1. She buys Gucci before she buys groceries.
Her wants come way before her needs.

2. Her retirement strategies consist of lotto tickets and trips to Atlantic City.
You are going to need more than a dollar and a dream after age 65.

3. She looks good…all the time.
Fellas, although pleasing to the eye, it takes a lot of effort and income to maintain a certain aesthetic. Unless you are Mr. DeMilo and your wife’s name is Venus, she probably spends a lot to stay sexy… and she’s doing it partly for you.

4. She can’t cook.
Lets face it (and not to be the sexist caveman in the room but…) cooking is often cheaper than dining out any day of the week (healthier too). Ladies, learn to work a wok.

5. She doesn’t get upset when you make foolish financial decisions
A relationship also serves as a system of checks and balances. Think of it as a merger of 2 separate entities. If you are co-CEO and your significant other consistently executes foolhardy decisions, either you approve of this behavior or you just don’t know any better. Either way, both your finances will be in jeopardy if this activity persists.

To read more from contributor, Alfred Obiesie, visit his blog at http://crazedafrykan.blogspot.com.

1. He buys Grand Theft Auto before he buys groceries.
His wants come before his needs. No bueno.

2. He’s comfortable.
Ambition is a telltale sign of financial stability. And unless “CEO” is in your boo’s title, complacency is a sure fire way to depreciate acquired assets.

3. He grew up poor.
An overall lack of financial education as an adolescent will undoubtedly recur as an adult unless addressed. The ability to manage money is a skill that comes with either actually managing money or garnering the skill set to do so. Don’t believe me? Just ask Acacia (shameless plug).

4. He can’t cook.
Last I checked, dining out cost just as much for men as it does for women. Fellas, get some skillet skills!

5. He feels the need to pick up the check…all the time.
As great as this may seem, you have to view money as a natural resource. A resource that can never be replaced. It takes time to make money and you will never get that 40-hour workweek back. You may be inclined to order the largest lobster in the lagoon but be advised, you two are now a unit. So, he’s not just spending his money, he’s spending yours too. Suddenly the 2 for 1 shrimp special doesn’t sound so bad does it?

To read more from contributor, Alfred Obiesie, visit his blog at http://crazedafrykan.blogspot.com.

Acacia ULTD’s Financial Cultivator joined an esteemed panel for Together Apart’s Live Convo #14 – Romance & Finance. Live Convo’s use a unique format – Four 20-minute rounds, opened with a question, audience and experts take turns “weighing in” on the questions.

The following is a bit of wisdom gleaned from Romance & Finance Round Openers.

Round 1: What financial dramas are most common in romantic relationships?

• One partner being a spender and another being a saver.
• One, often male, paying child support that takes money from the household.
• Who should pay (check, bills) when the female is the breadwinner?

Round 2: When dating, what red flags will hint to a financially irresponsible partner?

• They are not doing anything to change damaging financial behaviors/habits.
• Excessive spending.
• They never want to talk about money.
• Sallie Mae calls on the regular.
• They don’t have a savings account or they save via mattress or piggy bank.

Round 3: What other challenges can be revealed by looking at a couple’s conversation regarding their finances or their financial “health” in general?

• Lack of honesty/trust.
• Inflated egos.
• Differences in their vision for the future.
• Impact of having different religious/spiritual views (tithing, etc).

Round 4: What financial strategies can couples use to strengthen their relationship or can singles use to make them more financially “attractive”?

• Make monthly budgeting/planning romantic.
• Create separate and unified financial goals.
• Get a financial planner, advisor, coach, or manager.
• Spend within your means.

We are a quarter into 2011. It’s time to evaluate. Ask yourself, What have I accomplished?! Where have I gone? What have I created? Am I doing what I love? What can I improve? What can I do to ensure that I am financially brilliant?

During Acacia’s Romance and Finance event all of the panelists put emphasis on Goal Setting. They highly recommended that individuals, couples, and families begin to set goals together and re-visit the conversation often. They stressed that we identify priorities, concerns, and money habits that reflect on our current status.

It’s simple. Like weight loss, building wealth begins with setting one goal at a time. Create a goal that’s challenging yet manageable. Give yourself deadlines. Find an accountability partner. Share it with your close friends and family. These actions help build momentum to get you one step closer to accomplishing your goal. Check in with yourself regularly and most definitely seek a coach, advisor, or consultant to help you along the way. And by all means, celebrate the efforts!

If you need help you can always contact our Financial Cultivators but check out CNN’s Top things to know for more valuable tips.

Let’s flashback. Think about when you were young and energized. Ready for the world. Who prepared you for the future? parents? teachers? friends? What were some of the lessons you were taught? Was one of them around money? Can you remember your first financial conversation?

Information gets passed down from generation to generation. If a child doesn’t get it from their parents, from schools or special programs, or from someone who really cares about them, they learn the hard way (usually in thousands of dollars worth of debt). It serves our children best when we start having a conversation with them as soon as possible, so they can start developing good habits. Remember to keep it fun, engaging, and make it a game!

Here are 3 ways to a smart start with money:

1. Be in a Conversation
It’s important to have knowledge of personal finance basics such as credit, saving, insurance and retirement. Create a safe space to have a dialogue around money. Have a plan for weekly or monthly “money talks” to ensure their is always a healthy conversation. Start the money conversation with your kids NOW!

2. Reading & Comprehension
Financial literacy requires reading a variety books and articles. This will build a great foundation and powerful philosophy around money. It’s important to research, read, and do the work with the kids. Engaging in the activities with them will motivate them to stay in the conversation. Challenge them to share the materials they read with others. Articulation is key. Start building a personal finance library NOW!

3. Practice Good Habits
Like any sport, it takes practice and discipline. Think of money as a drill. You have to do it over and over again to get it right. Your relationship with money develops over time. The more you practice, the easier it will become. The habits you create will eventually become your lifestyle. Start your best saving habits NOW!

Even Hollywood’s Pinkett-Smith family practice these three tips with their children. Will Smith is reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad with his son Trey. Watch them share on Oprah.

On March 19th 2011, 90 couples and singles women filed into the Open Center in NYC to engage with financial advisers, tax consultants, and wealth managers to discuss how matters of the heart and the bottom line can work together. (Photography by Ed Marshall)

Through out Hip Hop history, the emcee’s first album becomes a classic. These debut albums stand the test of time, still loved by people all over the globe. The first album becomes their most influential work. It’s ibecause they step up to the mic and pour their blood, sweat, and personal life stories into this musical expression. We witness the growth of their mastery. In the early to mid nineties, albums like, Unreasonable Doubt by Jay-Z, 2Pacalyse Now by 2Pac, illmatic by Nas, The Chronic by Dr. Dre, License to ill by The Beastie Boys, Ready to Die by Notorious B.I.G., gave listeners rich content to relate and reflect on. They dropped lyrical jewels that take form as motivation and inspiration for others. These emcees were major contributors to the Hip Hop movement, creating a global family.

Like Hip Hop emcees, 2011 marks the year where Forbes Magazine drops their debut album. Kicking rhymes about dimes. Forbes Financial First offering advice for navigating your first – opening your first investment account, filling out your first tax return, selecting your first financial advisor, creating your first estate plan or, belatedly, accumulating your first retirement cushion late in your career. It is packed with videos with tips and galleries providing step-by-step insight for making sure your financial firsts are to your benefit.

Start now and step up to the mic! Forbes is giving individuals and families an opportunity to start voice their financial stories to encourage others to start building wealth. This is the first step towards financial freedom. When creating a new financial album, make sure your involve the ones you love. Your whole family should be in the conversation around money, and be active participants. Wealth begins one day at a time and Forbes is giving you a stepping stone to get there.

Our Financial Cultivators at Acacia Unlimited will help you produce your Financial First Album. We are sure we will you make your debut a classic!

John Singleton attempts to educate his audience about property that appreciates in his 2001 film Baby Boy.

The OG, played by Ving Rhames, offers:
I see you’ve got yourself a lil’ business going. Well, that’s good, that’s good. You make that paper. But when you’re making paper, you’ve got to learn some rules to go wit’ it. You’ve got to learn the difference between guns and butter… Now what are the guns? The guns, that’s the real estate. That’s stocks and bonds, artwork. You know shit that appreciates wit’ value. What’s the butter? Cars, clothes, jewelry, all that other bullsh*t that don’t mean sh*t after you buy it. That’s what it’s all about – guns and butter, baby. Lil’ dumb….

Imagine if you will, a knock upon your chamber door. As you ponder what’s in store, and you moonwalk across your hardwood floor, you think to yourself, “Delivery guy has probably got the wrong floor.” Alas, quote the mailman, “Never poor! You’ve just won thirty million dollars!” You can’t believe it, but it’s true. Your future flashes before your eyes. You envision going back to work adorned in nothing but a pair of argyle socks and a fur hat, hoping your soon to be ex-boss calls you into his office so you can fire him when he tries to fire you! So after you quit your job, give half your winnings to the IRS, buy your family and a few of your close friends their dream houses, shopping sprees, and give to charities, etc…what are you going to do with the remaining nine million?

A good percentage of individuals who have very little money management skills tend to lose lump sums of their money just as easily as they acquired it (especially lotto winners). There is an almost automatic impulse to acquire ALL you couldn’t afford before the acquisition of new monies (but somehow you managed to survive prior). No one ever considers the electricity and gas expenditures that come with a seventeen-bedroom estate and how one may need to generate a certain amount of income annually just to sustain that newfound lifestyle (and the distant relatives and new friends). All of a sudden, maybe telling your boss where he can file his month end reports wasn’t such a great idea.

Maybe it’s time to think past the mansion and the yacht. Even in fantasy. You don’t need to be rich to plan ahead but if you don’t plan ahead, you’ll probably never get rich – or stay there. Quote the Mailman, “Never Poor!”

To read more from contributor, Alfred Obiesie, visit his blog at http://crazedafrykan.blogspot.com.

Have you ever been good at a something? So good, in fact, that you were constantly encouraged to pursue a career in that particular arena? Of course, who doesn’t relish a career in a field in which they are adept and passionate?  Before you communicate to your loved ones that you will soon be attending culinary school due to mass accolades for your renowned bean pie recipe however, there are a few factors to consider.

There is a huge difference between a job and a passion. Being motivated by passion inspires an end product predicated on emotions and often, with self-inflicted deadlines. A career however necessitates that you generate output because you are paid to do so. Your employer cares little if your creative juices are flowing or what your motivations are. The prime focus is that you conjure up a product in a timely fashion, a product that is of course as good if not better than when your creative juices were overflowing.

As always, you have options. You can either A) create a magic world where time or money is not necessary (death I believe it’s called), B) choose a career that doesn’t even allow for creative expression (slow death I believe it’s called), or C) condition yourself to compromise your passions with the world’s needs.

All in all, be grateful that anyone thinks highly enough of your work to pay you for it. If you show the world enough love in the form of sacrifice, you may never need a million dollars, and perhaps get it anyway.

(Answer: C)

(For more information on how to align your passion/purpose and your work, visit Jullien Gordon’s Career Change Challenge.)

To read more from contributor, Alfred Obiesie, visit his blog at http://crazedafrykan.blogspot.com.

Photo: Courtesy of Fox Searchlight