by Hadassah Ryan

Created on: March 26, 2009

Are you a financial Ostrich?

The young couple sits in the counselor's office, holding hands between their chairs and giggling over their plans to go out that night. The pre-marital counselor enters the room and sits down at his desk, flipping open his notes for that sessions' topic.

"OK kids, today we're going to talk about finances after marriage".

His stomach drops.

She stifles a yawn.

"Now, the two things that couples fight about the most are sex and money". As the counselor launches into his cookie-cutter approach to budgeting and household finances, the young husband-to-be starts squirming.

"Why did I think I could ever handle all of this? Bills? Mortgages? Loans? I just can't think about all that right now".

The love of his life sits beside him, blissfully unaware of the horrors his mind is conceiving.

"We won't have to worry about finances. He's got a good job and I can always work too, if I have to. Pay the bills? I've never done that. Of course he'll take care of it".

Perhaps this sounds a little like a throwback to the fifties. He brings it home and she spends it? What's that about?!

Maybe things aren't quite that cut and dried, but when the average couple today carries $140,000 in debt (mortgage included), somebody's not been keeping their eye on the cookie jar.

Unfortunately, today's young people are woefully unprepared to manage the expenses of a household. Dual-income families and extra-curricular activities every night of the week leave precious little time for an old fashioned sit-around-the-table-and-learn-how-to-pay-the-bills session with mom or dad.

And so, off the kids go to college where they might get their first taste of paying a phone or bookstore bill. Mom and dad get a frantic phonecall every other month or so when their "adult" child realizes that they've overdrawn their account and there's nothing left with which to pay their overdue credit card bill.

They might learn a good lesson or two along the way, but by then, Junior is married off and getting a nasty slap in the face while discovering the cost of living. Mom and dad's little Princess finds the man of her dreams and they settle down in their first apartment. Let's just say that their first big fight was definitely not about sex.

So how do you rate? Are you on top of your household finances? Or are you still convinced that last Non-Sufficient Funds notice was a bank error? Which of these statements can you relate to the most?

1. A) I know exactly how much income we see in our household

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