Diamonds and Pearls

  Can a person really have it all? When I say “all”, I mean love, job, money, family, friends, and happiness. Absolutely not. One of those categories will be lacking at some point or another. Whether you have the perfect job and single, friends and family with no money, you get the picture.

Now before you go on saying that I am a pessimistic, I would like you to fully read this article and realize that I am instead a realist. Just telling it like it is.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to point out something to you first and foremost. Just because a person is rich, does not make them happy.  Think about it, a lot of these mega million lottery winners get stressed out dealing with all that money and can’t handle it. Some of these mega million stars have all kinds of depression too. Having money does not make a person immune to problems and it certainly doesn’t hold you tight at night.

Also, just because a person has friends and family does not mean that they could never feel lonely or unhappy. There’s a big difference between being alone and feeling alone. You could have twenty close friends that live within a ten mile radius, but if you feel lonely, that wouldn’t make a bit of difference. You can have all the loving people surrounding you in the world and still not be happy.

Or, what if you have the perfect job? You absolutely love your job and love what you’re doing. Wouldn’t everything else fall into place? Not necessarily. Even the perfect job has its perks and downfalls, but even so, that does not guarantee that you would be happy with every other aspect of your life (for example, your home life dulls in comparison to your work life).

I guess the bottom line is to find a happy medium. Do whatever makes you happy first, and then everything else might fall into place. That’s my challenge to you and to myself. Good luck!

Separate But Equal

  The top two reasons behind a couple’s divorce are money and infidelity. In regards to money, you have one or two people in the marriage who: a. don’t know how to handle money (spend beyond their means, gamble it away, don’t know how to balance a checkbook, etc.); or b. people who just don’t give a damn and just spend whatever they make (or don’t make). Debt is nothing to play with and not even remotely cute, because what happens is when you say “I do”, your debt becomes our debt.

What I’m hearing more and more when it comes to married couples is separate and joint bank accounts is the way to go. This seems ideal because each person has their own “play” money to do whatever you want, and then you have the joint account where you can pay bills together, pay the mortgage, plan vacations, have a rainy day fund, you get my drift. I blogged before on how important financial stability is, especially the way the economy is today. Nothing is guaranteed and you cannot take anything for granted. You must have a savings, checking, and a 401k/retirement account. Prepare yourself for the future, not just for the day or the week. And when you consider marriage, plan for your family. It won’t be about you anymore. I said it before and I will say it again, a person who spends before they make or spends more than they make is immature. Plan for the future and plan for the unexpected!

So what did you learn today… before getting into a committed relationship, consider what type of spender you are. Review the first paragraph, and if you are either a. or b., do yourself and your potential partner a favor and do not commit to a relationship. If you are a person committed to a person like this, be very careful and try not to end up as a statistic {close to fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce}.