Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction
Part 1: Get Your Relationship Ready for Financial Harmony
1. This Is My Story and Im Sticking to It
A Story of Financial Discord
2. A Stiff Dose of Reality
Money and Marriage
3. Marriage Is like a Dirt Road
Money and the Stages of Marriage
4. The Currency of Life
Why Money Is Hard for Couples
5. News Flash: You Are Different
His Needs Are Not Her Needs
6. For Wives Only
Real Men Dont Ask for Directions
7. For Husbands Only
You Can Have What You Want
8. Getting It Together
Honey, Lets Talk about Our Relationship
9. Debt-Proof Living
An Overview
10. Till Debt Do Us Part
The Trouble with Debt
11. You Are Here
Discovering Your Worth
12. Getting Where You Want to Be
The Basic Elements of Your Financial Plan
13. A Life-Changing Formula
The 80 Percent Solution
14. Knowledge Is a Powerful Thing
The Spending Record
15. You Want Security? Ill Show You Security!
The Contingency Fund
16. You Want Freedom? Ill Show You Freedom!
The Freedom Account
17. You Can Get Out of Debt
The Rapid Debt-Repayment Plan
18. Telling Your Money Where to Go
The Spending Plan
Part 3: Unique Solutions for Common Dilemmas
19. Finding Money You Didnt Know You Had
Forty Ways to Live below Your Means
20. Credit: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
Credit Cards, Credit Reports, Credit Scores, and Credit Repair
How to Pay Off Your Mortgage Early
22. How to Stay on Track with a Roller-Coaster Income
The Thrill and the Agony of Self-Employment
23. What to Do When Youve Fallen and You Cant Get Up
Credit Counseling and Debt Negotiation
24. A Call to Faithfulness
An Eternal Perspective on Wealth
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
About the Author
Other Books by Mary Hunt
Back Ads
Back Cover
Introduction
I magine how dull and boring our lives would be without harmony. Quilts would be pieced from the same fabric. The rainbow would be a series of seven red stripes. The a cappella group Take 6 would be reduced to Take 1, and you and your spouse would have exactly the same personality, temperament, and taste. Yawn. Harmony blends colors into the rainbow, creates the visual warmth of a quilt, combines the tones of the scale, and weaves the differences between a husband and wife into a satisfying and intimate relationship.
If you have money issues in your marriagebig troubles, small problems, or something in betweenthis book will help you bring harmony to that most challenging part of your marriage. However, I am not going to force you into a one-size-fits-all budget or even tell you how to spend your money.
What I will do is teach you everything I know about how to get out of debt. Im going to tell you how to step away from the edge of fear and panic, how to live beneath your means, and how to prepare for the future. Youve probably tried several times to manage your money and discovered it is not easy. You may have read books, purchased software, attended seminars, or enrolled in a program at your church or in your community. Your attempts may have worked in the beginning, but then, like you do after a failed diet, you went back to the old ways and experienced the equivalent of gaining back all the weight you lost, plus some.
Information alone cannot change your financial situation. Thats because in a marriage, money is not simply about money. If it were, you could pick up any basic financial information and have no trouble following it. Nonmoney decisions, like what color to paint the bedroom or when to mow the lawn, are what I characterize as surface matters. Easily resolved. But money issues? Whoa, baby! Thats a completely different story because matters of money are deeply emotional and affect us in ways we may not even be aware of. Money-related issues in a marriage are not surface matters.
Before you can develop financial harmony in your marriage, you and your spouse need a deep emotional connection. Length of marriage has absolutely nothing to do with whether you can connect at this level. The best word I know to describe this connection is intimacy , and Im not talking about sex.
The kind of intimacy that is a precondition for the development of financial harmony in your marriage has nothing to do with sex or physical attraction. It has everything to do with respect and trust. It is that safe place where the two of you are free to be who you are without pretending, without being ashamed, and without fear of rejection. Emotional intimacy is the secret ingredient you need to develop financial harmony in your marriage.
Have you ever wondered why two couples can face the same life-challenging situationunemployment, health problems, bankruptcy, or even the loss of a childand one couple comes through the ordeal stronger and more devoted than ever, while the other marriage crumbles under the strain? I believe it has to do with the intimacy I just described. Intimacy is the insurance for all the stages of marriage and the promise of safe passage through the storms of life. Without that deep connection between spouses, just about anything can set them up for discord and financial disaster.
If you are discouraged because youre sure your spouse is not interested in reading this book or even talking about its contents, dont worry. The only person necessary to begin to move your relationship toward a place of intimacy and financial harmony is you. You can begin to make a significant change in your marriage, and if necessary, you can do it single-handedly.