The Big Payoff

The Big Payoff: 8 Steps Couples Can Take to Make the Most of Their Money--and Live Richly Ever After

Middle-class couples are working harder than ever. So why are they finding it more difficult to finance their homes, send their kids to college, and save toward retirement?

Couples who are strapped for time and weighed down by costly fixed expenses need more than a personal finance pep talk: They need a plan. In The Big Payoff, CNBC correspondent Sharon Epperson lays out a nuts-and-bolts program that couples of all ages can use to realize their financial dreams. From stretching your budget and investing wisely in your home to protecting your family's money and building wealth over the years, The Big Payoff offers a concise bounty of precious information and practical steps toward financial wellness.

Epperson begins by showing couples how to communicate better about money. She helps them realize that the same qualities needed to create a lasting relationship—understanding, compromise, and patience—are vital when it comes to building a secure financial future. Every important decision couples make, whether it's buying a home, having kids, changing jobs, or preparing for retirement, will inevitably involve a discussion about money, and Epperson teaches them how to handle finances with a cool hand while keeping the marriage vibrant and healthy. In addition, she empowers couples to take money matters into their own hands and shows them that by taking control of their finances, they can stop fretting about cash and start focusing on the important things in life.

Each of the following chapters is designed to get partners talking and thinking about their financial life together. In eight easy-to-understand steps, Epperson unpacks the various options for saving money; creating emergency, retirement, and college savings plans; investing in a home; choosing the right life and health insurance; and drafting an estate plan. A wife and mother of two herself, Epperson knows a thing or two about the pitfalls of financial planning and doses her advice with plenty of humorous anecdotes, hard-earned experience, and down-to-earth language. Additionally, through helpful worksheets and exercises, The Big Payoff helps readers customize a plan that will work best for them and reap the most payback.

It's never too late or too early to start, and now is the best time to start planning. Whether you are newlyweds or fast-approaching retirement, just starting a family or soon to be empty-nesters, this book is for you. After working hard to provide for your family, the reward of discovering your financial strength will be the peace of mind to enjoy your marriage, your family, and the rest of your lives together.

Hey kids! It's another MotherTalk blog tour!*

When John and I first met, neither of us were terrific with money. A previous relationship left him unable to have a checking account--she bounced a bunch of checks on their joint account and left him with the clean-up. And I had recently come to grips with a spending problem that sent me to a 12-step program. It was an interesting seven years waiting for his checking privileges to return. We paid cash and money order for everything. His troubles kept us from using checks and mine kept us from using credit!

Cut to the present. While we're not rich, we're in much, much better shape than we were 15 years ago. For instance, we have a checking account. Just this evening, in fact, as we contemplated our current money troubles--unemployment--we were both satisfied that despite all the setbacks we've experienced in our time together, we've gotten stronger financially. We don't have much, but what little we have we've managed well.

In a way we were lucky. When we met we had both just faced financial troubles and so had our "money cards" on the table. We learned to talk about money right from the start.

Most couples don't. And that's who "The Big Payoff" is for.

The most important chapter in the book is the the very first one, dealing with budgets. (I was taught in that 12-step program to think of a budget as a spending plan instead; if you have a negative connotation for the word "budget," try substituting that phrase for "budget.") If you can't start working within a budget, and if you can't bring yourself to talk about money, the rest of the book won't help you and in fact your marriage is very probably headed for trouble.

"A budget helps facilitate communication," says author Sharon Epperson, and John and I agree. Our first steps towards making a budget were actually rather silly. We'd sit on the front steps drinking coffee and talk about what we'd do if we won the lottery. Since we never bought tickets, it was moot! But it did teach us what we each thought was important, and what our dreams were.

Epperson's approach is more common-sense. She suggests talking about money before arguments break out about who's spending frivolously, perhaps in a monthly meeting. (At our house, we have "spread sheet time" about every two weeks, when we sit down and figure out what's coming in, what's going out, what's left over and what to do with it.) Learning the difference between your needs versus your wants, she says, is critical. This is where money leaks away from people, and that certainly was our experience.

Once you get past the budget, Epperson goes through retirement savings, college savings, real estate, health and disability insurance, life insurance and estate planning. Her advice on college savings is particularly good, broken down by income level with strategies for maximizing the amount of money you can put aside for higher ed.

There is nothing here, though, that will lead to either instant riches or instant happiness. It takes thought, planning and discipline to work through your finances, and it takes trust and openness in your marriage. Epperson doesn't offer an easy way out, but she does offer a thorough and entertaining guide through the forest.

For John and me, right now, there isn't much we could take away from it, though. We, like so many other families, are just barely scraping by, and it's not because we're drinking $10 in lattes a day or putting Disney World vacations on the Visa. We've worked hard to clear our debt and stay debt-free (one of Epperson's commandments--stay out of debt), and that's about as far as we've gotten. The in-depth advice, while not aimed at the rich, is for families with more income than we have.

If you and your spouse have a hard time talking about money, or if you've just never really thought about it that much, this is the book for you. If you are easily bored when the subject of finance arises, or if your partner is, this is the book for you. And if you've got a wedding present to buy for a young couple, you could do much worse by them than this book.

*What that means is, I got a free copy of the book and a $20 Amazon gift certificate for reviewing it, in full disclosure.

Technorati Tags: Books Managing Money money marriage budget saving economy