As I read an article advising people who are dating on how to introduce money as a topic for discussion, I kept thinking that all of the suggestions ignore one simple thing – using your own observation skills.  One can gather a lot of info well before you even have that first serious money talk. I mean, in the beginning of any dating relationship, it would be pretty hard to start talking about setting a money goal together – right?

Before you launch into a discussion about credit scores and debt loads, considering just observing how your new date interacts with money – from the first date.

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Our oldest daughter changed jobs this past December. I’ve been texting and emailing periodically to ask her if she has been able to enroll in her 401(k) plan yet. I did not want her to lose any time because I know time is money. She has contributed the max to her 401(k) from day one. But with a job change it’s possible to lose sight of the end game.

To work, compound savings needs seed money. Most companies – hers included – will incent you to save in your retirement plan by matching a percentage. That’s free money you will not get if you do not save and deposit money in your 401(k) plan.

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$179.17 a month. That is the exact amount of my monthly payment to pay off my student loan for law school. My husband took the payment in stride. I remember one small (slightly uncomfortable) discussion about how he did not have student loan debt. His loans had been from his parents, and they forgave them. Mine had been from the government.  They were not that fond of me. So we paid it all off – $179.17 a month – until it was done.

My student loan became just another one of the bills we paid after we got married. We took the “what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine” approach to money. In other words, we combined our accounts and went from there.

Today, there are financial planning considerations as you approach paying off student loans. Combined incomes may raise the amount you need to pay. But, filing as a married couple allows you to deduct the interest on the loan.

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On March 8, 2019, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that in February the whole economy generated just 20,000 new jobs.  That is far below January’s 311,000.  Is it a blip?  Or maybe the start of a new normal?

Maybe.  Maybe not.

“Rather than causing panic, these new numbers should be a reminder of both the extraordinary benefits of the recovery so far and the human cost if it falters,” notes The Economist in its recent March 14, 2019 column, “The benefits of America’s hot economy have been unevenly spread”.

Per The Economist, “wages for flipping burgers…are now so high that they are pulling people away from education”. 

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