It's book club time again! I hope you read Your Money and Your Man so you can join the discussion. It was a pretty easy read, but no competition for Harry Potter. So, I’m not the biggest fan of non-fiction, but this book came highly recommended, so I made an exception. I think it will need to be a while before I read non-fiction again. I liked the approach, but I didn’t feel like I had some great insights while reading the book. I also don’t think I’m any better prepared for retirement. I thought the advice for women before getting married was good, but it’s too late for me. I’m also not sure that I agree that multiple accounts correlate to a lack of trust.
I also had what I consider a funny experience with the advice. I was reading O magazine’s Suze Ormann column right after finishing the book. Suze recommends having three accounts: one joint and one each individual (with additional savings, investment, etc.). The book recommends only one account. Although I appreciate both points of view, I think that ultimately you have to figure out what works for you. I don’t think you have to read much into either decision. It’s just that different things work for different people.
I would highly recommend the book to someone just starting on their career as there is good basic advice about starting investments, but otherwise, I was underwhelmed. I guess I was looking for more depth. Though, I guess the book helped in that as well. I now know that I should talk to a financial planner and get serious about my investments.
What did you think?
5 comments:
I didn't read the book because I was away (lame excuse). What is the book for August?
I liked the book. I am in a different financial (aka relationship) place than Lucy Van Pelt so I found the first part helpful. I also thought it was just what it was ~a really nice financial pep rally. It did make me think and isn't that what non fiction is supposed to do?
My library hasn't had either of the books so far (hopefully the next two) but I picked this up at a bookstore for a few minutes and decided that a lot of these things took having money in the first place to really be relevant. When we got married we had no money and we each tried really hard to make at least $400/mo. to cover the bills. Now that we have more money, we really already have the basics figured out as a couple, so it's not like "your money, my money." I can see why marriage at a more "established" place in your career would be harder.
That's what I got from the 10 pages or so I got through. For what it's worth :)
I think you pretty much got the gist of it. The only other thing that might be good advice for you is that your DH should have life insurance since you have kids. Other than that, you got the important (or rather, not so important) parts.
I followed your advice and started the book at Chapter 13. Just today I finished Part II.
I actually gleaned more from the book than you might have. I found some really good pointers in the Credit chapter, but a lot of it was common sense. It still was nice to have laid out, though, in an easy way to read.
I bet you felt so-so about the book because you already do much of what she suggests. Some of my friends and siblings, though, would probably gain a lot of insight from reading her book. They tend to be the type who spend, spend, spend ... but I am not sure there is a cure for that. If there is my brother would love to have it for his wife :) !!
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