Yours or Mine?

We vow for richer for poorer. We sacrifice for our children, we give back to our parents. Because in true love and family matters, money's irrelevant and it would be terrible to suggest otherwise. Right?

So why – in the privacy of the therapy room – does money emerge as one of the biggest causes of tension for modern couples? Why is it cited as the major factor in family estrangement between parents, children, and siblings? Why is there a trend for the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’ to go to court to retrieve loans they regret handing over?

In MONEY: A USER’S GUIDE, Laura showed us how to save into a pension and understand investment. This time, she delves into the really complex stuff – a non-judgemental examination of whether there is a "right" way to share our money with those we love, and what everyone else does behind closed doors. A book that none of us want to admit we need.

How do you decide who picks up the bill, or what goes in the joint account? Is your partner being generous or controlling? Is this house mine if your parents paid most of the deposit? How much are you prepared to spend to have a baby? When should we give money to our kids, our mum and dad, our siblings, our community? Should they pay us back? What does everyone else do? Why don’t we know? And why does it feel so agonisingly awkward to ask?

This is a book of personal finance advice told through real stories about other people’s modern money and relationship dilemmas.

Laura speaks to financial advisers and wealth managers, marriage counsellors and matchmakers, philosophers, religious leaders, funeral directors and divorce lawyers, to get to the bottom of the questions that can be much more fundamental to our wealth and happiness than where to put our savings.