THE GENIUS AND HIS FINANCES

Even though the genius and I have been married almost forty-eight years, I am constantly learning new things about him. The other day we were running some errands and he had some business at his bank. So he whips out a check to deposit and also a check for cash made out for $294.00. Of course, I had to ask why such an odd amount.

His answer was that he ALWAYS makes his checks for odd amounts – no even numbers for him! I’m still not completely sure why except that he wants different types of bills in his wallet and that he’s always done it that way.

He never rounds numbers up or down. If you ask him, for example, how many people were at a function, he will say “Oh, probably twenty-two.” Numbers ending in zero have rarely been in his vocabulary.

Now, I can envision my checkbook if I had all those uneven numbers to add and subtract; it’s hard enough with the numbers I have, but to make it worse is beyond me. But the genius is not at all daunted by all that, of course. Every night he empties his pockets and counts how much money he has and he knows exactly where any cash he spent has gone.

Every morning without fail, he calls the automatic number at the bank and gets an update, including check numbers, amounts, etc. He is aware at all times exactly how much money is his account, as well as our joint account.

One reason I have my own little account is so I won’t have to answer to everything I spend or what’s worse, I don’t have to record. I too know how much I have in the bank. I go online and look at it and get the same info he does. Before online banking, however, I had to rely on the ATM when I withdrew money. You can see why I don’t handle the finances in our family.

The “his, mine, and ours” bank accounts work just fine for us. He can keep his complicated books to the penny and I have the freedom to manage my small amount anyway I want.

I can only hope and pray that I go first or I’d have to move to a nursing home where there are no bills except the rent every month.