Category: Family & Relationships

Learn how to talk with your loved ones about money and deal with family financial issues

Family & Relationships, More, Retirement

Why Future Shock Is So Scary and What You Can Do About It

Back in 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote a best-selling book entitled “Future Shock”. The book is about our present. But that present was based in a world of 1970 and the author’s theories on what our future would be like.

Future shock is what happens when we're overwhelmed by change. That can be scary, but there is something you can do about it...plan ahead!

Future shock is about what happens to those who are overwhelmed by change. Change affects our products, communities, organizations, and even our patterns of friendship and love. Fifty plus years later, we are still experiencing future shock and we are no better off at dealing with it today, so long after Tolliver first coined that phrase. That’s because our future is very scary. It always has been, and it always will be. But why is that?

Continue reading“Why Future Shock Is So Scary and What You Can Do About It”
Debt, Family & Relationships

Will Relationship Debt Destroy You as a Couple?

I was just discussing with my wife how these days we have planning resources for just about everything in life. We have health plans, retirement plans, wedding planners, and estate planning. You can plan a vacation with experts and plan where to go to college with sage advice when you need it. But despite the fact that we have marriage counseling and credit counseling available, they always come after the problems arise. And for unmarried couples, well, it may not even exist. “Couple planning” is left to the couples themselves and it can be a huge task to get it right. If there’s relationship debt, it gets even more complicated.

Relationship debt puts a serious strain on married and cohabiting couples. Here's how couples can plan to avoid big debt.

Debt can quickly and easily become a source of contention between a couple. That’s why it’s important to deal with relationship debt proactively, before it becomes a destructive force.

Continue reading“Will Relationship Debt Destroy You as a Couple?”
Credit, Family & Relationships, Food, Home, More, Personal Finance

How 10 Productive Minutes Can Change Your World

Please note this post contains affiliate links which help to fund this blog at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Sometimes you need to just stop your work and take a deep breath. Like when you have a problem that’s pretty serious. It could be a job problem or it could be a family problem. It could be a money problem or a health problem, or any combination of these that are causing you to just stress out and feel like nothing is going right. That’s why taking a deep breath and taking even just a few minutes out can really help boost your productivity. How about taking ten minutes?

Ten minutes isn't much time, but by spending them wisely, you can leverage them into a more productive day. Try some of these ideas to jumpstart your life.

Ten minutes isn’t really a very long time. It’s less time than it takes to play a quarter in a pro football game. You can listen to 2½ songs on the radio in 10 minutes. It’s even less time than it takes you to read your daily e-mails. In other words, it’s just a few minutes, but oh how great it is to have such an opportunity to increase your productivity, save money, build relationships, and move forward in that brief time period. And most importantly, feel better!

Continue reading“How 10 Productive Minutes Can Change Your World”
Family & Relationships, Personal Finance

Estate Planning: Planning Now Can Go a Long Way

Please note this post contains affiliate links which help to fund this blog at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!

2020 might go down in history as the year of canceled and changed plans, but it is over and 2021 is here. We are all hoping that the new year will resemble normalcy soon. Kicking off 2021 with a few simple money management plans is a great way to start that and turn over a new leaf. Now is the time to get organized, so first up, let’s focus on a few easy estate planning strategies.

While many of us put it off, estate planning is a critical component of your personal finances. Here's how to get started.

What Is an Estate?

In the simplest terms, an estate is everything you own—money and assets, including your home and your car—at the time of your death. When you decide—in advance and in writing—who will get your assets and money, that’s estate planning.

Continue reading“Estate Planning: Planning Now Can Go a Long Way”
Family & Relationships, Income & Career

Parenting Dilemma: Work and Childcare or Stay at Home

One of the biggest issues facing families right now (and we have a laundry list of issues, don’t we?) is the question they face about work and childcare. Even under normal conditions not involving a pandemic and whether or not your kids have a school they can actually get up and go to each day, the decision to be a stay-at-home parent or to find work and supplement your family income isn’t an easy one to make. But right now, the stay at home or daycare decision is a real dilemma!

Making the parenting decision between work and childcare or staying at home isn't easy. Here's a look at the financial side.

Who Watches Your Child If They Can’t Go to a School?

If you have a choice, what choice will you make? For the moment, your choices may be very limited. Do you have a job to return to or you can find? Is your child’s school offering on-site instruction or virtual classrooms? For how long will your life decisions remain in effect because of the pandemic?

Continue reading“Parenting Dilemma: Work and Childcare or Stay at Home”
Family & Relationships

Dating and the Single Person: How to Save Money

Please note this post contains affiliate links which help to fund this blog at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!

They say that money makes the world go ’round. They also say that love makes the world go ’round. Perhaps it’s a bit of both. When you’re single and in dating mode, sometimes it seems like you don’t have enough of either. But don’t despair…I made it through some rough single times, and I’ll bet you can, too. It’s just a matter of knowing how to manage your money, and your expectations, while dating.

When you're single and dating, it can be difficult to meet the right person, and even more difficult to save money while doing it.

Money can be a very contentious issue when you’re working on finding or being in a relationship, and it can also be one of the main causes for a relationship breakup too. It happens when there are real disparities that the parties have in their money attitudes. Ask people like me who have been through a divorce and you will probably get an earful about it.
Continue reading“Dating and the Single Person: How to Save Money”

Family & Relationships, More, Personal Finance

The Legal Documents That Are More Important Than Ever

The struggle with the spread of COVID-19 has many of us re-thinking whether we have all the right emergency legal documents we really need in place. No matter if you live in a coronavirus hotspot or don’t know anyone with COVID-19, there are certain documents you need to have on hand and understand how these legal documents can help protect you. Sometimes we choose not to think about those things, but during a pandemic we have to look at them, even when it may be scary to do it.

In case of emergencies, there are certain legal documents you need to have in order to protect you and your family, especially during a pandemic.

Managing important documents, especially emergency medical documents, isn’t any fun but it is important. It can and will help you and your family with essential healthcare decisions. Those decisions are especially difficult during an unexpected illness or accident so being prepared is just good personal finance management 101. Here’s what you need right now to protect you and your family!

Continue reading“The Legal Documents That Are More Important Than Ever”
Family & Relationships

How and Why Money Problems Can Destroy a Relationship

Money is something that everyone has to have, at least some of it. But the problem with money, or the lack of it, is a serious one. It’s bad enough when you yourself are dealing with a money problem, but it’s even worse when it involves you and someone else. When money problems arise between you and a significant other, money problems can destroy your relationship!

Understanding how money problems in a relationship form will help you to avoid those issues. Here are suggestions to balance your relationship and money.

Are You and Your Partner Fighting About Money?

Is money something you and your partner argue about all the time? It’s often a very common issue in relationships to have extremely different opinions about money. Why? Where does that come from?

Continue reading“How and Why Money Problems Can Destroy a Relationship”