Hi,


Yup, I'm 43 and if my wife died, I would be the father of two with a house and ABSOLUTLEY NO idea of how to handle the bills. I can remember all the numbers from our tax return because filling out the return was a fun puzzle/project. But I have no idea what my hourly wage is, what our mortgage is, what our bills are, or when they get paid. My wife will constantly tell me this stuff, but the numbers just don't stick. I guess that if there's no excitement associated with data, I'm not going to remember or take interest.

This year I commited to do what I ought to be doing instead of my usual fun impulsive stuff. The root of my problem is that I'm not wired to work with money/house stuff(too mundane). What made the problem worse is that I never worked at it. My wife always handled the bills and I let it go at that. I never aquired the knack/knowhow/experience of working with the money that I made.

So what am I doing to fix this? First I'm trying to develop the habit of not going right to the fun stuff. I made a commitment to myself that when there are times that I can get on the PC or spare time at home, I'm going to do what HAS to be done first. My usual mode was to let my excitement/enthusiasm determine my actions. NOw I am trying to make a list of what has to be done.

I think that the only way I'm going to be able to learn our finances is to actively work with the numbers. Once I get familiar with the numbers I have to learn the "art" of personal financing.

Any advice on what would help me out? I'm almost thinking that a Highschool financing book is what I need, or at least a basics book.

thanks,

al

Hey Al!

How about setting up something like a small program or Excel spreadsheet with worksheet calculations/macros -- and then constructing something like a balance sheet with 'In(s)' and 'Out(s)' ... with the In(s) including income, interest, dividends etc... and the Out(s) credit card repayment, bill direct debits, monthly money to savings.

That way ... maybe ... your computer could do the stuff that you don't like.

SB.

Have you ever watched Suze Orman on CNBC?

I set my interent banking up to pay everything down to the last cent automatically, so I never even have to worry about paying a bill...it took some effort, but was well worth it.
I set it to pay phone, rates , water etc weekly, and i find I am usually spot on and have to extras to pay out
(this is one area I have conquered!!)

alkoz,

I have never paid a bill in my 29 yrs of married life.

Please join with me in prayer.

God, please make sure me (especially ME) and alkoz die before our wives.

Amen

If I die before my wife, I have tons of insurance and she won't have to worry about half of the bills we have now. I haven't been watchin finance shows or reading anything yet because I think I'm below that level. Right now I'm still working on learning the simple stuff like: what bills do we have, how to keep track of them, how to get in the mode/mood to sit down and look this stuff over.


At least I've been saved by the boredom for a bit. We have a leak coming into our house and now i have to figure out where it's coming from.

al