Money Monday: Sex, Lies, and Balance Sheets

It’s Money Monday and today I want to talk about fiscal betrayal. It’s a known fact that men lie about their height, women lie about their weight, and people lie about their finances. We all do. I do! When a potential employer asks how much you make, are you really going to tell them exactly how much you make? Of course not. You’re going to round up, way up. You’re going to add in your bonus, calculate your vacation time, your work from home flexibility, then add in a couple tens of thousands of dollars for good measure.

Similarly, we sometimes present a different picture to the outside world than what’s represented by our bank accounts. A poll commissioned by ForbesWoman and the National Endowment for Financial Education determined that over 30% of spouses lie about money. I’m sure that figure applies to single people, too. Men are constantly inflating their salaries (probably based on future expectations), and no single woman in her right mind is going to offer up that she’s on the partner track, clearing over $200k a year.

But we also lie to ourselves. This is why I need professional help. I should’ve hired a financial planner in my twenties. I’m only owning up to it now that I need a professional to review my complete financial picture and give me some much-needed advice. I’ve honed in on a female advisor who specializes in family planning. I’ve also found the NYTimes tools to be the most useful. Here’s one on Managing Your Money Through the Ages.