Whether you keep all the receipts in a shoe box or use online banking, you should be clear about

M: Sharon Epperson joins us now, she’s a correspondent for CNBC, and author of the new book, The Big Payoff, eight steps couples can take to make the most of their money, and live richly ever after. Sharon, good morning.
W: Good morning.
M: Congratulations on the book as well.
W: Thank you.
M: We are gonna talk about things that couples and individuals can do to better their finances. One of the first things I know you like to talk about is a financial checkup.
W: Absolutely, the first step is that you have to get organized, and that’s what I start off within the eight steps in my book. You need to get organized and you need to figure out what money is coming in, and what money is going out. And a really easy way to get that started is if you do online banking, it’s all laid out there for you.
M: Yeah, I mean a lot of process is stuffed in a shoe box. But online banking, you can look not only at your checking account, but your credit cards as well. Right?
W: You can look at your checking account if you have online access to your credit card. That’s a great idea, too. You really want to keep track of the money that’s coming in and going out. If you have a shoe box for all receipts and that’s the way you do it, that’s fine. But the key is to make sure you know what you have.
M: Does it make it easier to track finances if you use debit cards and even credit cards for small purchases, I mean a lot of what we spend just comes right out of our pockets. And you don’t track it.
W: Absolutely will. If you can track it with a debit card or a credit card, that’s terrific, that’s a good way to keep yourself disciplined, so you know what you are spending.
M: I also want to talk about the accounts that the couples keep. And this can be a source of problems in marriages sometimes. Do you have a joint account, do you have separate accounts, do you have our account, you say all three.
W: Yours, mine and ours. It’s very important because you wanna have a joint account for household expenses of course. But there may be a major purchase that you wanna make that your spouse doesn’t. If you wanna have a monthly spa day, and your spouse wants to buy a boat, and neither of you wants the other one’s money for that. That may be a reason why you need to have separate accounts, so I think it’s a good idea to pool your money for household finances, but also have some savings of your own.
M: Then there’s also the importance of knowing your credit scores. As you know, you are in advertisements. So I guess we now get a free one every year. It’s a little scary to find out, but you need to know.
W: You can get a free one every year from each of the three credit-reporting agencies, It’s so critical to know your credit score, and not only to know your credit score and have a copy of your report, but to share it with your partner. So you both know what your credit is, and the amount of the debt that you haven’t paid yet.
M: All right, we were talking about this segment earlier, so this is a very unromantic notion. I tend to agree with you. You say couples should have a money date, talk finances.
W: It does not need to be an unromantic experience. It needs to be a relaxing experience, it’s something where you need to sit down and talk about your goals, and talk about what your short-term goals are, and your long-term goals. You wanna do it in a relaxing environment, have fun with it.
M: So without the pressure of talking about an immediate bill, kind of like, here’s what we are.
W: Exactly, don’t abruptly open the credit card statement, and you are already fuming. Take some time away, and sit and relax and talk about it calmly. And you may be surprised at what you are able to compromise and come together with when you are doing it in that way.
M: And lastly, in that story, you talk about getting a financial adviser. A lot of folks out there, who say they are financial advisers. What should you be looking for though? What really works?
W: Well, what really works is someone who’s been referred to probably, someone that you know has a good track record, and that you’ve already checked out maybe with a couple of friends. There are also a couple of websites that you can go to look for financial advisers in your area. Ah, but the key is that you wanna find someone that you really melt with. This is someone that you are going to devote a lot of personal information and you want to make sure that both of you are on the same page with that adviser.
M: Alright, well, Sharon Epperson, it’s good to have you stop by, thanks so much.
W: Good to be here.