Well, whaddya know. I didn't realize how long it had been since I wrote in this blog. Time to revive it, especially consider the ups and downs of the stock market of late!
To update: my freelance writing business is still going, albeit with a smaller projected income than I anticipated at the beginning of the year. So far I'm looking at a 2008 before-tax income of -- drum roll, please -- about $7,000, if all goes well.
I know, I know, who can live on that? Apparently there was a time (the 1960's and before) when a writer could somehow put body and soul together on earnings from writing, including column and feature writing, along with the occasional book review, but no more. Although I've written probably 125+ pieces this year -- a mix of advertorials, features and press releases -- as you can see it's not nearly enough to live on. Still, I suppose it's not bad for a first-time, full-time freelancer.
However, as I'm also in my mid-thirties looking at the "certain age" of forty not too far off into the distance, I've made the decision to -- one more drum roll, please -- go back to school and pursue a business degree, specifically an MBA. I know, I know, what's a creative writer doing with a biz degree? Well, I suppose the name of this blog should give you a hint that while my right brain remains busy with its artistic activities, my left brain isn't exactly idle. I've worked in business for a few years and was pretty good at it, if I may say so myself.
More importantly, as the pragmatic, thirtysomething Asian that I am, I'm at the point where the whole starving-artist routine has gotten very, very old. I'd love to be able to pursue a career without having to worry about money concerns hampering my creative output. So far, as I study for the GMAT (the Graduate Management Admissions Test, the biz school equivalent of the LSAT, the MCAT or -- for general college admissions -- the SAT), I'm finding that I actually enjoy the quantitative sections far more than I did in college a million years ago. Maybe I can do this after all.
More updates soon!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Magazine Swap
As a freelance writer, I need all the access to magazines and other publications that I can get. One of my favorite weekend pastimes (and thank God my husband enjoys doing this as well) is to sit in the cafe of my local Barnes & Noble or Borders and flip through a half dozen or so magazines, reading the content, studying the layout and advertising, and generally just trying to glean as much info as I can about the editorial slant of each publication so that I can increase my chances of getting an article accepted.
Of course, there are times when I just have to have a particular magazine, usually because I think I stand a good chance of writing something they'll want to actually publish and thus need at least one issue as a reference point. Occasionally I'll get lucky and find archives of previously published articles online (Pink magazine is a good example), but for the most part, the publishers are a pretty stingy lot and prefer to have readers pay for every single word of their mag. Of course, with an actual hard copy of a magazine, you also get the photographs, the advertisers, the general "look" of a publication -- something that you couldn't get in an online archive anyway, and which an aspiring contributor will need in order to be able to discern that magazine's unique "voice."
I do subscribe to a few magazines that I've found to be useful in my writing and blogging endeavors, specifically Pink, Victoria, Writer's Digest, Poets & Writers, Allure, and Geek Monthly. As part of my Media Bistro membership, I've also been getting Wired and The New Yorker, although those are set to expire very soon, and I don't intend to renew. I'm also thinking of adding Filipinas and The Writer to my slate of subscriptions, but I'm waiting till after B. and I move to a new place before I pull the trigger on those. Yes, I realize that magazines can be very expensive, especially when you have a public library just a couple of miles away.
However, my public library -- God bless it -- is sadly lacking in most of the publications I'm interested in. They do have Writer's Digest, Poets & Writers and The Writer; however, as a writer myself, I think that every working and/or aspiring writer needs to actually own those publications. They're excellent reference materials you'll likely refer to again and again, not just for information but for inspiration as well. (Poets & Writers is especially good for the latter.) Pink, Victoria and Geek Monthly are not among the magazines offered at my library. Pink is an excellent pub for ambitious careerwomen, especially those who own their own business, as it carries lots of great articles on everything from recommended business books to profiles on successful women (from Tyra Banks to Mellody Hobson of Ariel Capital Management). Victoria is a great reference for a blog I have on French-inspired living, and I refer to it often for blog posting ideas as well as home decor and beauty. Geek Monthly is just bloody funny, and any magazine that has Tina Fey on the cover has my vote as a publication of choice. Allure is available at my public library; however, again, it's an excellent source for my blog on French-inspired living, and I use it often as it's packed with useful articles on everything from beauty and fashion to diet and time management, all of which have given me plenty of fodder for blog posts.
For everything else, though, I rely on my weekly trips to the local bookstores as well as my frequent forays to my public library's Magazine Swap.
For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of these in your own library, a magazine swap is basically a shelf or bookcase or even just box in which people throw in magazines that they're no longer interested in reading or keeping. They can then either take other magazines out of the box that others have donated and which they may want to read, or just leave their own for others to pick through and select. Our library's magazine swap is an entire display case, often filled with hundreds of magazines. I've found current issues of Allure, Marie Claire, Forbes, Working Mother, Popular Science, even Essence (in a town with a pathetic lack of African-Americans among its population). I've picked up dozens of copies of Flying and Flight Training for B. (who is currently studying for his pilot's license), many of them of very recent vintage.
Popular donated titles include AARP, Better Homes & Gardens, Cottage Living, Food & Wine, Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, and lots of Golf. I've also found More, Cosmopolitan, People, US Weekly, OK!, Fortune, Money, Smart Money, National Geographic, Runner's World, Self, Fitness, and even a whole stack of current-year Writer's Digest. I usually try and visit at least twice a week (I work one day a week at the local library, so that helps), and I always find at least a half-dozen magazines to take home. Once I'm done flipping through them and getting the info that I want, I normally return them to the swap and start over again.
This is a great way to not only recycle your magazines (which many would ordinarily just toss anyway, given their relative heft), but to share them with your community. I'm all for supporting the printed word (and thus the companies who make a living off of it), but if you have a bunch of magazines lying around your house that are just taking up space, why not donate them to your library's magazine swap and give it a new life in someone else's hands?
If your town library doesn't have a magazine swap, as if they would start one. Chances are, they'll welcome the chance to engage more with their patrons. Ask the head librarian if you could bring in a box of magazines to jump-start the project. It could simply be a table near the public seating area with a Magazine Swap sign, or even just a box. I'm willing to bet that once word gets around, you'll find that you'll soon need a bigger space to accommodate all the magazines coming in, after which the library can consider getting a bigger display case for it. It benefits everyone, of course, as not only will community members be able to recycle their magazines and share with their neighbors, but the library will benefit from the increase in foot traffic. In addition, it highlights one of the core principles of the public library's mission, that of being the central repository of knowledge and printed materials in the community.
Of course, there are times when I just have to have a particular magazine, usually because I think I stand a good chance of writing something they'll want to actually publish and thus need at least one issue as a reference point. Occasionally I'll get lucky and find archives of previously published articles online (Pink magazine is a good example), but for the most part, the publishers are a pretty stingy lot and prefer to have readers pay for every single word of their mag. Of course, with an actual hard copy of a magazine, you also get the photographs, the advertisers, the general "look" of a publication -- something that you couldn't get in an online archive anyway, and which an aspiring contributor will need in order to be able to discern that magazine's unique "voice."
I do subscribe to a few magazines that I've found to be useful in my writing and blogging endeavors, specifically Pink, Victoria, Writer's Digest, Poets & Writers, Allure, and Geek Monthly. As part of my Media Bistro membership, I've also been getting Wired and The New Yorker, although those are set to expire very soon, and I don't intend to renew. I'm also thinking of adding Filipinas and The Writer to my slate of subscriptions, but I'm waiting till after B. and I move to a new place before I pull the trigger on those. Yes, I realize that magazines can be very expensive, especially when you have a public library just a couple of miles away.
However, my public library -- God bless it -- is sadly lacking in most of the publications I'm interested in. They do have Writer's Digest, Poets & Writers and The Writer; however, as a writer myself, I think that every working and/or aspiring writer needs to actually own those publications. They're excellent reference materials you'll likely refer to again and again, not just for information but for inspiration as well. (Poets & Writers is especially good for the latter.) Pink, Victoria and Geek Monthly are not among the magazines offered at my library. Pink is an excellent pub for ambitious careerwomen, especially those who own their own business, as it carries lots of great articles on everything from recommended business books to profiles on successful women (from Tyra Banks to Mellody Hobson of Ariel Capital Management). Victoria is a great reference for a blog I have on French-inspired living, and I refer to it often for blog posting ideas as well as home decor and beauty. Geek Monthly is just bloody funny, and any magazine that has Tina Fey on the cover has my vote as a publication of choice. Allure is available at my public library; however, again, it's an excellent source for my blog on French-inspired living, and I use it often as it's packed with useful articles on everything from beauty and fashion to diet and time management, all of which have given me plenty of fodder for blog posts.
For everything else, though, I rely on my weekly trips to the local bookstores as well as my frequent forays to my public library's Magazine Swap.
For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of these in your own library, a magazine swap is basically a shelf or bookcase or even just box in which people throw in magazines that they're no longer interested in reading or keeping. They can then either take other magazines out of the box that others have donated and which they may want to read, or just leave their own for others to pick through and select. Our library's magazine swap is an entire display case, often filled with hundreds of magazines. I've found current issues of Allure, Marie Claire, Forbes, Working Mother, Popular Science, even Essence (in a town with a pathetic lack of African-Americans among its population). I've picked up dozens of copies of Flying and Flight Training for B. (who is currently studying for his pilot's license), many of them of very recent vintage.
Popular donated titles include AARP, Better Homes & Gardens, Cottage Living, Food & Wine, Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, and lots of Golf. I've also found More, Cosmopolitan, People, US Weekly, OK!, Fortune, Money, Smart Money, National Geographic, Runner's World, Self, Fitness, and even a whole stack of current-year Writer's Digest. I usually try and visit at least twice a week (I work one day a week at the local library, so that helps), and I always find at least a half-dozen magazines to take home. Once I'm done flipping through them and getting the info that I want, I normally return them to the swap and start over again.
This is a great way to not only recycle your magazines (which many would ordinarily just toss anyway, given their relative heft), but to share them with your community. I'm all for supporting the printed word (and thus the companies who make a living off of it), but if you have a bunch of magazines lying around your house that are just taking up space, why not donate them to your library's magazine swap and give it a new life in someone else's hands?
If your town library doesn't have a magazine swap, as if they would start one. Chances are, they'll welcome the chance to engage more with their patrons. Ask the head librarian if you could bring in a box of magazines to jump-start the project. It could simply be a table near the public seating area with a Magazine Swap sign, or even just a box. I'm willing to bet that once word gets around, you'll find that you'll soon need a bigger space to accommodate all the magazines coming in, after which the library can consider getting a bigger display case for it. It benefits everyone, of course, as not only will community members be able to recycle their magazines and share with their neighbors, but the library will benefit from the increase in foot traffic. In addition, it highlights one of the core principles of the public library's mission, that of being the central repository of knowledge and printed materials in the community.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Free Office Productivity Software
Is there anyone out there who isn't at least aware of OpenOffice? If so, prepare to be dazzled.
Microsoft's Office Suite has dominated the desktop office software program field for, uhm, ever. The problem for frugal business owners or home office users, of course, is that the suite can run you anywhere from $150 to $450 or more, depending on the programs you need to do your job. You could try and buy a secondhand license off of eBay or -- hush hush -- get someone to burn an illegal copy for you, but if you wanted a brand new, off-the-shelf copy with a legitimate license ('cause you know there's no way in hell that -- if it ever came to it -- you could ever go up against Microsoft's legal machine), you had no choice but to swallow your resentment against the big boys in Redmond and head over to Best Buy and add more charges to your credit card.
Well, folks, have no fear, OpenOffice is here, and trust me: Microsoft is afraid.
To put it simply, OpenOffice is based on the open-source code movement that's been building for decades and has recently made plenty of headway, what with the growing popularity of the Linux operating system, itself the ultimate open-source program. OpenOffice itself has come a long way from its origins as a small, relatively unknown suite of programs known as StarOffice by Sun Microsystems (Sun continues to support StarOffice separately while contributing to OpenOffice's development). Now, it's a powerful, complete suite of office productivity software, bundled into an easy-to-download package directly from the OpenOffice site...absolutely free.
OpenOffice consists of the following software programs:
Writer -- the equivalent of Microsoft Word, it offers full word processing features, including mail merges, templates, a built-in dictionary and thesaurus, diagrams and tables. It can be used for basic desktop publishing as well. The best part, however, is that you can transform any document you create into a PDF file with just a click of the mouse, so that you can send memos, invoices, etc., as PDF's to your sender, who can then open it using any PDF program (including Adobe).
Calc -- the equivalent of Microsoft Excel. Full spreadsheet features.
Impress -- the equivalent of Microsoft PowerPoint. Full presentation program.
Draw -- there isn't really a Microsoft equivalent to this, at least not if you're looking at just Microsoft Office. It does, however, provide an excellent graphics manipulation program.
Base -- a database program similar to Microsoft Access. Works seamlessly with the other programs in OpenOffice.
Math -- there isn't really a Microsoft Office equivalent to this, OpenOffice's program for mathematical equations. Works well with other OpenOffice programs, including Writer.
I've only really extensively used Writer and Calc, but so far, I've been super-happy with the program. It's very stable (unlike Word, for example, which has a tendency to freeze now and then and force you to reboot your entire computer) and has extensive support documentation. In addition, OpenOffice's worldwide network of volunteer developers continue to tweak the programs, so that you can expect even better versions in the future. At the moment, though, if you're looking for a very reliable, free alternative to Microsoft Office, you need to check out OpenOffice.
Other things to think about:
With such a powerful office suite, there's no reason to fork over several hundred dollars for Microsoft Office or any other commercial office software product. OpenOffice has become so ubiquitous that entire government agencies around the world have adopted it as their official software program, including the Singapore Ministry of Defence, the Supreme Court of India, and several agencies within the French national government. As of late 2007, OpenOffice.org announced that its software program has been downloaded 98 million times.
Microsoft's Office Suite has dominated the desktop office software program field for, uhm, ever. The problem for frugal business owners or home office users, of course, is that the suite can run you anywhere from $150 to $450 or more, depending on the programs you need to do your job. You could try and buy a secondhand license off of eBay or -- hush hush -- get someone to burn an illegal copy for you, but if you wanted a brand new, off-the-shelf copy with a legitimate license ('cause you know there's no way in hell that -- if it ever came to it -- you could ever go up against Microsoft's legal machine), you had no choice but to swallow your resentment against the big boys in Redmond and head over to Best Buy and add more charges to your credit card.
Well, folks, have no fear, OpenOffice is here, and trust me: Microsoft is afraid.
To put it simply, OpenOffice is based on the open-source code movement that's been building for decades and has recently made plenty of headway, what with the growing popularity of the Linux operating system, itself the ultimate open-source program. OpenOffice itself has come a long way from its origins as a small, relatively unknown suite of programs known as StarOffice by Sun Microsystems (Sun continues to support StarOffice separately while contributing to OpenOffice's development). Now, it's a powerful, complete suite of office productivity software, bundled into an easy-to-download package directly from the OpenOffice site...absolutely free.
OpenOffice consists of the following software programs:
Writer -- the equivalent of Microsoft Word, it offers full word processing features, including mail merges, templates, a built-in dictionary and thesaurus, diagrams and tables. It can be used for basic desktop publishing as well. The best part, however, is that you can transform any document you create into a PDF file with just a click of the mouse, so that you can send memos, invoices, etc., as PDF's to your sender, who can then open it using any PDF program (including Adobe).
Calc -- the equivalent of Microsoft Excel. Full spreadsheet features.
Impress -- the equivalent of Microsoft PowerPoint. Full presentation program.
Draw -- there isn't really a Microsoft equivalent to this, at least not if you're looking at just Microsoft Office. It does, however, provide an excellent graphics manipulation program.
Base -- a database program similar to Microsoft Access. Works seamlessly with the other programs in OpenOffice.
Math -- there isn't really a Microsoft Office equivalent to this, OpenOffice's program for mathematical equations. Works well with other OpenOffice programs, including Writer.
I've only really extensively used Writer and Calc, but so far, I've been super-happy with the program. It's very stable (unlike Word, for example, which has a tendency to freeze now and then and force you to reboot your entire computer) and has extensive support documentation. In addition, OpenOffice's worldwide network of volunteer developers continue to tweak the programs, so that you can expect even better versions in the future. At the moment, though, if you're looking for a very reliable, free alternative to Microsoft Office, you need to check out OpenOffice.
Other things to think about:
- Most of the programs allow you to save in a Microsoft-friendly equivalent for those times when you need to share documents with colleagues or friends who insist on remaining with that company's software for some reason. For example, you can save a Writer document as a .doc, which would allow you to open it up easily in MS Word. Ordinarily, it would save as an .odt, or Open Document Text, which has become the international standard for open document formats.
- Downloading is easy and so is using the program. In fact, if you're already comfortable with Microsoft Office, you might be surprised at just how similar the two are in terms of interface.
- One downside, however, is that opening one of the programs can take a few seconds. I'm not sure why, although I understand that OpenOffice's developers are working on this issue so that the next version will open much more quickly.
- If you're the kind of person who just has to have technical support at the end of a telephone line whenever you want it, you will not like OpenOffice. As with most open source software, there's no single company behind this program. There is a nonprofit that organizes and releases the software online, but because most of the efforts behind the development and release of OpenOffice is has been voluntary, there's no Bangalore-based technical support department waiting for your desperate call for help. Instead, the OpenOffice Web site offers an enormous database of support documents; lively community forums full of eager open-source enthusiasts who are more than happy to help newbies and advanced users alike navigate their way through any issues they may have with the software; tutorials; Web-based training; and a comprehensive FAQ wiki. In addition, there are lists of books and even consultants you can check out if you want more information or just really need that real, live body to talk to.
With such a powerful office suite, there's no reason to fork over several hundred dollars for Microsoft Office or any other commercial office software product. OpenOffice has become so ubiquitous that entire government agencies around the world have adopted it as their official software program, including the Singapore Ministry of Defence, the Supreme Court of India, and several agencies within the French national government. As of late 2007, OpenOffice.org announced that its software program has been downloaded 98 million times.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Two People and Their Money
Lazy Man posted an interesting dilemma on his blog about an impending wedding of a friend in Spain and whether or not he and his wife should attend. It then sparked a long discussion among commenters about whether or not one should combine accounts with one's spouse.
B. and I have a melange of accounts. We have one joint account (which was originally my own checking account) from where we pay bills and pull money for household expenses. We also have a joint ING savings account that's pretty close to zero at the moment. B. still maintains a Bank of America account he's had since long before we married, as well as a very dormant credit union account he opened back when we still lived in Dallas, just in case we ever needed their low-interest mortgage services. We each have our own credit cards -- he has one Citibank Visa and a dormant, zero-balance Best Buy card. I have a MasterCard with a $4500 balance at 5.9%, a zero-balance Visa card that I keep open only because it's the oldest card I have and therefore will come in handy when we do need solid credit for a mortgage, and a zero-balance retail card I used once and which I really need to remember to close. (B. is an Additional Cardholder on the MasterCard, but we don't use it anymore, as we are in the process of paying down the balance to zero.)
We also plan to open yet another separate checking account for B. sometime next week. There is no Bank of America in our neck of the woods, which would make it difficult for him to access the account. He'll use it mainly to pay for his flying lessons, which he'll begin tomorrow. (He's already completed ground school.) At about $150 an hour for both instruction and plane rental, I want him to keep track of his own expenses so that I don't have to worry about it when I budget for our household.
It's a complicated system in some ways, but it works for us, and I think that's a point a lot of people miss when they judge the financial decisions of other couples. A few commenters were adamant that married couples should always combine their accounts, that doing otherwise would signify a lack of trust in one's partner, and that one must now question one's commitment to the marriage if one even so much as considers the possibility of separate accounts.
The problem, however, is that when you start making one-size-fits-all templates like that, you don't take into consideration the very real fact that each married couple is nothing else like another married couple. Finances aside, just as in individuals, the family unit operates on its own terms and has its own unique dynamics and strengths as well as weaknesses, and a very strong and trusting marriage will take each person into consideration when making decisions of any kind, whether they're about finances or work or play or parenting. Regardless of the final decision, it should be one made based on trust in the other person and in the marriage.
American culture, however, romanticizes marriage and love to such an unrealistic extent that anything that smacks of the individual is immediately seen as a threat to the family unit. If a couple chooses to sleep in separate beds for whatever reason (the husband snores loudly enough to wake the dead, the wife has a bad back and needs all the space in the bed, or they simply enjoy sleeping alone), their marriage falls immediately under suspicion. Never mind that the couple themselves is quite happy with the arrangement and wouldn't dream of changing it for the sake of some stupid tradition. No one can quite believe that a happily married couple could possibly thrive on such an unusual arrangement.
And yet, more often than not, they do.
Same goes with finances. Time and again, money advisors and personal finance counselors hammer the idea that as long as it works for the couple in question, a system of separate accounts can be just as valid a decision as that of joint accounts. B. and I attended premarital counseling and were happy to discover that most of the things she wanted us to discuss -- children, faith, housing, careers, parenting, and money -- were things we'd been talking about all along. Communication is such a huge part of our relationship, and because we made a commitment to be open and honest with each other, our financial system works for us.
As Lazy Man pointed out in the comments to his own post, the decision to combine or keep separate accounts involves a lot of personal issues, many of which probably has little to do with the other person. Family history, personal financial issues, etc., can all come into play when it comes to money, and even more so when one chooses to merge one's life with another. In any committed relationship, one person should never discount the feelings and background of the other. If your significant other feels very strongly about keeping a separate account because of the way his mother and father handled their own finances, you shouldn't judge him because of your own prejudices about the issue. You yourself have been influenced by your family, faith, education, and myriad other institutions, and it would be disrespectful to deny your S/O the right to his own opinion and level of comfort.
Marriage is both too delicate an institution to try and shove into any generic template, as well as too strong to collapse in the face of individual choices. A marriage is made of two individuals, each with his/her own baggage, and a really committed, open relationship will be able to handle the challenges of each. If you choose to combine your accounts into one and feel that that will simplify your life, so be it. If you choose to maintain separate accounts and divvy up expenses using a system based on income, it's your choice. Or if you choose a hybrid of the two that involves a joint household account to pay bills as well as individual accounts for one's own expenses, that's okay too. The key is to find the system that works for the both of you and keeps your home running smoothly. Anything else would be a recipe for financial and marital disaster.
B. and I have a melange of accounts. We have one joint account (which was originally my own checking account) from where we pay bills and pull money for household expenses. We also have a joint ING savings account that's pretty close to zero at the moment. B. still maintains a Bank of America account he's had since long before we married, as well as a very dormant credit union account he opened back when we still lived in Dallas, just in case we ever needed their low-interest mortgage services. We each have our own credit cards -- he has one Citibank Visa and a dormant, zero-balance Best Buy card. I have a MasterCard with a $4500 balance at 5.9%, a zero-balance Visa card that I keep open only because it's the oldest card I have and therefore will come in handy when we do need solid credit for a mortgage, and a zero-balance retail card I used once and which I really need to remember to close. (B. is an Additional Cardholder on the MasterCard, but we don't use it anymore, as we are in the process of paying down the balance to zero.)
We also plan to open yet another separate checking account for B. sometime next week. There is no Bank of America in our neck of the woods, which would make it difficult for him to access the account. He'll use it mainly to pay for his flying lessons, which he'll begin tomorrow. (He's already completed ground school.) At about $150 an hour for both instruction and plane rental, I want him to keep track of his own expenses so that I don't have to worry about it when I budget for our household.
It's a complicated system in some ways, but it works for us, and I think that's a point a lot of people miss when they judge the financial decisions of other couples. A few commenters were adamant that married couples should always combine their accounts, that doing otherwise would signify a lack of trust in one's partner, and that one must now question one's commitment to the marriage if one even so much as considers the possibility of separate accounts.
The problem, however, is that when you start making one-size-fits-all templates like that, you don't take into consideration the very real fact that each married couple is nothing else like another married couple. Finances aside, just as in individuals, the family unit operates on its own terms and has its own unique dynamics and strengths as well as weaknesses, and a very strong and trusting marriage will take each person into consideration when making decisions of any kind, whether they're about finances or work or play or parenting. Regardless of the final decision, it should be one made based on trust in the other person and in the marriage.
American culture, however, romanticizes marriage and love to such an unrealistic extent that anything that smacks of the individual is immediately seen as a threat to the family unit. If a couple chooses to sleep in separate beds for whatever reason (the husband snores loudly enough to wake the dead, the wife has a bad back and needs all the space in the bed, or they simply enjoy sleeping alone), their marriage falls immediately under suspicion. Never mind that the couple themselves is quite happy with the arrangement and wouldn't dream of changing it for the sake of some stupid tradition. No one can quite believe that a happily married couple could possibly thrive on such an unusual arrangement.
And yet, more often than not, they do.
Same goes with finances. Time and again, money advisors and personal finance counselors hammer the idea that as long as it works for the couple in question, a system of separate accounts can be just as valid a decision as that of joint accounts. B. and I attended premarital counseling and were happy to discover that most of the things she wanted us to discuss -- children, faith, housing, careers, parenting, and money -- were things we'd been talking about all along. Communication is such a huge part of our relationship, and because we made a commitment to be open and honest with each other, our financial system works for us.
As Lazy Man pointed out in the comments to his own post, the decision to combine or keep separate accounts involves a lot of personal issues, many of which probably has little to do with the other person. Family history, personal financial issues, etc., can all come into play when it comes to money, and even more so when one chooses to merge one's life with another. In any committed relationship, one person should never discount the feelings and background of the other. If your significant other feels very strongly about keeping a separate account because of the way his mother and father handled their own finances, you shouldn't judge him because of your own prejudices about the issue. You yourself have been influenced by your family, faith, education, and myriad other institutions, and it would be disrespectful to deny your S/O the right to his own opinion and level of comfort.
Marriage is both too delicate an institution to try and shove into any generic template, as well as too strong to collapse in the face of individual choices. A marriage is made of two individuals, each with his/her own baggage, and a really committed, open relationship will be able to handle the challenges of each. If you choose to combine your accounts into one and feel that that will simplify your life, so be it. If you choose to maintain separate accounts and divvy up expenses using a system based on income, it's your choice. Or if you choose a hybrid of the two that involves a joint household account to pay bills as well as individual accounts for one's own expenses, that's okay too. The key is to find the system that works for the both of you and keeps your home running smoothly. Anything else would be a recipe for financial and marital disaster.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Greetings!
Obviously, there are a ton of personal finance blogs on the Web, more than I could possibly ever read (although that doesn't stop me from adding as many as I can to my handy-dandy Google Reader). Why start another one?
I personally feel that while there are plenty of blogs and sites out in the Internether, there will be very few that meet the needs of everyone in the planet, much less that of the United States. I'm a thirtysomething freelance journalist/writer/aspiring novelist; a first-generation Filipino-American; a happy wife; a passionate feminist; a fashionista with a penchant for fancy designer handbags; and generally an all-around nice person. Some PF blogs appeal to me, others leave me cold. I'm fascinated by the stock market but don't really have the patience to plow through intricate books and Web tutorials to learn more about how to play there. I am generally frugal but could use the motivation to keep me on the straight and narrow path to a debt-free existence. I also serve as the Chief Financial Officer in my little household of two and am eager to learn more about how to achieve wealth on a decidedly middle-class income.
There will likely be few (if any) who read this and will relate to any part of my identity. However, one thing we all probably have in common is that we all wish to achieve a debt-free, prosperous yet frugal, and happy existence. I began this blog in the hopes that it will serve as a very useful tool towards making that happen.
Did I mention that we have a lot of debt? B. (my super-gorgeous husband) is in the medical field and has a very good salary, but we also accumulated a lot of debt during the time he went back to school to get his second degree (his first was in History) and I worked full-time to support the two of us. I didn't earn a lot, and I must admit, my then-not-so-frugal mindset didn't help either. We finished off 2006 (the year B. graduated) with nearly $16,000 in debt on three credit cards: Best Buy (about $800), a Wells Fargo Financial Bank Visa (about $5,000), and a Fidelity Investments MasterCard (about $10,000).
B. got a job here in our current city (we moved here from Dallas), so we moved in the fall of 2006. Soon after, I took a full-time administrative job and immediately poured nearly all of my earnings into paying off our credit card debt. Within nine months, we'd cut the debt to about $6,000. I then dialled down my job to focus exclusively on my writing (features, columns, essays, all for the local paper and various magazines and newspapers around the country and on the Web). I'd started working on my first novel as well as on a play and wanted to devote as much time as possible to it. I now work one day a week at my employer and spend the rest of my time writing, researching, blogging, and taking care of the household.
We still, however, have about $4500 in debt left. However, with careful money management and better adherence to our New Frugality mindset, we hope to have all of that paid off by the end of the summer, after which time we can accelerate our savings to buy our first home.
Whew! Okay, that's a lot to swallow in the first post. But I did want to at least provide a better picture of where we are so that I can establish a baseline for achieving our goals and also introduce myself to whoever out there is interested in reading the opinion of yet another personal finance blogger!
I don't claim to be an expert, nor do I think I'll ever be. But I do want to achieve wealth and prosperity someday, and as a writer, I'm a big believer in the power of words -- both reading them and writing them -- to help us in achieving our goals. If nothing else, this blog will at least hold me accountable for my actions, as I now face the possibility that I will be living my financial life for the world to see.
M.
I personally feel that while there are plenty of blogs and sites out in the Internether, there will be very few that meet the needs of everyone in the planet, much less that of the United States. I'm a thirtysomething freelance journalist/writer/aspiring novelist; a first-generation Filipino-American; a happy wife; a passionate feminist; a fashionista with a penchant for fancy designer handbags; and generally an all-around nice person. Some PF blogs appeal to me, others leave me cold. I'm fascinated by the stock market but don't really have the patience to plow through intricate books and Web tutorials to learn more about how to play there. I am generally frugal but could use the motivation to keep me on the straight and narrow path to a debt-free existence. I also serve as the Chief Financial Officer in my little household of two and am eager to learn more about how to achieve wealth on a decidedly middle-class income.
There will likely be few (if any) who read this and will relate to any part of my identity. However, one thing we all probably have in common is that we all wish to achieve a debt-free, prosperous yet frugal, and happy existence. I began this blog in the hopes that it will serve as a very useful tool towards making that happen.
Did I mention that we have a lot of debt? B. (my super-gorgeous husband) is in the medical field and has a very good salary, but we also accumulated a lot of debt during the time he went back to school to get his second degree (his first was in History) and I worked full-time to support the two of us. I didn't earn a lot, and I must admit, my then-not-so-frugal mindset didn't help either. We finished off 2006 (the year B. graduated) with nearly $16,000 in debt on three credit cards: Best Buy (about $800), a Wells Fargo Financial Bank Visa (about $5,000), and a Fidelity Investments MasterCard (about $10,000).
B. got a job here in our current city (we moved here from Dallas), so we moved in the fall of 2006. Soon after, I took a full-time administrative job and immediately poured nearly all of my earnings into paying off our credit card debt. Within nine months, we'd cut the debt to about $6,000. I then dialled down my job to focus exclusively on my writing (features, columns, essays, all for the local paper and various magazines and newspapers around the country and on the Web). I'd started working on my first novel as well as on a play and wanted to devote as much time as possible to it. I now work one day a week at my employer and spend the rest of my time writing, researching, blogging, and taking care of the household.
We still, however, have about $4500 in debt left. However, with careful money management and better adherence to our New Frugality mindset, we hope to have all of that paid off by the end of the summer, after which time we can accelerate our savings to buy our first home.
Whew! Okay, that's a lot to swallow in the first post. But I did want to at least provide a better picture of where we are so that I can establish a baseline for achieving our goals and also introduce myself to whoever out there is interested in reading the opinion of yet another personal finance blogger!
I don't claim to be an expert, nor do I think I'll ever be. But I do want to achieve wealth and prosperity someday, and as a writer, I'm a big believer in the power of words -- both reading them and writing them -- to help us in achieving our goals. If nothing else, this blog will at least hold me accountable for my actions, as I now face the possibility that I will be living my financial life for the world to see.
M.
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