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Why Did My Mortgage Feel So Much More Serious Than My Marriage?

HerMoney’s Editor-in-Chief Kathryn Tuggle writes: At 37 years old, after much thoughtful saving and investing, I was becoming a homeowner for the first time. But on my way down Madison Avenue to the attorney’s office where my husband and I were expected to sign the closing paperwork, I was coming unhinged.

As my pulse quickened, I reminded myself that I was headed to accomplish a life goal I’d nurtured for decades, and that I should focus on the “honeymoon phase” of homebuying: the scouting of cute new things from funky flea markets and antique shops, decorating, and housewarming parties, where I’d be sure to inherit some nice bottles of wine and scented candles. But try as I might, I just couldn’t get excited about it.

Signing a 30-year, $250,000 mortgage felt so much more serious than any other commitment I’d ever made before — including my marriage. Including cutting my own bangs. Including trying gas station sushi. Was it normal to feel this concerned by big life events, rather than elated? Was this last bastion of adulthood going to be the thing that broke me?

Like any good journalist, I set about investigating what I’ve come to think of as my “Great Closing Freakout of 2019.” Here’s what I found.

Plus:
We’re Playing With FIRE this week, with guest Scott Rieckens

Are you ready to cozy up by the warm glow of the FIRE movement? It’s a topic we love covering here at HerMoney. This week on the HerMoney podcast*, we sit down for some one-on-one time with Scott Rieckens, author of “Playing With Fire,” and producer of the recent documentary by the same name. Scott walks us through his journey into the FIRE movement, and how he learned to prioritize his spending and saving goals.

In Mailbag, Jean advises a woman on credit card usage and selection, and answers a question about taking a job you’re overqualified for in order to get your foot in the door at a good company.

Why Is The Friends & Family Cell Phone Plan The Last Bastion Of Independence?
Bryan Kuderna is a pretty successful guy. A best-selling author, Kuderna is a Certified Financial Planner from Shrewsbury, New Jersey, who caters to millennials. But you wouldn’t know it from his phone bill. The 32-year-old father of three also just got off his parents’ cell phone plan after more than a decade. His 34-year-old brother Jeff is still on it, while his sister-in-law is also on her parent’s plan.

The Kuderna “kids” are among a large group of Americans who are sharing mobile phone plans well into adulthood. For some, it’s to save money, and for others (like Kuderna’s family) it’s just habit — something they’ve done for years. “I’d been on their plan since I was 16 or 17,” says Kuderna. “It’s one of those things that goes on autopilot and it’s hard to break. It’s costly to start a new plan, and you lose those perks like unlimited minutes and texts.”

But not everyone is sharing a mobile plan for the right reasons, and that’s where families run into trouble. Sometimes parents keep their adult children on their plans to stay connected, while in other instances it’s the child who may be taking advantage of a parent’s generosity.

Whatever the reason, when it comes time to go your separate mobile ways, there are both good ways and bad ways to go about it. If you want to remain family and friends, follow these five steps.

The $5 Million Women And Their 4 Strategies For Success
When Stephanie Kaplan Lewis launched her media company 10 years ago, she vowed to do what so many startups before her hadn’t: Grow slowly, and bootstrap the endeavor.

That “radical” decision paid off. Today, Her Campus Media is a successful company focused on catering to college women.

There are successful business women and then there are really, really successful business women who have grown annual sales to $5 million and beyond. Here are their strategies for success.