If you’re a typical married person, chances are that your estimates on the state of your partner’s finances will be way off. The results of a study conducted in 2003 show that over 35% of people are unable to accurately pinpoint when their spouses were planning their retirement. The situation was the same when they were asked to assess their spouse’s net worth.

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But this is rather understandable. As a married man, I know that finances can be a touchy topic. Specially if the marriage takes place late in life, there is an awful lot already going on before the couples tie the knot. Some financial details are just embarrassing, and sometimes, querying about them looks like a threat to the other person’s independence.

But apart from maintaining a healthy relationship, there are more hard economic reasons why you should keep yourself informed about what your spouse is upto. The main reason is that without that data, you will be in tailspin when your partner is missing. Either they has passed away or (God forbid) you are going through a divorce, you need to know what is what so that you don’t make a major mistake in the first case, or significantly lose out in the second.

Important things to know are your partner’s various sources of income, not just the salary, but bonuses and commissions, their investments, Insurance schemes, and their debt status. Any of these can have a significant impact on your own financial decisions, and after all, you do want to make the best ones right?

Almost anyone can call themselves a financial planner. All it needs is an understanding of the rules of finance, and some understanding as to where to apply them. But is that all? The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board of Standards has understood the importance of giving quality financial assistance to people, and have instituted the CFP Certificate.

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A CFP certificate that is conferred on a planner ensures that your Financial Planner has the skills that you expect of them, and also makes sure that they behave in a professional manner. In order to earn and maintain their certificate, those holding it must prove that they are keeping updated with the latest trends, and are pursuing various courses of educating themselves on a regular basis.

The Certificate also lays down Standards of Professional Conduct that the individual must employ in order to maintain their certification. There are over 37,000 CFP’s that you can choose from at the website given above. The Board provides for a complaint system in case one of it’s professionals does not live uptot the technical or ethical standards.

So set your mind at rest when you want to find a financial planner for yourself. Find one that is professionally certified and increase the chances of getting quality advice.

Those of you who have been following this column know that I recommend the use of Yodlee to track your finances. And they’re improving all the time. As you explore around, you come to see more and more of this software, and how it keeps track of your finances….for free!

This post shows you how to check your portfolio’s performance with Yodlee, and you can gave great fun customizing it. The first step is to add your account, provide them with your username and password (Don’t worry, your info is safe. Yodlee is the most secure thing you can find. Read their Data Security Guidelines).

Once you do this, Yodlee populates with the transactions, and keeps adding to it.

When you log in, go to ‘Portfolio Manager’. Immediately you can see the net change on the left as shown in the picture

This shows you (Surprise!) how much you have gained or lost in the near past. Yodlee is constantly improving their features, and are very helpful.

I have logged a request to customize the date range, and I’m sure they will come out with that soon.

When you go to ‘View Portfolio Chart’, you can see a comparison of your investment’s performance upto a year. Here too, they will probably be allowing us to track over several years, and this feature will be likely to be out in the next version.

You can also configure alerts to warn you or appraise you when and if your portfolio changes by whatever percentage that you specify. This is great for control freaks who like to have all their finances under their thumb. No surprises here. Yodlee updates it’s accounts once every few hours, so you’re not likely to miss anything. Enjoy!

A reverse mortgage is where you capitalize on the value of your home. It’s like a deferred sale. You approach the bank, or the bank’s salespeople approach you, and if you agree to the terms, they either pay you a lump sum amount that is based on the value of the home, or they agree to pay you a monthly amount, which once more depends on the valuation of your property.

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Usually monthly income is provided until your death, or if you are married, the death of your spouse too, and then the bank takes possession of your home. It’s like taking your home out to pay for the remainder of your years.

In countries like the US, it’s a very popular scheme, and is available to senior citizens above the age of 62. The banks usually give you up to 60% of the value of your home, which can be fairly substantial for the average individual considering that he/she gets to spend the rest of their life in it as well.

It must be noted, that banks often charge costs which can turn out to be rather expensive, amounting to up to 5% or more of your home. The details will depend on the specific scheme that you take out, and different countries have different implementations of the same thing.

It’s often touted as an advantage, that going green is cheaper by saving energy, and preventing the waste of paper. However, it seems that the initial cost of doing this is rather more than the average couple can afford.

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The running costs may be low, but the capital investments might eat you out of house and home. Ironic, considering the fact that you want to use the money on your home in the first place.

Examples are using Polyethylene tubing which is energy efficient for plumbing jobs. The issue is that the plumbers who are qualified to work with such materials are too expensive. Another issue is with radiant floor heating, which consists of tubes of hot water that run under the floor. I can save you energy costs, but the problem is the insulation which costs a bomb.

Other expensive implements are a garden on the roof to keep the roofs warm in summer, and solar hot water and electric systems. Hiring a good energy expert can yield some interesting ideas that may not cost too much. Also, a financial planner to help you understand the effects that such restoration will have may not be out of place.

However, I feel that the primary reason for the high costs, is the lack of mass acceptance by others. Once this happens (and it’s bound to happen), living green will definitely be cheaper.