[originaltext]M: Sharon Epperson joins us now, she’s a correspondent for CNBC,

M: Sharon Epperson joins us now, she’s a correspondent for CNBC, and author of the new book, The Big Payoff, eight steps couples can take to make the most of their money, and live richly ever after. Sharon, good morning.
W: Good morning.
M: Congratulations on the book as well.
W: Thank you.
M: We are gonna talk about things that couples and individuals can do to better their finances. One of the first things I know you like to talk about is a financial checkup.
W: Absolutely, the first step is that you have to get organized, and that’s what I start off within the eight steps in my book. You need to get organized and you need to figure out what money is coming in, and what money is going out. And a really easy way to get that started is if you do online banking, it’s all laid out there for you.
M: Yeah, I mean a lot of process is stuffed in a shoe box. But online banking, you can look not only at your checking account, but your credit cards as well. Right?
W: You can look at your checking account if you have online access to your credit card. That’s a great idea, too. You really want to keep track of the money that’s coming in and going out. If you have a shoe box for all receipts and that’s the way you do it, that’s fine. But the key is to make sure you know what you have.
M: Does it make it easier to track finances if you use debit cards and even credit cards for small purchases, I mean a lot of what we spend just comes right out of our pockets. And you don’t track it.
W: Absolutely will. If you can track it with a debit card or a credit card, that’s terrific, that’s a good way to keep yourself disciplined, so you know what you are spending.
M: I also want to talk about the accounts that the couples keep. And this can be a source of problems in marriages sometimes. Do you have a joint account, do you have separate accounts, do you have our account, you say all three.
W: Yours, mine and ours. It’s very important because you wanna have a joint account for household expenses of course. But there may be a major purchase that you wanna make that your spouse doesn’t. If you wanna have a monthly spa day, and your spouse wants to buy a boat, and neither of you wants the other one’s money for that. That may be a reason why you need to have separate accounts, so I think it’s a good idea to pool your money for household finances, but also have some savings of your own.
1. What’s the main content of the book The Big Payoff?
2. According to Sharon, what should people do first for better finances?
3. What is the key to tracking the money?
4. What easier way can be used to track small purchases?
5. Why do couples need a separate account?