20 questions before saying "I do"; Bank overdraft fees; Defining wealth; How much you need in retirement; Debt management 101

By Amanda Morrall (email)

1) Marriage and money

Thanks for all the interesting remarks on the pros and cons of joint accounts as per my Honey Please Pass the Chequebook yarn yesterday. Clearly a divisive but potentially unifying issue for couples. I met a woman who had separated from her husband for a period of two years, and even got divorced but they got back together. I nosily asked about the financial side of the rekindling to which she staunchly replied, "Separate!'' followed closely by it's complicated. They'd been together 25 years.

Coincidentally I stumbled upon this piece from Forbes Money today looking at 20 questions to ask before saying "I do.'' I also came across this piece from Investopedia weighing up the merits of joint accounts. Both are worth a read for those contemplating co-mingling the finances.

2) Overly protective about their fees

Yesterday I tried to remove a overdraft protection facility on my bank account. I used it once for twice in five years not but longer have the need for it because my circumstances have changed, for the better. I naively thought this would be a simple 30 second procedure but it turns out the banks are pretty protective about losing out on their extra fees. Mine had recently gone up to $4 a month for those occasions where I ran over. I was turned over to three different people and put on hold three or four times during call during which I was sternly warned that there was no going back, or at least I'd have to reapply and there were no guarantees I'd get the protection on such generous terms. They then they tried to sell me on a one-off overdraft fee of $5 for the times I ran over (hastily adding a bit about it being $5 a day -- undoubtedly with compounding interest until the legers were righted. Nice try but no thanks bank. 

What are you paying in fees and are they still appropriate for your banking needs?  For starters, here's a link to our section on bank fees for chequing accounts.

3) Wealth

I have what I regard to be some very wealthy friends. I measure their wealth by that fact that one of them is retired (at age 42) and another has four houses in glamorous and expensive outpost around the world. I think it's safe to call them wealthy or maybe that's just rich. If it weren't for the fact that I like these people I'd say their bad for me in the sense that visits leaving me feeling temporarily poor, financially that is.

It's a philosophical challenge for me because our financial circumstances are so vastly different. As a yoga practitioner and teacher I always end my classes with a moment of contemplation on gratitude, for what we do have in our lives. I come back to this time and time again and had to again after reading this blog from lifeandmyfinances.com charting the income thresholds of poor, average and wealthy. The article defines the latter in terms of a $500k a year income. How much is enough? That's all up to you.

4) Retirement calculations

According a recent Westpac survey on women and money, 40% of women say they plan to live off NZ Superannuation in retirement. That's compared to 27% of men. The same survey also found that half of all Kiwi women didn't know how much they would need to live off in retirement. Reading in between the lines, I'm guessing most don't know how much they'll receive every week from NZ Super. As an individual ladies, you're looking at about $330 a week.  Square that with your current spending and how you imagine your circumstances might be at 65 and what kind of lifestyle you want.

To help with that process here's some calculators.

Sorted's retirement calculator

The Shape of Money retiremenyplanning

5) Debt management

If you want to start saving, in earnest, you'll first need to get out of debt. Here's a primer on debt management from financiallypoor.com with an action plan to help you dig out.

To read other Take Fives by Amanda Morrall click here. You can also follow Amanda on Twitter@amandamorrall