money problems

[frojo]

My husband is 53 and I am 50. He is an electrician in the NY city for 30 yrs. He would like to retire early (55). He would take a 70% cut in pension. He has a 401K plan thru work with over $100,000 in it. We went to a financial advisor and with his help we allocated our money in funds that were not too agressive because of his age. Lately he has been talking to men at work (younger than he) that have put their 401K monies in an aggressive fund and are making money. My husband took it upon himself to move all the monies in the plan to this more aggressive fund without asking my feelings on the matter. He has also taken $12,000 out of another fund and is investing online. Am I wrong to feel upset and unimportant in this marriage? He can't understand my feelings and we are now not speaking and things couldn't be worse.

[Nina]

You're not wrong at all. You're very right, since this isn't only his money. In a marriage, a union if you will, your assets and investment portfolios should be joint and joint decisions should be made about money allocation.

 

My parents started an investment portfolio for me when I was born and I have been actively involved in decision making processes over the past 6 years or so with my stock broker.

 

Internet investing is a good idea if you have the time and expertise to make sound judgements based on financial reports that many mutual funds and public companies publish for stockholders. Insider tips and newshow tips aren't the way to guide your investments. With the market as highly volatile as it is today (mainly due to improper decision making by inexperienced investors as well as failing tech stocks that show no profits because of technology reinvestment), it's not a good idea to enter into day trading unless you have the time or you are a professional.

 

Tell this to your husband. Tell him you want to be more involved in the decisions related to your joint finances. if this doesn't work, seek advice from your financil advisor about what you can do to make sure that at least part of your finances are secure.