There are lots of books around to tell you what to do with your money. I’ve read many of them and you may have too. They’ll tell you to: "Buy stocks and hold onto them a long time"; "Pay yourself first"; "Work hard and be clever"; "Pay off the debt you have, and cut up all you credit cards."

Okay, so I’m oversimplifying. But this is my point: while you sit in your easy chair, reading financial guides and dreaming about how you’re going to get rich, your partner may be yelling at you about paying the overdue bills or needing a new car. Or maybe you opened the credit card statement, and now you’re the doing the yelling?

When you were a teenager, it was pretty easy to fall in love. So easy, that most of us did it several times a month. In adulthood, love takes on a whole new, more serious flavor. Your partner is still the same, wonderful person who first attracted you. That person still has the same wonderful qualities that fascinated you, and brought you joy. But, somehow, life itself has gotten a lot more serious.

Money is no longer just the extra spending cash that you pick up at summer jobs; it’s the stuff that you both need – to eat, to keep a roof over your heads, and to keep your lifestyle going. And unless your partner is your identical clone, he or she has different ideas about such questions as, "how much money do we need?" "Where should it come from?" and "Where should it go?"

Part I of this book will help you and your partner figure out how getting and spending money is interwoven with your emotions and, of course, with your relationship. Moreover, this workbook can help you sort out how money has come between you.