.My Husband and I Are Worth $3.7 Million, But I’m Afraid I’ll Spend My Way Into The Poor House If He Dies. What Can I Do?

Published: Aug. 31, 2020 By Quentin Fottrell

Dear Moneyist, I am a 65-year-old woman married to a great guy for decades. We have no children.

He earns all the money and handles all our finances. During my entire life I have not been a good money manager. I love to spend money and have a head-in-the-sand approach to money problems. Before our marriage, I bounced checks often.

My fear is that I will outlive my husband, and then have no one to check my spending impulses. We owe less than $200,000 on our home, which is valued at over $2.5 million. We have another $1.2 million in retirement funds. He has a $1 million life-insurance policy.

.Beating Anxiety and Stress without Spending Money

Trent Hamm Jun 1, 2020 Founder of The Simple Dollar

Like a lot of people in the modern world, there is often a constant undercurrent of stress and anxiety in my life. I have a wife and three children still living at home, each of whom I try my best to be there for in a meaningful and focused way. I have a complex career. I have two parents that I love dearly that are older and in declining health. I have a lot of different community responsibilities and obligations.

All of that adds up to a lot of different things on my plate, and when you add to that the worries of the modern world, it can definitely add up to periods where I feel anxious and stressed out.

Of course, the modern world offers up a bunch of solutions to stress and anxiety, but you often end up paying for them. There are services you can pay for that will take some of the tasks off of your plate, from restaurants and take out services to laundry, maid and delivery services. There are endless entertainment options — that you have to pay for, of course — that will take you away from it all for a while. There are expensive hobbies with endless things to buy that can definitely pull your attention toward something more pleasant for a while.

Yet, in the end, those expensive services and products often exacerbate the problem, adding more financial stress to the equation than the other stresses that they take away. If I eat take out food all the time to save some time, it ends up devouring my money. If I throw my money into things designed to distract me for a while, I eventually come back to the same worry and stress and anxiety I had before, except with even more financial stress on my plate.

What’s the solution to all of this?

.My Partner and I Are Not Married Am I Entitled To Any Thing If We Split?

Published: Sept. 10, 2020 By Quentin Fottrell

Dear Moneyist, My partner and I have been together five years. We are not married. In that time he has been the primary, and often the sole, breadwinner.

When we met, he had several million dollars in investment accounts as well as a substantial salary ($400,000 to $800,000 a year, depending on bonuses). In that time, he paid off previous debt that I had incurred. We have lived a good life with lots of travel and many other luxuries.

At one point, he was offered a job in Europe and I left my new job in the U.S. to join him, a decision that left me unable to earn an income and continuing to depend on him for his money.

We share a couple of joint bank accounts, but the vast majority of his money is in accounts in his name only. I have never thought that money should be under both of our names, as it was money he had earned before we even met.

.Do I Need to Declare Bankruptcy?

By Charlotte Cowles

The Cut’s financial advice columnist Charlotte Cowles answers readers’ personal questions about personal finance. Email your money conundrums to mytwocents@nymag.com

Three years ago, I had a good job and a credit score of 750. Then I had to stop working for almost two years because of a death in my family. During that time, I put a lot of expenses on my credit cards, and I got so far behind on bills that my credit score has fallen to 450. I am now employed again (I hold a leadership position in education administration), although I’m making less than at my last job, about $85,000. I’ve also resumed saving, investing, and paying my bills on time. The problem is, I still owe about $17,000 spread across four credit cards.

Should I try and pay them off, or file for bankruptcy and try to settle? Or is it better to just pay the monthly minimums until I get my credit score up? My current household expenses are about $4,000 a month, including $2,350 on a mortgage, so I don’t have a lot of extra money. I also have student loans, which are currently in deferment.

.What’s the Plan?

Robin Powell | September 10, 2020

IF YOU ASKED everyday Americans to define a financial plan, chances are they’ll talk about investment strategy. And for many people who call themselves financial advisors, that’s what a financial plan amounts to.

But a real plan is so much more than that.

To be sure, investment strategy will form part of a financial plan. But a strategy that isn’t moored to each individual’s goals, risk tolerance, financial situation, family circumstances and values isn’t really a strategy at all. It is more likely just a product that’s being sold off the shelf.

A real financial plan—as drawn up and constantly reviewed by a good financial planner—is really a living and breathing creation that begins with each person’s goals and aspirations, and then works back from there. The goals determine the strategy, not vice versa.

.Is $10 Million Enough To Never Worry About Money Again?

Written by J.D. ROTH| Published: 02 December 2016 – Updated: 20 February 2020

When people send me email, they usually have very specific questions about their very specific circumstances. “What should I do about my ailing parents?” “Should I fund my kids' college first or put money aside for retirement?” “How should I save for a down payment?”

Recently, though, a Money Boss reader named Mark sent me a simple hypothetical question. Here's the entirety of his email: “If you had $10,000,000 (in cash) at the age of 60, would you say that you would never have to worry about money again?”

At first glance, there's not much to this question. All it requires is a basic “yes” or “no” answer. But I think there's a lot of depth beneath the surface here.

You see, I find that folks tend to fall into one of two camps: people who worry about money and people who don't. I'm generalizing, I know, and really there's more of a continuum than two binary opposites, but roughly speaking this tends to be true. Some people worry about money no matter how much they have. Others never worry, even if they have nothing.

.9 Lessons to Take From Millionaires Who Are Really Good With Money

By The Penny Hoarder Staff July 21, 2020

Life would be a whole lot easier if someone would just Venmo us $1 million, but unfortunately the chance of that happening is, well, probably zero. (Venmo doesn’t allow transactions that large anyway.)

But even though our chances of becoming a millionaire are slim, we can still manage our money like one. No, we’re not going to tell you how to buy hundreds of shares of Apple stock. Or how to pick out the perfect yacht.

These are simple money moves any normal, non-millionaire person can make today. Each tip can get you closer to achieving your big goals.

Save Like A Pessimist, Invest Like An Optimist

Sep 2, 2020 by Morgan Housel

In 1984 Jane Pauley interviewed 28-year-old Bill Gates. “Some people call you a genius,” Pauley said. “I know that might embarrass you but …” Gates deadpans. No emotion. No response.

“OK, I guess that doesn’t embarrass you,” Pauley says with an awkward laugh. Again, zero reaction from Gates.

Of course he was a genius. And he knew it.

Gates dropped out of college at 19 because he thought a computer should be on every desk in every home. You only do that when you have relentless confidence in your abilities. Paul Allen once wrote about the first time he met Bill:

You could tell three things about Bill Gates pretty quickly. He was really smart. He was really competitive; he wanted to show you how smart he was. And he was really, really persistent.

But there was another side of Bill Gates. It was almost paranoia, virtually the opposite of his unshakable confidence.