Chapter 7. MONEY MEETS MARRIAGE
On the face of it, Amy and Jared have it all: The monster home in the suburbs. A wine cellar stocked to the rafters. Vacations to far flung locales each summer. Who wouldn't envy them?
But behind closed doors, Amy and Jared's relationship is falling apart only two years after their wedding. Amy, who grew up in a financially secure household, is a saver and an investor. She not only uses terms like "annuity" and "zero-based budgeting," she knows what they mean. Jared's idea of long-term planning? Deciding what to do next Saturday night.
Amazingly, their starkly different money personalities barely registered with each other before they tied the knot. Amy loved that Jared was so fun, vibrant, and exciting. And if he threw around a bit of money? Well, that was his business, not hers. For his part, Amy's steady, quiet personality made Jared feel happy and safe.
Combining their incomes changed everything. Now Amy and Jared fight about money nearly every week. Jared thinks Amy needs to lighten up and spend her cash; she makes enough of it working as a contract lawyer. Meanwhile, Amy's sure Jared is going to sink them into a stack of bills they'll never be able to afford.
After one particularly brutal argument, they decide they need to get some help and hire a financial planner who specializes in family finance dynamics. The decision saves their marriage.
"Our attitudes about money are so incredibly different, but having an impartial third person there to help ...
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