Customer Reviews

For Richer, Not Poorer - The Money Book for Couples

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I can not emphisize enough how this book significantly impacted my marriage and my life. My husband and I had seen marriage councelors and therapists and the arguing about money, and building resentment never really went away. By chance I happened to see an article in a local paper's bridal section about money problems in marriage. It recommended this book-which I had never heard of before. I am totally amazed that all of the trained psychologists didn't have the insight that this woman has. She takes you and your partner, step by step, through chapters with questions for both partner to answer on their own and then recommends scheduled times for meeting to discuss the answers. She gives specific guidelines and rules to keep it short and respectful of both partners. The program methodically goes through a series of questions alongside actual dialogue of several case study couples struggling with different money issues. I saw bits of my husband and I in each of the couples arguments. I saw the blaming that had them stuck, and the familiar roles of one being the "responsible" one and one being the "spend thrift"...and then I learned how and why the blame was paralyzing them and ME! My husband and I are learning through this book how we are each responsible for the quality of our marriage, and our marriage's money life. This book is full of practical steps to awareness and change. I literally feel it was an answer to a prayer.

This book offers detailed direction for couples to set up and follow through on money management. Many books offer a quip here or there to account for two checkbooks. This author takes you through step by step. The truth is that many households have two wage earners or at least two money handlers. Coordinating spending is difficult. I have read numerous books on this topic and this one stands out to me.
This review would have been 5 stars if more detail had been given regarding the dual income impact of online payments, automatic billing, reimbursable business expenses, etc. However, I have not found a book yet that adequately addresses these.

At first I was put off by the main title of this book. However, I soon realized that the title of the book wasn't talking about becoming richer materialistically as much as it is talking about your relationship!

The book starts at the real beginnings-- Your beginnings, to reflect on how you look at and value money. Then your partner and you REALLY begin to communicate about the deeper issues which have made the mere money issues break down before. Only after all of the emotions are understood do you begin to really budget in Chapter 7, and the introduction is small so as to get used to the system first. Then you get into the real meat of it quickly and finally things just start working!

I've read many budget books before, but by far this was the best one for couples.

From what I heard on Sound Money, I thought this would be just what I was looking for - a book that would give me information on filing jointly, wills and survivorship, joint accounts, examples of how other couples had chosen to manage joint finances, information on shared insurance, shared assets, combined debt, prenups, investment, and other essential things that make the money part of couple-money different from single-money.

Instead, I found that it was a relationship counseling book that presumes that your relationship is already suffering and that you fight constantly about money. The steps recommended are preachy and geared toward people who live a heavily unexamined life and have poor communication skills.

If all you are seeking is practical advice on how managing your finances will need to change as you go from single to partnered, this book is about as far from what you need as you can get. If your relationship is about to fall apart and money is the central issue about which you fight, it might be of some help.

This book was a big disappointment for me. It uses a cash only system to get you back on track, which does not work for most people like me. I cannot pay everything with cash. It is a good system if you can pay everything with cash-as it really shows where your money goes-but I dont like carrying around large amounts of cash in my purse when I have to buy groceries, drug store items and discount store things, which you usually cant get out without spending close to a hundred dollars. Especially purchasing food. It does have some good information on clear communication between couples, but used wording that sounds like a psychologist talking and uses names that both parties would have to read the book for the other to understand. My husband did not read it before me and when I told him some of the things that were in it he was unfamiliar with the terms that are used and found only in this book. I bought it because I saw high ratings-stars-but was very disappointed. Not for me. If you can do a cash only system for several months, it may be good for you. Overall I think it would not be useful for the average person. You'd have to carry around about $300 cash, if you shop at a few stores at once to save on errands. Too bad, sounded good. Would have given it only one star, but parts of it may be good for some people.

My husband and I had tried for years to get a handle on our money life. We had some successes, but everything we tried never seemed to get us where we wanted to be. We felt stuck. One day as we struggled through a particularly exhausting money planning session my husband recommended we give this book a try. He had taken a class with Ruth Haydn once a long time ago and had often talked about the good things she had taught him. So we got the book and began methodically going through each chapter week after week. I am not at all exaggerating when I say that it completely transformed our approach to money and positively impacted our relationship. If you are reading this, I don't have to tell you how stressful it is to figure out money as a couple. This book helped us get to a place we were not able to get to on our own. We addressed core things in how we interact with money - both individually and together. We uncovered our deepest beliefs about money,identified our values, and used all that foundational work to then move onto the practicalities of budgeting and managing our money in a way that will help us achieve our goals and live our values. As a direct result of the work we did with this book, we have been able to change our behaviors with our money and how we interact with one another about spending, earning, planning, and making sure both our needs are met. I can not say enough good things.

There is only one minor complaint. Because this was written before the widespread advent of online banking, automatic withdrawals, bill pay, etc., the logistics piece is definitely dated and we had to do a bit improvising to make it match the way money flows in and out of our lives now. I would love to see her do an update to this that has more current advice on the practicalities of money management, including things like online banking, direct deposit, etc. The examples were really outdated and we had to make up a lot for ourselves toward the end of the book where you start putting your money system in place. The most important stuff, however, is timeless, and I highly, highly, highly recommend this for any couple who is trying to get a handle on how to manage money together.

An amazing book, that brings a breath of fresh air to the table. This book does not talk about quick fixes, how to spend your money, or where to invest. It does however help you find a new, fair way to talk and make plans with your significant other about your money, goals and finances. A must read for any couple at the end of their wits.