Family Is Key to Personal Finance Success
It is fair to say my family and I wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for my wife. In fact, that’s a gross understatement. My wife is the reason we turned it all around shortly after we were married.
I firmly believe family is the key to personal finance success. You can carefully plan your 401(k) allocation; you can be frugal all day long; you can pay down credit card debt. If your family isn’t behind your efforts and 100% onboard, you’ll be wasting your time.
Our Story
My personal finance journey is going to sound familiar to a lot of people, so I’ll keep it short. I graduated college with several thousand dollars of student loan debt and several thousand dollars of credit card debt. Mine was a somewhat different situation after graduation than most. I was commissioned as an officer in the army, so I went to training for six months. During that time, I literally ate out every meal (we lived in dorms basically). I saved nothing. I paid the $15 minimum on my credit card debt.
Then I met my wife. We married not long after and she did something amazing. She got me on the right financial path. She did it with a simple action.
She insisted we save something every month.
We were still hurting because she was still in college. We were going further into student loan debt and trying to dig out of credit card debt. But we saved $100 per paycheck religiously. That simple act changed it all for me.
To make a long story short, we’re now debt-free (other than our mortgage) and save and invest every month.
The Family Factor
Had my wife (my family at the time) not been with me, we simply could not have recovered from the hole I’d dug us. We put vacation pay, bonuses, and gifts toward becoming debt-free. We budgeted. Our entertainment was inexpensive or free. We drove crappy cars.
And we did it together.
Today we make decisions together (and argue along the way sometimes) and once the decision is made - we’re in it together. Having everyone pull in one direction makes progress possible. Family behind you is the key ingredient to financial success.
June 28th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
This is such a great post! This is exactly how my husband and I take care of our finances and it’s made us a much peaceful couple.
July 1st, 2007 at 11:39 pm
[…] Family is Key to Personal Finance Success “I firmly believe family is the key to personal finance success. You can carefully plan your 401(k) allocation; you can be frugal all day long; you can pay down credit card debt. If your family isn’t behind your efforts and 100% onboard, you’ll be wasting your time.” […]
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:09 am
[…] Advanced Personal Finance: Family Is Key to Personal Finance Success […]
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:51 pm
It is important to get the whole family on the same page in regards to money. Although sometimes it can lead to some headache, because you have a vested interest in controlling the other person’s behavior, it’s definitely better in the long run. I’m guessing both of you combined your assets and accounts and run everything joint now?
All of the ‘lame’ financial advice that I read in ‘feel better about yourself’ magazines points to each person having a slush fund to spend with. Spouses need to realize that they are not ‘roommates’ and that, regardless of what accounts the money is, all of their money is joint because all of the responsibility is joint. Unless you are already planning your bailout from your marriage, you should be working to combine your finances. I know it can be done separately, but unless you’re two equally frugal people that both have sound investment strategy, someone will eventualy end up carrying the other person’s load, and that leads to resentment.
Lastly, reaching an equilibrium of compromise about your spending and saving strategies will enable you to educate your children about money. Kids will be lost and will be inclined to just go with peers or worse, advertisers, if their parents have different strategies about money (or discipline or anything else really).
July 2nd, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Awwwwwww, that’s when you know you have a good marriage, when both of you are on the same page and the communication is open. You just become stronger
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:35 am
I enjoyed your article. The idea of being a team together and saving something every month is simple but profound. Good to remember this!
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:07 am
Alternatively form a family of one. Then at least you know that everyone is onboard
July 4th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
[…] Family is the key to Personal finance success at Advanced Personal Finance - Ain’t this the truth! From your parents advise when you were young to the support of your better half. Family is truly a key to personal finance success. Without them, some things sometimes may fall apart!! […]