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Becky Parker
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| Posted: April 18 2006 at 3:30pm | IP Logged
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I am very blessed to have a husband who is an accountant. He takes care of all the finances for our family. He pays the bills and, although we certainly discuss financial decisions I rely heavily on his wisdom. BUT, I'm feeling like I am being irresponsible by not being knowledgable about our family finances. Just so you understand, he does not in any way keep these things from me. I just don't ask, and when he has tried to explain things to me I probably look like a deer in headlights. I just don't get it. Any recommendations of a book or something about this sort of thing? I would love to surprise him by actually learning a little more and being able to discuss these things with him as an intelligent person. Any advice on this?
Becky
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stefoodie
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| Posted: April 18 2006 at 3:43pm | IP Logged
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I would love to hear (read) the answers to this one myself, even though our situation's a bit different. I know my way around money and we take turns every few years taking care of budgeting/recordkeeping/billpaying though hubby does most of it. BUT! Neither of us have really LEARNED *HOW* to invest. We save and invest, but we both don't really understand it all -- we've read a couple of books but I think we give up rather easily before we have a good grasp of the material, at least enough to be confident about what we're doing. And we think it's really hurting us, now and in the long run.
I do have an investing course that we want to study with our 15-yo this year, a whole year's course-work, free from the NEFE. We haven't started though.
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stef
mom to five
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JSchaaf
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| Posted: April 18 2006 at 4:12pm | IP Logged
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Would he be willing to sit with you and show you the family accounting system and then turn over the household finances to you for awhile? For me, the only way to learn something is to do it. My dh manages all the investments and we take turns paying the bills, etc. (We switch about every 4 months).
Jennifer
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Natalia
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| Posted: April 18 2006 at 7:27pm | IP Logged
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Becky,
I asked a similar question last year but can't find the thread. Anyhow somebody recommended The Catholic Answer Guide to Family Finances.
I found it very helpful because it was very basic. I have never taken interest in our finances but felt that I needed to. This book gave me a good start.
About investing, my dh has been reading Real Money by Jim Cramer. He has found it excellent.
HTH,
Natalia
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teachingmom
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| Posted: April 18 2006 at 11:38pm | IP Logged
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I loved the book The Wealthy Barber, on investing. It's excellent.
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~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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Jen L.
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| Posted: April 19 2006 at 12:09am | IP Logged
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Natalia wrote:
Becky,
I asked a similar question last year but can't find the thread. Anyhow somebody recommended The Catholic Answer Guide to Family Finances. |
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I found the thread: Finances, budget etc whose job is it at your house?
I have enjoyed reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.
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Jen
dh Klete,ds (8/95),dd (12/97), dd (11/00), and ^2^ in heaven
"...the best state in which to glorify God is our actual state; the best grace is that of the moment..." St. Peter Eymard
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: April 19 2006 at 5:37am | IP Logged
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Thanks for your replies everyone. I like your idea Jennifer because I am a hands on learner...but I'm a little intimidated to ask him to turn it over to me. I think I need some kind of information sheet. I'm thinking of a list of all the things I should know regarding our finances and then I can go and research then plug in the answers. Sounds really juvenille I know, but thats the level I feel I'm working at at this point. I will say we have a budget and I do a good job of sticking to it in "my areas" (that would be food and clothing purchases - we discuss other things as they come up). We only have one credit card which keeps things simple, and to further simplify, I have asked dh to just give me a check for the months food / clothing needs at the start of the month then I go and cash it and use that cash for the purchasing throughout the month. This is very simple for me, but as I said, I sort of feel like I need to be more responsible and knowledgable about the other parts of our financial situation.
I will admit, with much embarassment that this whole thing started when my mother asked me something about our phone bill. I didn't even know who our phone company was!! (I know, I know...hence my reason for this thread!) I will certainly look into the books mentioned above. We do have The Catholic Answer Guide to Family Finances, and I have started reading it.
Becky
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Topic: Family Finances
