Tom Savino with Savino Veritas requested an interview to discuss humorous topics related to how couples communicate. There are so many issues I have learned as a wife, mother, and daughter about what we share and don’t share with our spouse. I hadn’t really understood the depth of what seems to be the divide-and-conquer household until I launched MemoryBanc.
When most of my clients turned out to be couples, I learned how important it was for families to share their documents, accounts, and details and how often the information mattered in terms of time and money. We recently saved hundreds of dollars on a replacement cell phone for my son because I was able to login to my husband’s account and order it online while my husband was traveling. On the flip-side, I was able to ensure my husband knew the service call on the dishwasher was covered by the warranty when I was traveling and he had to meet the repair man who presented him with a bill for the service. Our ability to coordinate our shared lives saved us over $800.
For couples that use the online bill payment portal in their joint bank account, I hope you will sit down with you spouse to share the access codes and set-up. What most joint account owners do not know is that the bill pay portal is specific to the user, so if you wanted to change, stop, or modify a payment set up by your joint account partner– you could not without their login credentials. For this reason, my husband and I break the rules and share one username and passcode.
If you got some time, listen here, it’s a very different type of show and I had a fun time talking with him.
If you recognize you might not be so organized, here are some links to free downloads that can help you get started:
- What you need to save and what to shred. This documents the 70 types of accounts, documents, and details you should have collected and organized.
- How to tame the Internet and take control of your online accounts. This provides free worksheets to document email, social media, and online service accounts.
If you know you want to avoid putting it off ’til tomorrow and benefit from coordinating this information with your spouse, you can order a copy of the workbook from Amazon or get a discounted 5 pack ($11.95 each or 40 percent off) that you can share over Thanksgiving with your family from MemoryBanc.