Advice for Kate and William

The wedding of Catherine Middleton and Prince William was a celebration of love. When I look at them, I see two people deeply in love.  Their wedding was a simple celebration of two people's love for each other.   I hate to be crass, and take people's focus off of their love, but it seems like someone needs to take a timeout to remind the young couple of one of the biggest traps a young couple can fall into:  financial entanglements.  As an economics teacher, allow me to remind the beautiful couple of a few tips...


1.  That wedding was so expensive, I wish I could go back in time and advise you to save your money, elope, and use the money as a down payment on your first house, or to pay off college loans.

2.  Beware of your credit card debt.  So many newlyweds think the world is theirs.  They promise themselves that they won't build up credit card debt; at first they will just use it to pay for a nice night out, and they will pay it off right away.  They will keep this up for the first year or so, until the car needs a new front end.  Then the washing machine will break and they'll need to come up with $500 for a new one.  A $1,000 credit card balance will soon become $4,000 as they try to scrape together the money to put new tires on the car, have the chimney swept, give their kids a birthday party...and then the septic tank will fail...

3.  Pay all your bills on time and any time you have some extra money, pay it towards the principle.  This will lower the actual amount of the loan and you will save a lot of money over the long haul.

4.  If you do the math, it is a lot cheaper to purchase a reliable used car.  Think about it:  Even if you need to put $500 into repairs on your used car, that is really the equivalent of TWO monthly payments on your new car.  Even if you needed to fix that used car to the tune of $200 a month (which would never happen!), you'd still be getting a better deal than you would for a new car!

5.  Remember:  you're in this together.  If one of you makes more money than the other, don't keep score.

6.  And remember: no matter how bad it gets, it could always be worse.  There's probably someone somewhere in the world who is experiencing the same problems--or worse.  Even when money problems get you down, you still have each other.

No one wants money to split up a couple.  Take time to do some sound financial planning.  Remember these simple tips.  That way, finances will never get in the way of your marriage.

(The wedding took place on the 60th anniversary of the death of Wittgenstein!)

The Death of Bin Laden

Osama bin Laden is dead.  It was the top story on espn.com.  It was the "greatest night" of Geraldo Rivera's "career."  It was celebrated in the streets of Boston, New Haven, New York, and Los Angeles.  Headlines describe Americans as "jubilant."  New York City fire chiefs remember their fallen colleagues and describe their feelings of "closure."  President Obama proclaims this "a good day for America."  Phillies fans chant "USA! USA! USA!"

Is it ok to chant?  Should we be celebrating?  Is it right to feel closure with this event--and what does closure mean?  Is it acceptable to feel 'jubilant?'  Is it right to feel 'jubilant?'