Cold Hard Facts About Money and Marriage

By Neal@Wealth Pilgrim on Nov 3, 2008 in Money and Marriage

It’s critical for you to understand the cold hard facts about money and marriage.

If you want to save your money and marriage, financial balance is crucial.

If you want to see an illustration of that idea, consider my friend Jim.

I’ve never seen a person more upset.

His multi-million dollar business, his baby, was dying. He worked hard for 23 years and grew his business from scratch. He gave up so much. He was his business.

It was dying now and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Even though he would still be left with a net worth exceeding $15 million, the death of his business incapacitated him completely.  Worse, he was about to lose his money and marriage.

He couldn’t stop thinking about it. Even though he had no prior history of compulsive behavior, he became a recluse. He refused to leave his home. He wouldn’t eat or bathe.

The Cold Hard Facts About Money and Marriage

Eventually, Jim’s family had to put him into an institution. The money he had left was no good to him because the money he lost was much more powerful.

While Jim is an extreme example, he isn’t the only person bananas over the buck. According to a Pew Research Center poll (10-18-06 to 11-9-06) 60 million Americans worry about money most of the time. These people are smitten with money misery. In fact, only 15% of us are satisfied with our financial situation.

In 25 years helping people make smart decisions about money, I’ve come to two conclusions.

First, there are many simple things that people can do to make their financial lives much better.

Second, there are some things we can’t change. People often resist both realities to their own great detriment.

This blog is meant to help readers both improve their financial situation drastically and come to terms with that part of their financial life that probably won’t change.

I hope to help people understand how personal finance works in down to earth language that makes sense.

At the same time, I will offer ideas that have helped others stop worrying about things they have no control over.

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  1. 2 Comment(s)

  2. By MoneyEnergy on Jun 23, 2009 | Reply

    Yes, it’s easy to be critical “from the outside” and be amazed that this man couldn’t reorientate and just be satisfied that he had reached financial independence, etc. But one has to consider that the business obviously wasn’t just about the money to him, but it was his passion, and therefore much of his identity. I can see how hard that would be to let go of. I hope he’s doing alright now.

  3. By Neal on Jun 23, 2009 | Reply

    You are right and yours is an excellent point. The business became his identity…a dangerous transformation.

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