Friday, March 11, 2011

Money: Keep Track of Your Finances, Even If You're Not in Charge of Them

I don't care how in love you are. Or just recently married. Or rock-sure about your relationship.

I don't know why we keep needing to learn this lesson generation after generation, but we do.

Ladies, learn everything about your financial situation, down to the last penny. Where is your money? How is it coming in and going out?

Not convinced? Read this cautionary tale from San Diego journalist Eilene Zimmerman in Salon. And then go balance your books.

1 comment:

Kathlyn said...

What is really shocking about this story is that the publications she was writing for allowed her to write about business when she had no financial education. Much "business" and "finance" writing is written by people who have no idea what they are writing about, so it behooves us to take very good care when looking for advice.

That goes for "money professionals" as well - money managers, brokers, etc. All of us do well to remember that these people make money when you buy and sell things, not when you make money, so educate yourself and make your own decisions, never let someone else make them for you.

The really sad thing, to me, is that the fundamentals of this stuff can be understood by a gradeschooler. It's not hard. Even the so-called "complicated financial instruments" are not complicated, they are just different packages of three basic financial products - cash, debt and equity.

The author of the article says that it might sounds silly that her ability to navigate her finances would give her confidence to do other things - that's probably the least silly, and the most important, true and real thing she has ever written as a business writer. Finance is at the root of everything and having control over yours gives you control over your life and the ability to make all your decisions for yourself. If that's not enough to give someone confidence, I don't know what is.