Last night, my husband brought up a good point about e-Harmony and I thought of the Bachelor and Bachelorette series.

Why don’t either the service or the show ask about the #1 thing that ruins marriages?

MONEY

Instead of Jimmy Kimmel being silly in the hot tub with an aspiring couple, how about Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey?

My husband:
(“I shutter at the thought of Dave Ramsey in a hot tub.” )

Either money mogul could ask these questions:

1. “You get a $3,000 tax refund, what do you do?”

A. Go to Disneyland!

B. Save it!

C. Adjust my W4

D. Is that a real Speedo?

2. “You get an annual bonus at work but it varies, how do budget for it, boyfriend?”

A. Not include it as regular income and earmark it for debt

B. Go to the pool design store and demand a Griswold special

C. Open a “secret” savings account for that bass boat I’ve been eyeing at Gander Mountain…

D. Ask Ms Orman why she doesn’t have thousands of $ of tats to go with her bikini

3. “You drive around neighborhoods on a Saturday and fall in love with a house that would be 50% of your take-home pay, what do you do, girlfriend?”

A. Sell everything and borrow money from family, so we can buy our dream house; kids and dogs need a yard!

B. Get an 80/20 loan where you have 2 mortgages, one for the down payment, one for the house.

C. Take a photo, put it on Instagram and meme “pretty” or “dream’ and drive back to your apartment

D. “If I get sent home tonight, will they show my Louis V luggage on camera?”

4. “You get a phonecall from your spouse they they are ‘down at the Corvette dealership’ and ‘already have all the paperwork done for you if you would just stop by to sign.’  What do you, Skippy?”

A. Have a hillbilly fight involving pans

B. Say “Let’s talk about this at home.”

C. Think “Cool! We’ll be part of the Corvette Club and look rich and meet rich people!”

D. So, an 84 month lease is a baaad idea?….

You may laugh, but these examples are quite real and did happen.

Personal finance is about behaviour. If you put 2 “children” together, you will have financial ruin. If you have a parent-child like marriage, you will always have the “child”  throwing a tantrum and the other always feeling like the bad guy and afraid of the other one. Both are recipe for disaster and divorce.

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