the Angie’s List Blue House Blog

If money management is a sport in which we’re all players, then I’m like some limp-wristed bench warmer in an oversized Michael Jordan jersey continually lobbing free throws at the wrong end of the court. I’ve never been good at keeping my finances straight; it’s been a long history of overdraft charges and living paycheck-to-paycheck ever since I’ve been old enough to hold a job. And while eleven years is enough time for most people to get a handle on the simple idea of debits and credits, my learning curve seems to be bending in the wrong direction.

It was a bit easier when it was all profit, and I was living rent-free in my parents’ house (mind you, I still managed to overdraft). But now that I’m out on my own and my financial responsibilities have grown beyond paying for the gas for my car (I took the bullet on that one, considering when I started out it was a meager $.85 a gallon) and whatever new pair of shoes I absolutely had to have, things have just gotten ridiculous. I’m pretty sure my bank thinks Jekyll and Hyde have taken over an account, what with the constant ping-ponging of balances, endless overdrafts and seemingly maniacal transferring from one account to another.

Luckily, the worst they’ve done to penalize my poor spending habits is to charge me for the overdrafts — they’ve yet to send the authorities to investigate my fiscal schizophrenia. The issue now is that I’m sharing my bank account with my husband. While his carpe diem attitude is refreshing and invited in most cases, I’m concerned that things might actually stop ping-ponging and just simply pong. With that in mind, I’m thinking it might be in my best interest to check the List for a financial advisor. I wonder if financial advisors take credit…