Lets make Friday 'Joke Day'!

Jim K said:
I vividly remember sitting in the back seat of my uncle's fancy new car. I found this neat knob that had a metal spiral on the back side that I could press into my finger and get a spiral pattern in my skin. After playing with it a bit I discovered that I could push it down in it's holder. After a few seconds it popped back out. I then pressed it into my finger again....

I don't remember the last time I saw a cigarette lighter in a car.
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Same - But I do remember what my finger looked like after I did the same.
 
Going for the gold.

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AV8R_87 said:
Who shares banking information/accounts with a non-spouse?
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Me, before I was married, and lots of younger couples.

Heck, I moved in with my now wife only about 90 days after we started dating, without even talking about it. We just got together for dinner and a movie at her place one Friday night, had a great time until very late into the night, stayed over, spent the whole next day together, had a great time until we were really tired so I stayed again, etc... I just went over one night and never left. I still had my place for a several more months, but I was never there, and eventually I got rid of it.

It wasn't long until we opened a joint account, probably within the first month of living together, just for stuff like food, and then rent, and eventually growing into our family budget. We both kept our own accounts as well, and we still do to this day - That way I don't care if she wants to spend a fortune on Christmas presents and clothes for our kids, and she doesn't care if I spend my money flying airplanes. Our respective paychecks are deposited into our own accounts, we each contribute proportionally to the joint account each month, and we never have to disagree about money. It may not be the old way, but it worked so well for us that I can heartily recommend it.

The other thing is that a lot of younger couples are forgoing marriage entirely because weddings are too expensive. Same with kids. And some purposely have the kids before the wedding. Finances are very different and much more difficult for younger generations, so this sort of thing is becoming a lot more common. Probably not that big of an issue if they're buying FSD and $8,000 engagement rings though.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
a lot of younger couples are forgoing marriage entirely because weddings are too expensive.
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Only if you want it to be.

My wedding cost me the price of one wedding dress. And it really wasn't a wedding dress. It was a evening gown.

And I never even asked my wife to marry me. It just sorta happened.

On the bad side, I once had a girl move in with me after 2 weeks. Lasted 10 months. Worst relationship I was ever in. I actually quit my job, packed my belongings and left town to get away from her.

I was engaged once long before I met my current and only wife. That girl read somewhere that an engagement ring should cost 3 months salary. So she went out and found a $43,000 ring. I think that was the beginning of the end.
 
Zeldman said:
I was engaged once long before I met my current and only wife. That girl read somewhere that an engagement ring should cost 3 months salary. So she went out and found a $43,000 ring. I think that was the beginning of the end.
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When I bought @SkyChaser 's ring, I compared a couple in the store. One was easily in my budget. The other would have been a stretch, but the stone in it was terrible. It had an occlusion (spell check?) visible with the naked eye and I seem to recall its color wasn't very good. I bought the cheaper ring. Its stone is quite good.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Me, before I was married, and lots of younger couples.

Heck, I moved in with my now wife only about 90 days after we started dating, without even talking about it. We just got together for dinner and a movie at her place one Friday night, had a great time until very late into the night, stayed over, spent the whole next day together, had a great time until we were really tired so I stayed again, etc... I just went over one night and never left. I still had my place for a several more months, but I was never there, and eventually I got rid of it.

It wasn't long until we opened a joint account, probably within the first month of living together, just for stuff like food, and then rent, and eventually growing into our family budget. We both kept our own accounts as well, and we still do to this day - That way I don't care if she wants to spend a fortune on Christmas presents and clothes for our kids, and she doesn't care if I spend my money flying airplanes. Our respective paychecks are deposited into our own accounts, we each contribute proportionally to the joint account each month, and we never have to disagree about money. It may not be the old way, but it worked so well for us that I can heartily recommend it.

The other thing is that a lot of younger couples are forgoing marriage entirely because weddings are too expensive. Same with kids. And some purposely have the kids before the wedding. Finances are very different and much more difficult for younger generations, so this sort of thing is becoming a lot more common. Probably not that big of an issue if they're buying FSD and $8,000 engagement rings though.
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Weddings can cost an ungodly amount of money or they can be relatively frugal. It just depends on the mindset going into it. Mine and @2-Bit Speed's was more than I wanted to spend on a wedding, but for a wedding in today's day and age, it was apparently very inexpensive; the wedding, reception, and honeymoon came in under $6k all added up. Honestly, the same goes for children - half of the stuff people are spending so much on is absolutely unnecessary and half of the stuff left can be homemade for cheaper or purchased secondhand.

I personally think sharing finances is too big a risk to take on and too much a burden for a relationship with no legal responsibility or precedent for dissolution in the case of shared assets, but everyone's risk matrix is different, I suppose.
 
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Wedding costs: of course this was 40yrs ago, but we were just out of college, paying off loans, trying to work rent, utilities, buying whatever things you need to furnish apartments, and other expenses. We each were pretty frugal and had saved up enough for a wedding, but not an “event”. We ended up with empty bank accounts, again, but I don’t think either of us would change a thing.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
The other thing is that a lot of younger couples are forgoing marriage entirely because weddings are too expensive.
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Really?! Just how much does a notary charge to marry someone these days? Not getting married because of the cost of a wedding sounds like the flimsiest reason I've heard.
 
I’ve talked with some young 20-30 something young men, and they aren’t avoiding marriage because of the cost of the wedding, but rather the cost of splitting up. Their point is that it makes no financial sense for them to do it, especially when it can wind up so very punitive for them.
 
AV8R_87 said:
Who shares banking information/accounts with a non-spouse?
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I had an FAA guy (I was at FSDO getting my repairman's certificate) tell me many years ago that if you don't have your own money ... you never will. Is there anyone here with a ... ummm ... *cough* .. private account? :frown2:

I'm guessing we won't get many confessions on a public forum ... :rofl:
 
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GoFly said:
Their point is that it makes no financial sense for them to do it, especially when it can wind up so very punitive for them.
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Before the world went crazy the point of dating or getting engaged was to learn about the person you were seriously evaluating to be a life long spouse. Now it's sack time before the third date. No preaching (although I could) just pointing out a truth that many get into a relationship through the wrong entrance ...
 
2-Bit Speed said:
When I bought @SkyChaser 's ring, I compared a couple in the store. One was easily in my budget. The other would have been a stretch, but the stone in it was terrible. It had an occlusion (spell check?) visible with the naked eye and I seem to recall its color wasn't very good. I bought the cheaper ring. Its stone is quite good.
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Good idea. And remember, there will always be opportunities to get her a bigger rock later on if you want to, she wants to, and finances allow. There are wedding anniversaries every year, and some are "occasions" if you stick with it long enough.

My wife and I have had 100% joint finances since day 1. We were too dirt poor for anything else at first, and we've always viewed this as a complete partnership. All in, no hedging bets, no exceptions. This is just my humble opinion, but if you're making decisions because of what might happen in a divorce, then you're wasting time with the wrong person and shouldn't get married. If you're not going to get married, then both of you should be looking for the right person.

Yeah, I know... "OK, Boomer". :rolleyes:
 
SkyChaser said:
Weddings can cost an ungodly amount of money or they can be relatively frugal. It just depends on the mindset going into it. Mine and @2-Bit Speed's was more than I wanted to spend on a wedding, but for a wedding in today's day and age, it was apparently very inexpensive; the wedding, reception, and honeymoon came in under $6k all added up.
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Well done!

Still, even $6K is well beyond the reach of an increasing number of young couples. :(

SkyChaser said:
Honestly, the same goes for children - half of the stuff people are spending so much on is absolutely unnecessary and half of the stuff left can be homemade for cheaper or purchased secondhand.
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True! That's what my in-laws are for. :rofl:

SkyChaser said:
I personally think sharing finances is too big a risk to take on and too much a burden for a relationship with no legal responsibility or precedent for dissolution in the case of shared assets, but everyone's risk matrix is different, I suppose.
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I certainly wouldn't share all of them, but the way I described earlier where each of us still had our own as well as a shared pool account, I would highly recommend. Could have walked away at any point and not been out more than quarter of a month's expenses.

Matthew said:
Wedding costs: of course this was 40yrs ago, but we were just out of college, paying off loans, trying to work rent, utilities, buying whatever things you need to furnish apartments, and other expenses. We each were pretty frugal and had saved up enough for a wedding, but not an “event”. We ended up with empty bank accounts, again, but I don’t think either of us would change a thing.
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Yeah, expectations seem to keep changing! My parents' reception was eating the cake in the basement of the church after the ceremony, and it was just local friends and family with a few relatives like grandparents and closer relatives coming from farther away. Now, you have to invite all of your parents' friends, every distant relative including the ones you haven't seen since you were 5 years old. The reception is supposed to be a big deal held at another venue with fancy dinner (for 200 in our case) and DJ. And a hotel for prep and staying afterwards, and limo service to/from. Cakes, dresses, and everything else is premium priced at the low end and can get as expensive as you want. And of course, the photographer and videographer to record it all, and and and...

Pregnancies are getting crazier too, with these elaborate gender reveal parties and other stuff that nobody ever did before. I'm glad we didn't do any of that.

Kids... Well, they're still hungry and they grow through clothes at a ridiculous rate like they always did. The expensive thing here is day care - Pretty much all of them in our area were the same price except the one that was obviously blatantly illegal (one lady watching 25-30 kids :o) and that's $75/day. Luckily the grandparents have helped out a lot there so we've never gone more than 3 days/week, and we spaced our kids out by 6 years so that we never had to have two in day care at the same time, otherwise it would have cost significantly more than our mortgage payment. Even one for all 5 days a week is pretty much a mortgage payment.

GoFly said:
I’ve talked with some young 20-30 something young men, and they aren’t avoiding marriage because of the cost of the wedding, but rather the cost of splitting up. Their point is that it makes no financial sense for them to do it, especially when it can wind up so very punitive for them.
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Yeah, there's a lot of younger people who are avoiding relationships altogether, and I can't say I blame them... And it's not only financial.

Daleandee said:
I had an FAA guy (I was at FSDO getting my repairman's certificate) tell me many years ago that if you don't have your own money ... you never will. Is there anyone here with a ... ummm ... *cough* .. private account? :frown2:

I'm guessing we won't get many confessions on a public forum ... :rofl:
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Like I said, we both have them. It really makes things a lot easier.
 
DaleB said:
This is just my humble opinion, but if you're making decisions because of what might happen in a divorce, then you're wasting time with the wrong person and shouldn't get married. If you're not going to get married, then both of you should be looking for the right person.

Yeah, I know... "OK, Boomer". :rolleyes:
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Not a "boomer" take at all... I think maybe that's another reason why there's less of it happening today. However, given the statistical 50%-ish chances of divorce, planning for it isn't necessarily a bad idea. You may be more sure than she is...

Lucky for me, I didn't even meet my wife until I was 37, so I had enough opportunities to find the wrong women that I knew it when I found a keeper.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Still, even $6K is well beyond the reach of an increasing number of young couples. :(
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Yeah, but they can get married for much less, too.

@SkyChaser and @2-Bit Speed do amazingly well and they're on a single income. Recently bought a home, have already cleared over 1/3 of a 30-year mortgage, no car payments, etc. Young couples who are finding a happy life "beyond their reach" would be well-advised to talk with these two.
 
Daleandee said:
Before the world went crazy the point of dating or getting engaged was to learn about the person you were seriously evaluating to be a life long spouse. Now it's sack time before the third date. No preaching (although I could) just pointing out a truth that many get into a relationship through the wrong entrance ...
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This is supposed to be the joke thread. Since I am happily married, I do get to make comments about shackles and other aspects of marriage.
But, this conversation has become way too serious for a joke thread.

Tim
 
GoFly said:
I’ve talked with some young 20-30 something young men, and they aren’t avoiding marriage because of the cost of the wedding, but rather the cost of splitting up. Their point is that it makes no financial sense for them to do it, especially when it can wind up so very punitive for them.
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I know a couple of young people, including my nephew, that wouldn't get married because their baby mama would "lose her benefits".
 
JOhnH said:
I know a couple of young people, including my nephew, that wouldn't get married because their baby mama would "lose her benefits".
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There also used to be a huge tax penalty for a two-earner household after marriage. I think it's better now but we had sticker shock the first year afterwards.
 
Baked Potato said:
There also used to be a huge tax penalty for a two-earner household after marriage. I think it's better now but we had sticker shock the first year afterwards.
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Oh, first year sticker shock is still very much a thing in marriage, and it has nothing to do with the tax code.
 
Daleandee said:
I had an FAA guy (I was at FSDO getting my repairman's certificate) tell me many years ago that if you don't have your own money ... you never will. Is there anyone here with a ... ummm ... *cough* .. private account? :frown2:

I'm guessing we won't get many confessions on a public forum ... :rofl:
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I confess I've been married twice. First one lasted 14 years until she left me for her psychologist.
Currently, the second one has now lasted 25 years.
Never once, in the first or second, did I/we ever have a joint account. Hence, money has never been a point of contention.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Lucky for me, I didn't even meet my wife until I was 37, so I had enough opportunities to find the wrong women that I knew it when I found a keeper.
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By age 50 I had met many ladies. Many from the US and a few from outside the US. Then I realized all the girls from the US had the same mindset. (making me change to fit their wants)

On a random email I met the girl that would be the one. Not from the US. Best decision I ever made.!!

It will be 16 years in June.!!

Thinking back, I never asked her to marry me...Do I have some sort of loop hole there.?? :lol:
 
Half Fast said:
Good idea! I learned about relationships from the Bible. That's why I'm planning to spy on a subordinate's wife while she's taking a bath, then have him murdered and marry her for an additional wife.
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Sure, but how did that work out for him?
 
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