A Father's Advice: Watch Out for 'Miscellaneous'
Fifty years ago, shortly after my wife, Sara, and I were married, my father gave me some unconventional advice about how to organize my family budget.</br></br>At the time, I thought he was joking. But over the years, I began to understand what my father was really saying: "You'll have no trouble handling your major expenses. Your problem will be your miscellaneous expenses. If you can't control them, they'll wreck your family finances."</br></br>My father's advice, I have discovered, is especially relevant as the holidays approach and we get ready for a season of celebrating and spending. When we go shopping for holiday gifts, we may vow to be prudent, but we are often overwhelmed by the many temptations to spend frivolously.</br></br>The need to keep a lid on spending is a concern that many people share, but it is a special challenge for retirees who, like myself, live on fixed incomes, in my case augmented by my freelance writing. That challenge has become even tougher lately because the value of our investments has declined sharply during the 21/2-year bear market.</br></br>Sara and I, for instance, felt more comfortable when our stock in General Electric Co. was worth $55 a share than we do today with the stock trading at less than half that. Sara accumulated the shares when she worked at GE, and they have been a mainstay of our savings.