Merino Mindset
Practical Views on Money and Life
"Some people are worth melting for." - Olaf, Frozen
So you’re in love. That’s enough, right? Well, it’s definitely the best foundation for a successful marriage. But money issues can quickly tear apart the strongest of relationships. Data from TD Ameritrade in 2018 showed that 41% of divorced Gen-Xers reported money disagreements as the top reason for their divorce. If you find someone worth melting for, being upfront and deliberate about financial decisions may literally save your marriage.
An interesting question caught my attention during a recent economic outlook presentation I attended: “Is the stock market grounded in reality? Or are we seeing irrational exuberance?” Whoa. I hadn’t asked myself these questions as succinctly, but this posed a good question.
Is the stock market currently grounded in reality? Is it ever grounded in reality?
Where were you 10 years ago? I was in my 20s, living on the North Side of Chicago renting an apartment with a roommate, and newly dating my now-husband. I loved my job as a Financial Advisor, but I wouldn’t say things were really clicking and I definitely wasn’t making what I’m worth. My finances weren’t terrible, but they weren’t the best. Despite these setbacks, I was loving life. Being a 20-something in a city like Chicago can be pretty great.
My husband and I were married on April 16, 2014, in Los Angeles, California, where same-sex marriage was legal. A little over one year later, on June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, legalized it in all fifty states, and required states to honor out-of-state same-sex marriage licenses.
I recently came across a study by Benjamin Artz, Amanda Goodall, and Andrew J. Oswald that concluded that women actually are asking for raises as often as men, but their requests are treated differently. This led me to another interesting study by Andreas Leibbrandt and John A. List that found that men and women had similar negotiation behaviors when job descriptions specifically noted that the wages were negotiable. If it was not mentioned, then the men in the study were more likely to negotiate than the women.
Our theme was “What is Financial Planning?” We realized that Merino Wealth’s approach to financial planning can come across as a fuzzy concept. Many times it leads to the question “so what do you DO for clients?” To prepare for the event I looked at our approach from all angles. The outcome of financial planning is different from client to client, but I noticed some top benefits…
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