My husband’s family will discuss what they want to do with money, but no real numbers on income or retirement. Although I know they have lots of it (they each have a pension plan and continue to work to save more…they just spend more than us as well). That side of the family thinks that my husband and I save too much, but when the economy crashed, my MIL said she was happy that she didn’t need to worry about us. They’ve been less critical since then.

My husband and I are completely open with everybody we know…I’ve gotten good advice this way (it’s how I found out about Roth IRAs) and it helps some of our friends without them needing to ask.

No, we don’t bombard people with our money numbers, but if a topic is brought up, I use our real numbers in my reply. I don’t see why it seems weird to some people…it’s just money and frugality. That openness has helped spark some really interesting conversations too.

With our children we make sure we have lots of discussions about money – how to handle it, why debt is bad, how to save. We also make sure we model for them how to handle their own money. Since they were little we’ve showed them the method for tithing, saving, and spending.

I used to make suggestions freely (my family is pretty open). After a while though it became clear that creating disturbances for nothing because people tend to have already made up their minds when mentioning things to others. AKA – Your brother in law had his plan worked out and to express doubt, however right it might have been, would have mostly probably only accomplished an argument/uncomfortable discussion at the dinner table. Your BIL would have done whatever the heck it was he wanted to anyway after the conversation.

It’s easier to be open if everyone is comfortable with each other’s situation and generally has the same attitudes towards money. And even that takes a lot of security on everyone’s part. Groups like that definitely can form but it’s a luck of the draw.

Visiting from Yakezie!

With our children we make sure we have lots of discussions about money – how to handle it, why debt is bad, how to save. We also make sure we model for them how to handle their own money. Since they were little we’ve showed them the method for tithing, saving, and spending.