I have this friend. Let's call him "Beady-eyed Bob." He and I like to talk about financial matters. We're both savers and planners. When we talk IRAs and how much to put down on a house, he gets a gleam in his eyes, probably similar to the one in mine.
The first time we talked about money was at a picnic. I usually try to keep it on the downlow that I have read nearly every article on MSN Money (my favorite columnist is MP Dunleavey) and am drawn to books like The Millionaire Next Door and How To Marry a Millionaire Vampire. Oh wait, sorry--that's a different kind of book entirely.
Anyway, for some reason Bob and I started talking financial planning strategy. And I discovered that he'd read over all the same articles as I had, and probably even more. Our spouses laughed at the two of us, excitedly recalling our favorite bits of advice.
But to me, it was great to discover that I wasn't alone. Another person our age actually thinks about retirement. Not that Keith doesn't plan with me, but he doesn't get quite as excited about it as I do. I'm not sure what to attribute it to--my obsessive-compulsive personality; a fear of being poor; a sneaking suspicion that everyone else knows more about finances than me, and I'm very far behind.
Especially at this time of year, with Christmas presents adding up, the financial nerd in me comes out. And when I quit my job with no replacement; that also triggers it, I've found. I create 5 different versions of our monthly budget, based on whether I can't find any work at all or I get a $10k book advancement or somewhere in-between. I play with the numbers to figure out whether or not we can pay off our student loans before our 10-year reunion. (We could, but we won't because the interest rate is so low, it's better to use the money elsewhere. Just fyi.)
So tonight when I see Bob, I'll probably ask him about the status of his and his wife's student loans, and whether he'd rather put money in a Roth IRA or increase his monthly house payments. And whether or not he has an Excel Christmas budget that calculates the difference between budgeted costs and actual spending. Hopefully, I'll be reassured that I'm not the only one. And even if I am, well, maybe someday you'll be buying my book, How To Become a Thousandaire through Diligence and Stinginess. A bestseller, I'm sure.
