Ken: Hi everybody come on in. Daria how many times we had calls on our national radio show people say “I'm pinned on the bills, my spouse won't listen to me, my spouse won't get involve in the finances, what happens if something happens to me?’
Daria: Or someone calls in usually a woman, I hate to say this, and she’s got a question about their finances and she doesn’t have anything to do with the finances so she doesn’t know basically what to ask.
Ken: We can't even answer her question.
Daria: She can't answer our questions.
Ken: Do you remember when we live in Sarasota Florida back a few years ago, I forgot the name I don’t remember his name I think his name was Art—
Daria: She was Mary.
Ken: You're right. When Mary came over to you her husband Art had died suddenly and she could not write a check.
Daria: She had to pay the mortgage and she had the check written but she needed to come over to see if I wrote checks could I tell her that she write it correctly.
Ken: And that was just the beginning. So we’re doing here is sort of America’s first assembly to finance, one of the only couple in the media is to say that it’s so important that both partners get very involve because—back with Michael Coulter our family physician you want to hear some of the stories there were some friend old client died very quickly.
Daria: You are diverting we have a lot to talk about.
Ken: All right the point is in case of incapacitation of a partner or the death of a partner.
Daria: Or divorce which happen a lot lately. You both need to know what's going on. You both need to understand how you're investing and what you're doing. So get it all started find yourself an organizer they're fabulous.
Ken: Your lease, bills to be paid, insurance, wills, trust and employee 401k and 403b, social security stuff, maybe there's some outstanding loans especially by the way if you are blended family maybe a second and third marriage. So the point is when I do a organizer it’s not organizer but I will tell you just think of asking your spouse “hey honey do you know where’s the insurance policies are?”
So the problem is you both have to know. Maybe you can split the responsibilities a little bit on who’s good at what, you pay the bills you're great at it.
Daria: And he couldn’t think care less about paying a bill. We had tried that one time for one month, it took me an accountant to get the check book back in order and everybody was looking for their check.
Ken: Daria I don’t see that in our notes any place here.
Daria: No just lazy you put it off you think that everybody can wait.
Ken: We’re not here everybody here at Douglins.com to tell you how to do it, how to split the responsibilities, all we are here to tell you is how importance and how we do it. Daria pays the bills. I do a lot of the business stuff.
Daria: He does the travel plans because I'm lousy at all that detail and follow up and stuff.
Ken: We all do our individual investments and our pension plans but you know what we do is to tell each other, number 2 is to get an opinion from each other and number 3 to make sure we both know as we compare our investment portfolio as quarterly.
Daria: And some of us even listen to the opinions that are being given out, which is why someone’s retirement plan is larger than the other with equal contributions.
Ken: And finally, we’ll do anyway between $2 and $300.00. Anything over $2 or $300.00 we talk not 2 or 3000. And I think the most important thing we bring to you is things happen.
Daria: One other thing we left out, for us this works, this may not work with you we have everything in join name that’s just our way of doing it.
Ken: You can find other people financial experts supposedly “keep your own account, keep your own thing in the side and have your own credit card”. It may work for you we’re not telling you it doesn’t work, all we’re saying is that’s how we do it. So be ready, get organize and do your spouse or significant other that’s your choice get them involve in all things money, because things happen and you don’t want to be statistic on our radio for people who simply don’t even know the first step to take.
Daria: And my final suggestion is that whoever does the investing, whoever does the bill paying, give this organizer to the other person now you're both involved.
Ken: You want to talk a wonderful gift, right here. Get organized.
Daria: Not for anniversary though be more creative.
Ken: It’s a wonderful thing to have, it’s a wonderful file to have and I'm going to tell you we hope that you don’t need it in emergency but you may. Be a team.
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