2 April 2007
How NOT to do finance.
Well, despite my attempts to the contrary, I have become vested in the dang Final Four. But probably not like you would think.
The radio station I listen to in the mornings, Q100, had a call from a listener on Friday that really sounded almost too crazy to be true.
The caller was engaged and was planning to be married in September. She and her fiance had saved up $80,000 together, each about half, towards their coming wedding and down payment on their first house.
On Thursday, the caller learned from the fiance’s best friend’s wife that the fiance and the best friend had placed a $75,000 bet on UCLA, without telling his fiance.
This is where it gets fun: when she confronted him about the bet, he exhibited what I like to call a FLU: a Fundamental Lack of Understanding. His defense to her anger was, “don’t worry baby, UCLA is gonna win, I’m sure of it.” Though its plainly clear to me, the problem wasn’t the terms of the bet, it was the money he used, and the secrecy with which he placed it.
The radio station took a couple of calls, basically all saying the same thing: you need to break up with this guy, now, before you get married. One particularly insightful caller offered this tip up: half that money is yours, goto the bank TODAY and withdraw your half and deposit it at another bank.
So that was on Friday. Fast-forward to this morning. UCLA has lost.
They talk to the gal again this morning. She broke off their engagement, took out her half of the money, and mailed her engagement ring to him with a note saying, “pawn this if you want, you need the money more than I do.”
Man. This is one of those, “what the HELL was he thinking?!?” stories. The utter lack of concern and thoughtfulness involved is legendary. One of the DJ’s made the comment that this is the type of action that isn’t just a simple mistake, but more a revealing of his character. Better to happen now than before she got married.
So what have we learned? Well, every couple has a “magic number.” This magic number is the amount of $’s you can spend without consulting with the other person. I imagine it’s as low as $5 for some couples and as high as several thousand for others. $75,000 is probably alittle on the high end for most anyone.
For more reading on topics like these, I highly recommend Make Love, Not Debt. It’s a blog written by a couple that focuses on relational finance, and it’s good stuff.
