates took a plunge early last year, arbitrage was no longer a way to make money, however I still used balance transfers in order to stay afloat financially while it took 16 months for our house to sell. I am sure glad that I no longer need such offers because balance transfer offers with favorable terms have almost completely dried up. In 2007, I could get five or ten or fifteen thousand dollars in free money for 12 months without fees and interest free from almost any credit company out there. At one point, I had close to $100K in various bank accounts earning interest at 5% or even 6%. All I had to do was stay current on my payments and pay off the balance before the introductory period ended. With the new legislation, those days are long gone.
• Closed credit cards: My wife and I only use one credit card, however we have close to fifty open credit card accounts between us, the result of past transgressions . . . don’t ask . . . While we do not use the old cards, I have kept the accounts open because closing a line of credit hurts one’s credit score. Over the past two months, several of our idle accounts have been closed by the banks without warning. Mrs. Stew and I closed a couple more accounts when the banks stated that the accounts would now come with annual fees. I expect our credit score will drop a few points next month.
• Increase in fees: I never pay fees, but I have noticed several fee changes – over-limit, late payment fees have increased. I have also heard of new fees being charged, however, I have not seen any new fees on my card.
• Increase in interest rates: This is the big one. The interest rate on our main credit card went from around 9% to between 13 and 14% – a big jump. But not as bad as if I have a late payment, then my APR will increase to 29.99%! Yikes!
• Decrease in rewards: Our main credit card had great cash rewards, I think that we earned over $1,000 in the two years that we used the card. We were careful to make purchases that earned us almost 4% cash back. When the bank changed that rewards program was significantly back in December, we switched to an airline card that earns flight miles on an airline that flies to airports near both of our families.
• Changes to statements: This is interesting. Some of the changes were mandated by law, some are dependent on your credit card company. I looked at my statement and found that it lists my total fees and interest charge in 2010 ($0 for both). There is also a really prominent section that explains how long it will take me to pay off the balance if I only pay the minimum amount – 12 years in this case! It also lists how long it will take if I make no additional charges, but pay double the payment: 3 years. Of course, I always pay my balance in full every month.

Have you noticed any other changes to your credit card statement this month? (If you don’t want to admit credit card use, you can claim that you saw “your sister’s” statement or something like that.)

Article by Stew

Photo by sJasonRogersx

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Recently, I read a report about prepaid debit cards and their use. I was surprised to learn that more than 60 million Americans are using this alternative to a bank checking account. And most surprisingly, prepaid debit cards are not only used by people with poor credit. In some cases, it is the best way to manage your money with the lowest fees.

In order to better understand them, I decided to list the pros and cons of using prepaid debit cards:

Prepaid Debit Cards Pros:

Good to help manage your budget

The very first advantage I can see is that they are very useful to help manage one’s budget. If you credit $1000 to your card, there is no way you can’t spend more than that! Therefore, you can establish that you should be able to live with $1000 per month and pay everything with your card.

Control fraud damages

Since I work for a bank, I can tell you that it is way more complicated to get a refund as a victim of fraudulent use of your checking account than if your prepaid debit card or credit card gets stolen! Another good point is that the thief can’t spend more than what is on your card.

Easy of use

Prepaid cards are widely accepted anywhere. Therefore, it is as convenient as paying with your credit card… except that you don’t have to pay interest on your purchases!

Confidentiality

If you are afraid of identity theft while shopping online, prepaid debit cards can be one of the best ways to do your shopping in a secured fashion. Since there is no personal information stored on the card, you have less risk of being part of an identity theft nightmare.

Prepaid Debit Cards Cons:

Fees, fees and fees

Even if the recent study from Breton Woods showed that some people can save money using prepaid debit cards compared to regular checking accounts, there are still a lot of fees attached to them.

You usually have to pay to obtain an account (the card itself), to load it with money (and reload it as needed) and there may also be cancellation fees. Therefore, for someone who does a lot of transactions, it might not be the best way to proceed.

No or limited reporting to credit bureaus

Prepaid debit cards were once created to help  individuals with poor credit ratings. Since they couldn’t get access to a credit card, this alternative was good enough to offer access to the world of capitalism.

However, prepaid debit cards are usually not reported to the credit bureau. Therefore, you can’t use it to rebuild your credit history.

Original ways to use it

I have found 2 original ways to use prepaid debit cards:

Use it to give an allowance to your children

If you want to show your kids how to better manage money, this could be a great way to show them how money can easily be spent or saved. While giving an allowance through a card can be expensive for the parent, the child will have a real tool to become financially responsible…

Use it as a gift card

Gift cards will always be heavily debated topic when it comes to offer a nice gift to someone you appreciate. While gift cards are not the most original gift of all, the prepaid debit card has the advantage of providing money without a limited range of stores. The person can buy anything they like.

Your take: do you use / like prepaid debit cards?

I personally don’t have one so I was wondering if you had one and how you use it?

image source: the consumerist

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A while ago, Larry wrote a very interesting post about how to start an online store. He well defines the right way to start your online store. I also share his point of view on making more money in order to pay back debt faster. While reducing your expenses is always a good budgeting exercise, you still have to stay alive and hopefully enjoy life along the way. To me, this is where online income comes into the equation.

While my main job is used to pay for living expenses and the mortgage, my online income is used to pay back the loan from my parents (due in November 2010) and to give my family the opportunity for my wife to stay home and take care of our 2 children.

Compared to other alternative sources of income, online income is my favourite for many reasons:

#1 It requires little to no cash down to start

As mentioned in the above mentioned article, starting a website doesn’t require much money. If you have a computer and internet connection, you can setup your first website with a budget of $100. You won’t get the latest technology and your website won’t include animation and flash applications, but you don’t need those to make money on the net!

#2 You don’t need to have something to sell!

Since you can sell goods through affiliate programs, you don’t have to invent a product or maintain an inventory. You don’t even have to take care of shipping! Being an intermediary may reduce the amount of profit compared to being the manufacturer yet it reduces your input to the minimum.

#3 It’s easy to get paid

Another great thing about online stores is that you get paid instantly. Merchant credit card processingservices allow your business to process debit and credit card payments for orders made through the internet and/or a physical location, such as or PayPal.

So within a few seconds, your merchant account shows the money earned and you can easily transfer it to your regular bank account within a few days.

#4 Your online store works while you don’t!

Websites are one of the very few businesses to be open 7/24/365 without having to pay for someone to run the business while you are sleeping.  ;-)  It is not rare that I wake up in the morning and I realize that I just made $50 while sleeping. It is important to spend time building your “little money making machine” that works without your daily input. You have to maintain the website and make sure everything runs smoothly, but this doesn’t require you to work all the time on your website while you can make sales any time of the day or night.

Unfortunately, nothing is perfect…

While many people write about how they make so much money on the net, making money online is far from being easy. Since anybody with a computer can be a competitor, there are a lot of people trying to get a share of the pie. Therefore, as is the case for any other type of business, you need to work really hard at first before making your very first dollar.

I remember when I started my first blog; it took me a good 6 months of work before making my first $10 of profit. For the first 18 months, if I would have divided my monthly income by the hours I had worked, my hourly rate would have been equal to kids working in sweatshops.

However, the thing I really like about the online business model is that your efforts create exponential results. At first, you don’t really feel it but at one point, the effort of one hour work is multiplied by 10 through the power of your websites.

Then again, even if it’s part of a new economy, Web 2.0 requires the same thing to succeed as any other kind of business: talent, determination, perseverance and a lot of work!

Author: Mike.

Image source: Don Hankins

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Since the major cut in the interest rate back in 2008, we haven’t heard much about the FED cranking up the intraday rate so far. However, with recent GDP stats (5.7% annualised rate for the last quarter), we will surely hear some whispered rumors about the prime interest rate going up.

What is the intraday interest rate?

The FED has control over the inter bank rate. This is the rate established for banks lending to each other for one day. At the end of every day, banks look at their balance sheet and borrow or lend money in order to balance their assets with their liabilities. These loans are for 24 hours since their balance sheet changes daily. This is why we have an intra day interest rate.

How does the intraday interest rate affect my personal finances?

So even if the intraday interest rate is being set for banks, it does have an important impact on your personal finance. In fact, the intraday rate is the basis for the determination of all mortgage rates. This will affect directly the variable mortgage rates and will have an eventual impact on fixed mortgage terms.

Since mortgage rates change along the intraday, it is the same thing with a line of credit and personal loans. When the intraday goes up, you can be assured that all interest rates on banking charts will go up. The good news is that if you don’t have any debt and you are looking for sure deposit options; high yield savings account and CDs will increase as well.

So if the FED talks about increasing the intraday interest rate, this will have a direct impact on your savings and debt.

Why can the intraday interest rate go up?

It is a fact that the US economy is far from running smoothly. The unemployment rate is over 10% and people that find themselves a new job are being underpaid compared to their previous position.

However, if the GDP keeps going up, inflation will surely come back sooner or later. Unfortunately, the best way to stop inflation is to increase the intraday interest rate. By doing so, all interest rates go up and this motivates (read: forces) consumers to spend less and concentrate on their mortgage loan and other debt. This is how the FED can slow down the consumption and inflation at the same time.

What will happen to my mortgage rate?

If you have a fixed rate, the change in the intraday rate won’t affect your payments. Your mortgage will continue as agreed in your contract.

However, if you are about to get a new mortgage, you will most certainly have worse lending conditions in 2011 than in 2010. A few weeks ago, the FED declared that they won’t touch the intraday rate for now. Even though the economy seems to wake up, it is still a slow comeback. The last thing we want is to kill the economy in its sleep!

Final Thoughts

I don’t think there is much to worry about regarding the interest rate in 2010. However, it is being unrealistic to believe that we will ride on low interest rate for the next 25 years. It will eventually go up so you better pay off your debt while the interest rate is minimal!

Author: Mike.

Image source: clifff1066

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In February of 2010, the new Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act will go into affect. If you do not use credit cards, you will not be directly affected by this change. The only changes that you will see are higher fees on your regular bank usage as financial institutions try to find other ways to increase revenue. Here are the changes with a few comments from me (as usual):

• Your rate for existing balances will no longer be raised for being a few days late with your payment. You might still be charged with a late payment fee. I have never had a problem in this area, I always figured that losing a great rate was part of the price for the privilege of buying stuff with the credit card company’s money.
• Your Annual Percentage Rates on existing balances can only be raised if you do not make your minimum monthly payment within 60 days of the payment due date. Once again, never had a problem here, but the response from the cc companies will probably be to set the regular APR’s higher in the first place.
• You will not be charged a fee for going over your credit limit. Transactions might still be declined if you go over your limit. I think this is a good, common sense change. If it is really a big deal if you go over your limit, the cc company can decline the transaction. If you are a customer who makes payments on time, it is actually in the cc companies best interest for you to spend more than your limit.
• Any amount you pay over the minimum payment will now be used to pay down balances with the highest Annual Percentage Rate. So, in the past, if you had a 0% APR balance transfer of $3,000 on a particular credit card and then made $500 worth of purchases at a purchase APR of 14.9%, your payment of $70 would be applied to the lower rate balance transfer. You would have to pay off the entire $3,000 balance transfer before your payments would be applied to the $500. Obviously, this would result in higher profits for the credit card company. I don’t like this because I think it will diminish and dilute the number and quality of 0% introductory credit card offers. I like them and I was never burned by any of these strategies by credit card companies. Rats.
• Your payment date will always fall on the same date each month. This is a good idea, because sometimes the date would vary by two or three days depending on where the weekend or holidays fell. I think there are times when credit card companies moved the dates maliciously, so hopefully that will be prevented. I was always annoyed by the credit card companies who sent credit card statements a couple of days before the payment was due.

The bottom line? Do not use your card and you will be in great shape!

Article by Stew

Photo by mlinksva

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chase blueprint

In recent times, I have been receiving email from Chase and their “fabulous” new concept: Chase Blueprint. I was a bit reluctant to look into this “new concept” as I wondered how it could really help a person to manage his debt better… especially since the idea came from a bank

However, I have received more information about the Chase Blueprint features and they appear promising.

chase blueprint

What is Chase Blueprint?

As the name suggests, Chase is offering you a way to create a Blueprint to pay off your debt. Blueprint is a free debt management system that allows setting repayment goals for specific expenses.

Forget about the regular zero percent balance transfer credit card and think about a genuine, useful tool to manage your debt. The Chase Blueprint works with 3 of their credit cards (see details below). Here how it works:

#1 A Blueprint to Eliminate Interest Charges on Recurrent Monthly Expenses

The feature I like most is the fact that you can separate your recurrent monthly expenses on your statement. If you make the payment in full for this specific category on a monthly basis, you won’t pay any interest on these bills. Better than that: the Blueprint tells you exactly how much you have to pay so you don’t even have to bother!

Example:

Let say you spend around $1,000 in recurring expenses (such as gasoline, grocery, cable, phone, cell phone and internet) but you also had some Christmas gifts that you can’t pay right away totalling an additional $300 (I do not suggest you finance your Christmas gifts but we all know that stuff happens from time to time!).

With a regular credit card, you would spend your $1,300 on your credit card and you will be charged for interest on $1,300 for one month. At a 15 APR, this is $16.25 in interest costs.

However, with the Chase Slate credit card with Blueprint, you will only pay interest on $300, which means $3.75.

So you can simplify your finances with the Chase Blueprint without having the worry of being gauged by interest charges.

#2 A Blueprint to Split Your Expenses And Manage Them

If you buy a new TV or a new refrigerator with your Chase credit card, you will have the possibility to know exactly when you will pay it off completely.

You have the option to choose the payment you want to make or in how many months you want your purchase to be paid off. Upon your selection, Chase Blueprint will calculate your payment and will tell you when it will be paid off.

Each month, you will be able to see your progress on paying down this specific purchase and you will be able to change your original payback plan if you would like (this is perfect to implement a debt snowball).

#3 A Blueprint to Pay Down Your Balance Faster

In addition to paying your recurring expenses in full without paying interest, to track down specifics purchases, you can also determine when the rest of your balance will be paid off.

With this feature, Chase Blueprint allows you to select your payment or number of months you want to take to pay off your credit card balance completely.

#4 A Blueprint to Track Your Debts Down

Do you wonder how much you pay to eat outside of the home each month? Your Chase Credit Card can track down your budget with the Blueprint feature. You can also setup your budget and determine how much you want to spend in each budget categories.

Each month, you will be able to track down your expenses and calibrate your budget accordingly.

chase blueprint

They now offer a 0 APR for the first 12 months

In order to try the Chase Blueprint system without any costs, they offer the Slate^SM from Chase Credit Card (regular credit card),  the Chase Freedom Credit Card^SM (cash back credit card) and the Chase Sapphire Credit Card^SM (reward points credit card) for free (no annual fees) and they also offer a 0 APR for the first 12 months (for the Slate and Freedom credit card) AND a 0 APR balance transfer for the first 12 months as well (for the Slate credit card). Therefore, you can try the card for free and see if their Blueprint really works for you.

You will have time to get used to the new features of these very interesting credit cards and it won’t cost anything to do so!

Overall, here is what the Chase Credit Cards with Blueprint has to offer:

#1 Blueprint system for free that enables you to manage your debts according to your terms.

#2 Avoid paying interest on recurring expenses upon full monthly payment.

#3 0 APR trial period of 12 months (Freedom and Slate).

#4 0 APR on balance transfer for 12 months (Slate).

#5 No annual fees.

#6 Zero Liability on unauthorized payment

Since it is free and the Blueprint system really works, I suggest you give it a try. Go see for yourself, read about the amazing Blueprint system. I would personally apply for the Chase Slate credit cards since it offers a 0% both on new purchases and balance transfer:

Chase Slate Credit Card description:

Chase Freedom Credit Card Description:

And for those who are looking for one of the best reward programs, you can also order the Chase Sapphire Credit Card

Chase Sapphire Credit Card Description:

Author: Mike.

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Christmas is not my favorite holiday. I enjoy the spirit and the meaning of the season. I am all in favor of celebrating the birth of Christ and I am not all that opposed to a fat man sliding down my chimney to steal my milk and cookies. However, the stress of gifts, gift giving and parties is too much for me to handle. No matter how much my wife and I try to keep a lid on things, we over-extend ourselves financially every year around Christmas. That is why I like Thanksgiving so much.

Mrs. Stew and I are opposites. She loves parties and would have people over or go to someone else’s house nearly every night of the week. Me? I like to have a little space. I am all for hospitality and friendship and all that, but in measured doses. The result is that we complement each other, she keeps me from becoming a complete agoraphobic hermit and I let her know that it is okay to stay home once in a while.

And then there is the gifts. I don’t have enough money to contribute to our retirement fund, but the list of people to whom I am obligated to purchase a gift just keeps growing and growing . . . and growing. I try not to be a Scrooge and there are people to whom I really want to give a gift. I am willing to sacrificially give to my kids, my wife, most of my extended family, Mrs. Stew’s parents, sister, brother-in-law, and my grandparents. I would give to those people whether or not they had any ability to reciprocate. I definitely want to express my appreciation to them or hopefully give them a gift that they will value.

The problem comes when I start to consider employees, employers, supervisors, neighbors, acquaintances, the mailman, the trash collectors, etc. Everytime I turn around, I am being asked to contribute $5 or $10 so we can go together for a gift for someone else or to bring a “gift worth $15″ for a gift exchange or so-and-so is expecting a tip. These gifts are putting us in the poorhouse . . . well, we were already there . . . these gifts are putting us under the poorhouse.

Here are a few solutions that may or may not work for you.

• Homemade gifts: not sure what I can make that anyone will actually appreciate. My wife definitely tries to do this with some success, but this strategy is limited.
• Budget and save up during the year: Very good idea, but we do not have any more room in our budget for another item. We have a negative savings rate as it is. Our finances are heading in the right direction and we are keeping our heads above water, but we just finished a year with an extra $14,000 of expenses due to our house not selling.
• Graciously decline: Not sure if there is a way to do this without offending or appearing cheap or worse – everyone gives me a gift anyway and feels sorry for me. Yikes!

These ideas have not all worked for us as you have probably gathered. Furthermore, while I am thankful for the gifts given to me – really, I do appreciate the thought – but the fact is that they rarely help with the electric bill or the food portion of our budget.

We just swallow hard, bite the bullet, git ‘er done and reap the consequences in January. We have done better this year, Mrs. Stew has come up with frugal solutions to many of our gift giving responsibilities and at least our house sold in July. I have much to be thankful for, God continues to meet our needs. I am looking forward to next Thanksgiving, though, no gifts to give, no gifts to awkwardly recieve and the meal is better.

Article by Stew

Photo by scottfeldstein

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As I previously mentioned, most of the growth present in the US economy is coming from the money injected into our capitalist system by the Government. The housing market hasn’t seemed to pick up that much and the real unemployment rate is closer to 17% than 10% (unemployment rate doesn’t count people that are on welfare or those who gave up and quit looking for a job).

This is why so many people are asking if we will get another stimulus check in 2010?

So here’s what we know so far:

There will be a $250 stimulus check for Social Security (SS)

This new stimulus check is a one shot deal and will happen during the first quarter of 2010. Besides this measure, no raises are forecast for the Social Security amount allowed.

The stimulus check will be received the very same way you receive Social Security.

This measure will cost the US Government about $13 billion!

Unfortunately, no other stimulus measures (cash for clunkers for example) have been announced yet.

Why the government is doing this?

I would say that the main reason why the government is sending another stimulus check is to give a (very small) break to many US families. By doing it through a single check, they avoid costly measures that would recur in time. However, this is far from being enough.

According to some economists, a total of $125 billion would be required to be distributed among the US population to make sure that we support the economy during enough time to avoid slipping back into a recession again.

These additional stimulus checks would act as a spark plug to fire the engine of our economy. It seems that companies are still not able to hire more people and they are generating profits by cutting their expenses. This is obviously not the right way to assure economic prosperity!

What to do with your stimulus check?

While the US economy is in deep need of people spending money especially in its stores (this is why we have Black Friday, isn’t?), I think the best use of this stimulus check would be to pay off debt or put it aside in case you need it.

Our economy doesn’t need consumers re-mortgaging their properties to overspend on what they can’t afford. It will hurt for a while, but we are better off with a population that is able to save again and doesn’t crumble by the weight of their debts.

Do you have any other questions about the 2010 stimulus check?

image source: josé manuel

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I have been doing a lot of thinking about family finance and especially the financial relationship between a husband and wife. I do not have all of the answers to solve every problem in this area, but I thought I would share just a few thoughts:

Family finance is about priorities. Both the husband and the wife should contribute to these priorities. It is our money, regardless of who may have directly earned it. My paycheck might be bigger, but Mrs. Stew does a whole lot of things that allow me to do the job for which I am paid.

I am not a fan of “his and hers” money or “his and hers” purchases. All money belongs to the family and all purchases need to be according to the priorities set by that family.

Different areas of financial responsibilities are certainly appropriate. When we were first married, my wife took care of almost all areas of our finances – food, clothing, utility bills and the rest. That did not work out for various reason. Now I take care of monitoring our bank accounts and paying regular bills. Mrs. Stew does a good job caring for the grocery and clothing budget items.

I am more likely to make a major purchase without consulting my wife. Not a good idea. Mrs. Stew is far more likely to consult me if the positions are reversed.

It is sometimes difficult for me to grasp the financial priorities favored by my wife. I think that we could spend more for things that she thinks are important.

A little walking around or “funny” money for each spouse is a good idea.

Open and honest is best.

When one spouse spends money in a way that does not reflect the priorities of the family, it allows the other spouse to rationalize expenditures that do not fit the plan. This can be the catalyst for friction. “Well, you spent money on ________ , so I can spend money on ________ and there is nothing you can do about it!”

Expensive hobbies can present a huge financial problem in a marriage. Hunting, cars, gambling, golf, etc. can place unneeded financial strain on a marriage. A good rule of thumb might be that each spouse is allowed to spend the same amount of money on a hobby. For instance, I gave up golf when I got married. I would love to play again someday, but not until I can afford to bring my wife along!

If both spouses are doing their best to support the financial priorities of the household, then money can never drive those spouses apart.

Hopefully there is a nugget or two here that you can use . . .

Article by Stew

Photo by makelessnoise

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