I had read (and reviewed) n  Smart Women Finish Richn and found it very useful as a single woman navigating the financial world on her own. Once I was married, I found it fortuitous that David Bach published n  Smart Couples Finish Richn.

Bach’s general approach has remained the same: he discusses the building blocks for financial fitness and prosperity in an engaging, easy-to-read manner without throwing in confusing jargon with which the reader might not be familiar. However, in this book, Bach definitely specializes his approach to appeal to both partners (I guess he got nasty phone calls and emails from husbands and boyfriends after publishing his first book, geared toward women taking control of their finances). He cites statistics that money and financial problems are a leading cause of friction in marriages and can lead to divorce and he’s right: it’s not always easy for two people with differing spending habits, credit histories, upbringing, etc., to combine their finances (or not) in ways with which they are comfortable and will optimize their use of money. Throughout the book Bach gives accounts from his own experiences as a financial advisor and as half of a couple who had differing views on how their money should be handled. One of the major tenets of the book is that couples need to work as a team toward their financial goals; it’s not enough to just finish rich.

Bach outlines how couples can become fiscally solvent and independently wealthy by retirement in nine steps, divided into chapters. As I summarize the chapters below, I will also note information that differs from Smart Women Finish Rich where applicable.

Step One: Learn the Facts and Myths About Couples and Money

A portion of the information presented in this chapter, such as “everyone makes enough money to invest,” mirrors Bach’s first book. However, the bulk of information was new, such as the myth that “if we love each other, we won’t fight about money.” This chapter has several activities for couples to do, singly or together, to facilitate discussions about money. I liked the quiz because it demonstrated to me that I, the financial manager in my (first) marriage, did not have as good a grasp on where all our money was as I should have, and if something were to happen to me, my (ex-)husband would not have all the information he would need (oh well).

Step Two: Determine the True Purpose of Money in Your Life

While the goal of this chapter resembles the same concepts of Smart Women Finish Rich, the method is different. For this book Bach revised the ladder method for determining one’s values and changed it to a value circle. I like the value circle much better because it does not privilege one value over another and I do have several values that determine how I spend, save, and invest money. Couples are encouraged to make individual value circles instead of trying to compromise on one set. From values, the activities move on to establishing goals (i.e., marriage or independence are values, to be debt-free or retire early are goals).

Step Three: Plan Together…Win Together

In this chapter, Bach demonstrates how couples create a Purpose-Focused Financial Plan, a plan that respects their values and helps them meet their goals. He updated and simplified the plan used in Smart Women Finish Rich and included extra worksheets in the back of the book. Bach encourages couples to start by figuring out what assets they have and where everything is and provides a filing system for getting the finances in order and keeping them that way. I already had a filing system in place, but I adopted Bach’s method since it cleared up some ambiguous categories for me.

Step Four: The Couples’ Latté Factor

This chapter, very similar to the first book, details how couples spend money frivolously and amply demonstrates how middle class couples have enough money to start investing. He adds a new activity to this chapter for couples to track their spending called “The Seven-Day Financial Challenge.” The real challenge is trying to remember to write down everything, every day.

Steps Five-Seven: Building Your Baskets

Bach believes that everyone should have three baskets: one for retirement, one for security, and one for dreams. The retirement chapter discusses 401k accounts and how to invest the funds, IRAs (all kinds), tax deferrals, and even a section for the self-employed. The security chapter discusses not only funding the basket but other measures for protecting one’s family like having a will or living trust, and various kinds of insurance. The dream chapter has an activity for figuring out what one’s dreams are and then implementing them. This chapter also discusses more of the short-term kinds of investments like bonds, mutual funds, etc. All of these chapters have information similar to the first book, but expand upon the topics a great deal. Bach also includes telephone and website information for some of the top companies (investment, insurance, etc.) and encourages couples to do their homework before placing their money with any bank or firm.

Step Eight: Learn to Avoid the Ten Biggest Financial Mistakes Couples Make

In the first book, Bach listed nine mistakes, in this book, he lists ten, but not all the mistakes are the same. This section addresses college funds and teaching one’s children about money as well as day-trading and pre-nuptial agreements. Bach also includes rules for choosing a financial advisor, scaled back to eight from ten rules in the previous book.

Step Nine: Increase Your Income by 10 Percent in Nine Weeks

I found this chapter nearly useless because it’s about how to ask for a raise. While other people can benefit from this information, I’m a government employee and there’s no such thing as asking for a raise; if an employee has a certain number of years of service and is in a certain grade, the salary is set. The only piece of information in this chapter of use to me was about cleaning out and organizing one’s workspace, but I already try to practice that.

Appendices
Bach also includes, besides the worksheets mentioned above, an income-expense worksheet, an inventory planner for determining net worth, and a contract for increasing one’s salary 10%.

Overall

n  Smart Couples Finish Richn expands on some of the ideas and information from n  Smart Women Finish Richn and presents it all in a friendly, couples-focused fashion. This book details the tools couples, or singles, need to secure their financial independence for their retirement. And, it encourages us to finish rich for all the right reasons, consistent with our values, not just to have money for the sake of having money.

A very good, detail-oriented and practical guide to finances for couples. Bach gave a number of straightforward guidelines and I really felt like his approach to "purpose focused" savings and investing made sense to me.

Yikes. This one sucked me in because it purported to be different from all the others.

It isn't.

It contains advice that a first-year financial advisor should give you in five seconds. If you're a lonely person looking for a daddy figure and direction on how to spend your money, read this. If you have a brain and can tell a good deal from a bad one, don't bother. Call your FA and have him or her drop by for six seconds and save yourself this reading.

I actually haven't 100% finished this book but made it about 75% of the way through so far. Overall I thought it was pretty helpful for those of us who are not already super on top of personal finance management (if you are it might be a bit basic but perhaps you will pick up some interesting tips.) I liked the discussion of creating medium and long term financial goals based on your core values. I also thought that some of the financial advice was pretty straightforward and the writing motivated me to to make some changes to things I was doing. The quality of the writing isn't pristine but overall a good first step to improving your personal finances.

If this is your first time reading about finance as a couple then it's very helpful. If you have read other finance books and are looking for any hidden secrets then you're not going to find them here.

I found this book very helpful. I've read a few financial books lately and this was the easiest read. I like how he gives useful information, but makes the book relatable. I just finished it and I'm hoping my husband will read it next.

I sought this book out as a young adult that has absolutely zero clue what she is doing with her money apart from the few tidbits that my grandfather has told me throughout the years. I thought the author did a really good job making the material understandable and giving tips on how to prioritize for whatever your goals happen to be. Granted, since the book was written in 2000, a lot of the actual return estimates are out of date (pretty sure you can't find a money market checking account with a return of at least 4% anymore), but the advice is still sound.

I am a finance nerd but even if you aren't this is an excellent book that breaks down everyday finances and how to view them in a smart/opportunity cost method to get you on the right financial road. I wish I could give this to every newlywed couple!

Really good, easy to read financial guide. No, I'm not rich yet, but definately motivating.

Wish I'd read this like a decade ago! The couples part is really just a small part of the book, and it's helpful if you are working on finances with a partner, but the bulk of the message is applicable to anyone (living in the US, don't know about finance outside of this country). Great accessible overview of so many personal finance topics with actionable tips that anyone can follow, non judgemental, and empowering. I really wish something like this was required reading in high school, but better late than never :)

Good advice. The workbook was also helpful.

This is an easily approachable book for anyone who wants to make the most out of their money. You don’t even need to be in a relationship to read this book. Even though I am familiar with personal finance, this broke down specific topics in understandable ways