Yes, we have a financial planner, same guy since…2005, I think.
We have money stashed just about any which way it can be stashed; pension plan, IRAs, 401(k), Roth IRAs, savings accounts for quick access, some other kind of funky account, I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s something that’s available should we need it, without penalty, but it’s a little bit of work to get it out, and you can’t get it same-day (or next-day), it’s a little higher yield, and it’s designed to discourage undisciplined people from having easy access.
But being that MrsT is tighter than a frog’s butt, I didn’t really think it was necessary, and that’s when she told me, “That’s in case something happens to me; I’m protecting you from yourself!”
I actually have nothing to do with our finances, apart from earning money. I don’t like having anything whatsoever to do with money or money management. I don’t like talking about it, thinking about it, or knowing about it. I just want to go out and spend it, within reason.
All I need to know is, “You’re free to spend,” or “You need to put the brakes on.” - I can easily go out and spend all our money or none of it, I don’t care either way, I just need to know, in general terms.
Would you believe, I don’t even know exactly what my salary is, and I have no idea what my take-home pay is. Couldn’t even hazard a guess. I also don’t know what we pay in property taxes, or what our house payment is (though I know the house is four years away from being paid for).
MrsT tries to include me in that stuff, but I just tell her, “If I have to know about the finances, you’re going to have to learn to cook. Let’s both just stay in our lanes.”
Funny story, when we first got married, we were figuring out our roles, and I said I’d do the cooking and she said she wanted to handle the finances, apart from doing the taxes.
“No problem, I can do the taxes,” I said.
Tax time rolled around, I grabbed all the stuff, and went to a tax preparer (free service when I was active duty Air Force), and she was seriously ticked off that she spent all year sticking to a budget, and managing our savings, paying our bills, and the one thing I said I’d do, I just passed off to someone else!