Money Is A Family Affair

If you are single and don't have kids this tip won't mean much
to you. For the rest of us that have others to consider when
making money decisions it just may make things a little easier.

I guess the best knock-down, drag-out fights my wife and I ever
had was about money. No, it never came to blows because she's
meaner than I am. Believe me you can have a lot of fights in
almost 39 years.

At some point we realized that it wasn't accomplishing anything.
We still didn't have any money but we never earned a nickel
fighting about it.

To get a handle on your finances it is going to take a team
effort. The whole family has to be working in the same direction.

My suggestion would be to sit down and talk your money situation
over with your spouse and the kids. It's important for everybody
in the family to know what is going on.

You may be surprised at what the kids will come up with.

When I bought my first house I made a miscalculation on how much
I would need to come up with for the down payment. When I
realized it we had maxed out our credit cards and wasn't sure
where we would get the rest of the money.

My wife and I discussed this with the kids and they offered to
baby-sit and mow lawns. They came up with enough to cover the
down payment. I'll never forget how proud that made them feel
and how proud we were of them.

All too often one person in the family is strapped with making
the money decisions. This is a great idea and the best way to
keep things organized but they shouldn't take all the blame when
something doesn't work out.

A family solves difficult problems everyday. Money is just one
of them.