#MoneyMasterClass Recap–Week 23
Transitions
It’s a new month! And that means a new topic. June will be focused on all of life’s transitions.
Relationships and Money
“Partnering = coming together to share a life. Partnering ≠ giving up financial responsibility.” — Gail Vaz-Oxlade
Gail emphasized the importance of having financial conversations this week. I learned this lesson the hard way in the past. Everyone will have a different history with money and that doesn’t mean it’s bad, but certainly is something worth talking through.
Joint Accounts
A couple points about joint accounts came up this week, including how the joint account reports on a credit score only for the first signee of the account.
The Cost of Having Kids
Some of the main points so far this month on having kids:
1. Kids are expensive
2. Don’t treat your kids like an accessory and go into debt keeping up appearances
3. You will have to give up certain spending habits to adjust to your new life with kids
Planning for Life With Kids
“Do NOT dip into your RRSP for the money. If you haven’t planned well for your present, that’s not an excuse to decimate your future.” — Gail Vaz-Oxlade
Budget Tools
A couple of budgeting tools came up in conversation this week.
The first was Mint, which has been around for years. My hesitation to ever trying Mint was the personal information required. As Gail mentions, you may not be protected by your bank if Mint is hacked and your information is stolen.
The other tool suggested was the Goobudget app. I have no personal experience with this app, but I do like the concept of having virtual envelopes set up that can sync with others in your household. Here’s the link if you want to check it out: Goodbudget
Future Topics
Gail mentioned in a tweet this week that credit scores are based on your profitability than how well you pay your bill every month. She also let us know we’ll learn more later this year.
Have you been making any changes in how you talk about or use money with your partner or kids after starting the Money Master Class?
New to the Money Master Class? There’s still time to get started!
Check out this Twitter Archive to see all of Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s #MoneyMasterClass tweets from the start.
Find the resources, spreadsheets, and quizzes here: Money Master Class
Check out my weekly recaps to get caught up.
Start here with the Money Master Class Intro and Week One Recap
Check out Gail Vaz Oxlade’s books here:*
Money Rules
Debt Free Forever
CEO of Everything
Money Smart Kids
6 Comments
A in Texas
I have two nieces that I reached out to this last week about Gail & this ongoing learning experience. They are in their twenties and living with SO. They are both states away from mom & dad during this pandemic. I shared the partnering advice Gail gave as I truly don’t wish to have money become a wedge in their relationship like it did mine. My ex and I never talked about how we value money or what priorities we had for it. It makes me cringe now to see how dumb about relationships I was at 26. I wish my parents would have asked us if we discussed money before partnering, it would have been helpful. I also like the advice Gail gave about babies and not making them an accessory and falling for having brands or the latest. I didn’t have those things or brands but I sure did wish I had one of those roadster pedal cars for my toddler.
A Sustainably Simple Life
That’s awesome you took the initiative to contact your nieces. I wish someone had done that with me as well as there was no financial conversations in my marriage. Would have been so helpful! Were your nieces receptive to the idea? Money conversations can feel daunting if there isn’t a familliar place to start.
A in Texas
Since it was just text messages, I hope they took it as less threatening than a phone call. I put the text to both of them. The younger one, whom I’m really concerned about, replied first and mentioned that she’s doing ok with her SO and that she has discussed priorities with him. The older one said that she and SO don’t fight about money, so don’t worry. Short answer and probably not wanting me to discuss money. I did put it out there- Gail’s full name and that I was learning from Gail’s Twitter account so if they wanted to check it out, they could. I also mentioned that last month was all about renting vs buying. I know they both want to buy someday and that’s why they left the Bay Area to live out of state with their SOs who left before them.
It’s funny, the other day, my young adult son, who lives with me, and I were talking money and I mentioned I want to use multiple savings accounts for the various accounts– to me & my personality– dividing the accounts up & putting the amounts in them is easier to see than just one account where I keep track of the deposits and what is for which on paper or computer at home. He then said something almost identical to what his dad would tell me when he would try to take money from account A to pay bill B since account B didn’t have enough money in it- we had one savings account where he kept an excel spreadsheet of all the funds broken down for their purpose. I had a hearty laugh. He asked what was so funny. I said, we just think differently and that’s ok, but I will handle my money my way.
Thank you for answering my questions about the 500 pieces.
A Sustainably Simple Life
So important to find what works for you with finances! I like to use multiple accounts for different things too, but know some people who love spreadsheets. And hopefully your nieces will take a look at Gail’s teachings. I try and tell anyone who will listen about Gail as she’s helped me so much! 🙂
A in Texas
Oh I forgot to ask– Has she mentioned what we are supposed to use the 500 pieces for yet??? Did I miss that? Or do you think that’s in the future? Obviously it wasn’t for the debt paper chains or leaves on the debt tree.
A Sustainably Simple Life
No mention of the 500 pieces yet 🙂