breakfast, newt gingrich bus stops in counsel bluffs iowa, rick perry in dodge meeting voters at a coffee shop there. starting at 2:00 eastern time right here on cnn, you will get your chance to see the republican candidates making their pitches to be the next president live and in-depth. join cnn chief political correspondent in iowa for contenders 2012. i'm fredricka whitfield. right now, time for "your $$$$$." your house, budget, retirement, investments, if you cannot speak money you're lost. welcome to a special edition of "your $$$$$," christine romans host and author of the new book. we're not married but we certainly disagree on money and have for the last 10 years. what would you say -- i've never asked you this, what is your

key. >> live below our means and put away to build wealth for the future. that's going to give cushion and allow us to have a less stressful life. >> this is why we've been fighting for years. >> you don't put money away. >> money is something to get more money. take measured risk. >> he likes took risk his money to grow more. i like to save mine because i don't want to lose it. that's frankly the way a lot of men and women are, saefrs and spending. >> she has a min issues van. >> he has a motorcycle. perfect metaphor. in our relationships or dealing with this economy our goal for you for this hour, by the end of the hour you will feel confident about money. you will be able to speak money with your job, your mortgage banker, your spouse with a little more confidence. >> we wrote a book about doug flynn, a certified financial planner, lanett cox, founder of

"ask the money coach.com and louis, a personal money advisers. >> louis, i want to ask you first, people think they can't speak money, live paycheck to paycheck, maybe putting a little away in a 401(k). beyond that a completely foreign language to them. that's going to hold them back, isn't it? >> speaking money, everyone speaks money. they are just not aware of how they are speaking money or what the money is for. the purpose of money is a little better life. i've never seen a uhall behind a hearse. how do we use money to live a better quality life. >> it's not about the pursuit of money, that's suspicious in its own right. we're not suspicious about that. >> you often say when you think about louis just said all these decisions about money, everybody speaks money, you don't necessarily know when you're making a decision. when your kid comes home with a report card not appropriate, are you mad because they didn't

study or worried my goodness, my kids future is flushed down the toilet because he didn't do the right thing in math. >> as a mom of three kids i can attest to that. you're thinking if they are not going to do well in school, does that mean they won't have a good job, have the career advancement we all want. at the end of the day when it comes to speaking money, it's true all of us do to some extent speak money every day. pay our credit card bills, fill up the gas tank, worry about the mortgage, et cetera, et cetera. for a lot of people, they don't feel confident about their skills in a certain area, in investing space, long-term planning, insurance, whatever. that's the sort of overwhelming feeling a lot of americans have. >> the think about ali, he's the spender, i'm the saver. it physically pains me to spend to much money. >> it physically pains me to see how she saves it. >> he makes his grow, that's his goal. mine is for three 529s and

retirement. people are different but that doesn't mean it's wrong. >> the important thing and looking at what lynette is saying when as parents we do have these differences, the parent that might want to risk more versus the one who might want to save more, develop their own style. when louis says when it comes to speaking about money, we all do it. it's important we do it in front of our children without making them crazy because we want to bring them into the culture of understanding what investment and saving is all about. >> we don't do it in front of each other. you're intimidated by money. doug, you deal with people, i think they come to you as a financial planner because they think they have money problems to solve, debt, savings, investments. in fact, they are not talking the same language, speaking money to each other.

>> for the at all. oftentimes they have not had the conversations together. getting in the room and speaking about it is the first time they have laid it out there. it's something important to do, to understand where they are coming from, who is the saver, who is the spender. you can survive if you have two saefrs, difficult if you have two spenders. you find what's important to you. open communication. getting it out there. once you know you can get on a path to make it happen. >> you know what i also often tell couples who feel like they are financial opposites, god played a cruel joke on most of us who are married to a certain extent to invariably pair a saver with spendere splurger with extreme hoarder. if you're financial opposites, your relationship is doomed or never going to work out or anything, you really can get on the same financial page. don't you agree, jeff? it's a matter of the communication. like you said, when they come to you it's the first time they

have ever talked about it. but couples need to realize even if you have different money styles, different money personalities, once you start speaking money and assessing your joint goals you can get on the same page and make it work. >> it can be a compromise. you learn from one another, become less of a spender or saver, you try to find that balance. you do need the pro and the con in this thing because you're not going anywhere because you're stuck in this whole idea of this climate of being comfortable, make each other a little less comfortable. >> people acontracted to each other they offset each other, works well. those are good things that come out of it. >> the problem is, for some people financial planning is about a product, others about a process. you're looking to create opportunities, what products are available for you. when it's to a certain age, i don't want to be stressed out, live on the streets, financially comfortable. even though you might have the same end result you might approach differently. if you don't have a buy-in you're never going to reach

goals. a partner totally different and opposite. >> things changed so much recently. to be honest, there are a lot of people planning for the future are now planning for right now. i hope in the next 45, 50 minutes we can talk about even if you're planning for right now you're putting away for the future. >> the whole point of speaking money, which you and i have learned from each other, if you kind of roughly speak the same language, know the wordsish the vocabulary, buy in, you can buy into the other approach. i don't have to take it from your approach and you don't have to take mine but if i get where your coming from -- >> you finally realize i'm right. >> plane times over the last decade that's happened. >> we fight about money. the difference, we're going to do it on cnn. one of us is overspender, one is underspender. can you guess? the answer and why it's important to understand how to fix it, fix him next. lling?

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this won't be our last argument throughout this hour but time to deal with a subject ali hates, saving. >> sort of. >> you don't like not doing anything with it. >> i can't imagine putting it in a bank account where i saw a banner in the window of a bank in chicago that says you can get .8%. >> half a percent, inflation is more than that. me, i'm so afraid of risking money so i lose opportunities. the point here is we have to figure out what you want your money to do for you and how to get there. budgeting, all that scary stuff people don't like to talk about. >> mostly in america these days it's about debt. that causes people a lot of tension. you can't just go into this willy-nilly. you need a plan. this is part of why we've written a book for this. we're responding to a lot of you who say we need a plan. doug flynn and our great panel are with us. let's talk about retirements and

budget. how do people who haven't had this conversation, this is whether you're a couple or just on your own, how do you start the process? how do you start the conversation? >> nobody likes to budget when you get down to it, how much you spend on gifts for each other. >> it's like a diet. you don't keep track of every calorie like you don't want to keep track of every dollar. >> the unfortunate part most people don't have enough money to do what they need to do. a good thing you start saving. once you start saving, you become an investor. that's the second part of this. you have to know where is your money going. if you have enough at the end, you can start putting it toward specific goals. some people need help doing that. if they can't find any money, there's money lost. >> simple way to look at it, 70, 10, 10, 10, live on 70, safe, invest, 10% you're able to give back somehow. that's your goal, 70, 10, 10, 10. >> we do that.

clients with a piggy bank, if they have a new baby. >> gave one to me. >> 70%, three little piggies, 10, 10, 10. your kids are looking, what are you doing, what are you not doing? >> a lesson for kids to understand about choices, what you can and should do for money. after you earn money that's how under the circumstances it. you don't marry, inherit, win in the lottery. if you want to have sustainable, security financial security over a lifetime, have to earn it. after that, only four things you can do with money. save it, spend it, invest it or do fate it. i have a piggy bank for my kids with four different slots instead of one little spot. >> when i ask what's their top value, they tell me marriage or kids or wife. i say where in your budget does it show you're investing in your marriage? where does it say you're investing in the self-esteem of your children. where are you enforcing in

yourself to get yourself more valuable for this global economy you're in. >> 70, 10, 10, 10, missing for growth. going back to original quality of life issues, you'll never see it on a budget. i allow for that. >> i want to bring you in. she will inspire you for a minute. before a budget and grow your wealth, you have to dig out of the wealth you've put together. you dug out of $100,000 of debt. she knows what she's talking about. $100 grand. >> it's awful to admit. >> you did it. >> a decade ago in 2001, i had $100,000 in credit card bills alone. it's awful. i know it, of course, now. i took three years, i paid it off. never missed a single payment then wrote a book about it. zero debt, the guide to financial freedom to explain what i did. i knew if it out of $100,000 in credit card debt, the average household holding about $10,000 could do the same. >> most people are not

carrying -- if they have a mortgage they have that debt but they have a house against it. that's remarkable you can do that. jeff, let's bring you in. you're a clinical psychologist, understand how people work on this stuff. a couple things we want to bring up for people. first thing, you've got to have meaningful conversations with your partner about this. everybody said the same thing. people coin and say we've been talking about money for years. now we'd like your expertise. initiate the conversation, take the initiative, even if somebody isn't bringing it in. you need to be honest about yourself and with your partner about your financial situation. >> and your goals. and your goals. what you want your money to do for you. you have to be honest about that, too. >> this conversation really is about the only thing you have to fear is fear itself. christine you said this, you're afraid what's at the end of not so much of that rainbow. therefore we get into this whole idea if we don't talk about it the issues will go away.

you have to open it up. it's really just taking the first step of having the conversation and a series of conversations and being willing to take advice from one another, dealing with the good news, what may not be the bad news. you know what the greatest news is you're actually addressing it. that really is the very, very first step, the hardest. >> part of my problem i speak money in such a way every day i know it costs $70,000 a year for a nursing home, with a roommate. you need $250,000 out of pocket for medical expenses in ten years of retirement. i know i'm not saving enough for that in my 529 and that makes me nervous. >> know it. better to know it than face it. >> even beyond the numbers and scary statistics, look, there's a fundamental reason why most couples don't talk about money. some of them have fear of what they have done or failed to do. they don't want to be judged. they don't want to say, i had bad credit in the past.

i made financial mistakes, had bankruptcy, unemployed, bills got out of hand. people sometimes don't want to address issues because they feel like they are going to be personally judged or called on for having made certain mistakes. >> we could talk about this for hours. louis, you said something i want to get to after the break, preparing for a global economy. the language of money is entirely global, here, china, germany, anywhere else. understanding this new world order of money and its affect on you is critical. we'll explain. >> get on twitter to talk to both of us about how to treat money. if you have questions we'll help you become fluent in the world's most important language, money. ♪ [ woman ] ♪ what i want this season ♪ if you'd like to try and guess ♪

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in order to speak money around the world, let's make sure we're all speaking the same language when it comes to this very important term, globalization. this is a term that's come to mean a lot of things. but what it really describes is the growing number of people and

nations with the access to the benefits of modernization, the ability to prosper, get richer, participate in this global economy. bottom line when you're thinking about a job for yourself or your kids, think about careers global in scope or give you access to this whole idea of globalization. >> that's because this the way the world is going. but the problem for americans is how many people can go to china or india to get their next job? it's one of the pieces of advice, argue about whether we should be going there where jobs are. i want to bring in pulitzer prize winning columnist from "new york times." the one thing about globalization it is changing the way people work faster than american skills can change. we hear a lot about experts on job placement. you should be sending your college graduate to china to get a job. >> or learning chinese. >> my worry is the vast number of people in this country that is not feasible in any scope.

how do average families make globalization work for them? >> the thing you have to understand, globalization has its up sides and down sides. our goal should be to cushion the worst and take advantage of the best. what is the best? the best is the fact if i have a spark of an idea now, the spark of an idea, i can go to taiwan, skip over here to manufacture, make this, jump over to amazon, do my fulfillment and delivery, freelancer can do log and and i can get an accountant on craigslist. all these are commodities available to everyone. you might say we have a mom and pop. can't really do that. you would be amazed at the number of people starting global companies overnight, accessing a system where my customers can be global, my suppliers can be global and my collaborators can

be global. overnight. that's happening everywhere. >> is america's education system churning out people able to take advantage of globalization and advance their own family's well-being by that or do we still have the disconnect with how fast the world is moving and how fast america is responding? >> we have both extremes basically. we have a system that is producing the very people who are designing and driving the whole technological architecture of this new globalsation platform. and we have people so far behind, don't have a high school degree, can't possibly access it. >> let's take it back to education. we do know for those folks who lost jobs in manufacturing or globalization or argue advent of technology that would have eliminated those jobs anyway, we have opportunities for younger people. i have countless ceos tell me the best thing a kid can do in college or after college is an internship in another country

where there's a different language. the ability to learn that language. can young americans equip themselves for this new globalized world? >> there's no question. you know, first of all, that's the only thing, understand one thing, if horses could vote, there never would have been cars. this technological churn is going to happen. it's inevitable. the question is how to get the most out of it. the way you get the most out of it, lean into this world. one piece of advice i give to people is think like a new immigrant. how does a new immigrant think. i'm in this country. no legacy place waiting at harvard. okay? i have to approach this world first of all understanding where the opportunities are and make sure i pursue them with more energy and vigor than everyone else. we are all new immigrants to the hyper connected world. that's how you've got to lead into it. >> the big competition is china. there's no question. there's this ongoing debate whether china is a threat or opportunity. ali and i agree it's both those

things depending where you are in this country as you point out two extremes. china. how important is it the united states deal with china in a certain way so we don't have protectionism, two countries at odds or as hillary clinton says rowing in the same boat in the same direction. >> we have to be tough with them. they have an undervalued currency which takes jobs away from america. they fiddle a lot with trade laws that force u.s. companies to transfer their intellectual property there. that's been going on for a long time. all our strengths are hiding in plain sight. we do have a free economy. we have a place where google is not censured. look at apple. apple has always been the model. imagine it here. design it here. orchestrate the global supply chain here and use china where you can for the assembly, lower skilled labor jobs and as a huge

market. we need to do -- our motto needs to be not always made in america but imagined in america, orchestrated in network. that's where the high value added jobs will be. >> tom, you're excited about it. i know you're a little troubled by some directions things are going as well so you're not sugar coating it. these are challenges we're in. you are excited about it. so are we. tom friedman is the author of "that used to be us" how america fell behind in the world it invented and how we can come back. thanks, tom. good to talk to you. christine, your view. china. greater opportunity? >> both. how u.s. manages its relationship with china is important for american families. >> you out there who run businesses, deciding on your kids education can do things. we outline them in the book you can do specifically to take advantage of this as it's happening. >> battle of the sexes, how to speak money edition. women are increasingly controlling money in the household. an important message for you women out there. it has to do with how you manage

money and how you manage money with the men in your lives. that's next. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside. what's going on? we ordered a gift online and we really need to do something with it... i'm just not sure what... what is it? oh just return it. returning gifts is easier than ever with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus i can pick it up for free. perfect because we have to get that outta this house. c'mon, it's not that... gahh, oh yeah that's gotta go... priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.95. only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship and return. nyqui tylenol: me, too. and cougnasal congestion.ers? nyquil:what? tissue box (whispering): he said nasal congestion... nyquil: i heard him. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't.

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okay. are less than men for the same jobs. one major problem women ask for less money negotiating a raise. this becomes an issue for some women. nothing aggressive in getting that raise can mean a big drop-off in salary and benefits for the future. not necessarily trying to be more like men and be aggressive like them but getting in there and advocating or have someone advocate for you is important. >> i don't know if you said this or someone but negotiating a salary, ask for something in the three. >> never give the number first and always end the salary with a three because it leaves a smile on your face. if they say why three? why 53, 103? you say because i end with three i'm smiling and i'm worth it. >> men don't take that approach,

say they are worth more than anyone thinks they are worth. bottom line some may like this and some may not. i think there's a valid argument here. women and men often speak a different language when it comes to money. don't take it from me, let's bring in jeff gardere, a clinical psychologist. do you believe that's true? we've seen studies that say behavior and out come are different for women and men with investing. >> we're seeing it changing with unemployment rates, men have been affected by that more than women. i think women now are taking more of an assertive approach, smarter approach. all goes around socialization of our children. we socialize and it's changed but we tend to socialize our daughters to be seen and not heard and our boys to be heard and to be seen. and therefore women adopt that approach based on that upbringing, so do men. all of that is flipped upside down now because women now have

much more they can bring to the table. we realize in many ways they are superior financially and they do take the time to think a lot more at the whole picture because they are in the workplace, the home. therefore they can see more of that global bigger picture. >> he talks about socializing. one of the experts in our book was so adamant about that point. sports might be a reason. men are negotiating, i'm the first baert up, this part of the team, i'll pick you on my team. women, girls are tending to do different kinds of things that involve negotiating together and mutual consensus. >> one speaks for the whole group. >> women, again, i'll make this very quick, women again it's almost like a relationship. what do women go for in a relationship, more security, someone with a deeper personality, more complex personality. what do men go for? the short-term, what does she look like? what can i get out of it right

now. men tend to negotiate their jobs. give me the big jobs, i want it right now, instead of looking at what all the benefits are and how one can sustain one's self throughout a job. >> not getting a $5,000 job for a woman at age 22 is equal to half a million over the course of a working lifetime. not going for the raise or getting the raise or for whatever reasons, many say women are paid less for lots of reasons including discrimination, that's real money. that's real money. >> what do you see, lynette. >> i can't tell you the number of women i know who come to me underpaid on the job, undervalued and scared to ask for a raise. they feel like if i ask, i don't want to seem like i'm tooting my own horn. they feel like oh, i just got this job offer. should i counter? what if they take it away and give it to somebody else willing to make less money. we have to address the fundamental issue many women, i'm not saying all and not saying this is exclusively a

female problem but many feel at a disadvantage at the bargaining table when it comes to jobs. >> i will tell you i've been working with clients over 20 years. unfortunately i have a lot of widows as clients as time has gone on. i found that the longer you work with somebody, a woman in particular, eventually they can be on the exact same plane as a man. once they crunch the numbers. as jeff said they may take longer in coming around but can be exact same with risk levels, setting up portfolios. they might not come in that way. but showing them how to get there, they are smart and -- >> that's why a lot of women are unemployed less than men. men came in with huge numbers, big impact, deep impact i call it whereas women were a little smarter looking at more of a long-term picture. that's why guys are being laid off much quicker than women and westminister are staying employed. >> hold that thought for a

second. the question now as we take it into that area of taking fuller control of your financial life is to buy or not to buy. it's the question that many of you want answered. whether we're talking about a house, do you buy or sell right now, do you rent, we'll get into all of that next on the especially edition of "your $$$$$," how to speak money.

this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy a house. >> you've been telling me that for a year. >> christine will tell you why i'm completely wrong. but i'm going to go first on this one because i've been saying it so long i figure i might as well give you my argument. number one, you will never, never in your life see interest rates go as low as they have gone. they are as low as they have ever been historically. when you buy a house most people think of the price. they think prices will go down another 5%. like most americans with a mortgage, 15, 30 years, locking in a long-term mortgage at this low interest rate will be more valuable than whether or not your house goes up by 5 or 10%. if you're buying with cash, that part of the equation doesn't work. the second thing, you look at these prices, houses are more affordable. for all the bad side we've seen, foreclosures, people who had to

sell houses, there are more houses available right now. not a quick fix. i'm not saying do this instead of investing in the stock market, preparing your 401(k) but if you're looking for a place to live and want to stay there for a long time, this might be the best time in history. >> here is my counter, don't have money in the bank, credit of 720, near-term expenses have to be careful in the housing market. might be more important to repair personal finances and rent, even though rents are going up a little bit. you need to make sure you don't take on too much house you can afford your income stream is good. i'm an advocate of multi-generations moving in together. this is an important wave of the future. the old idea of one household, one house, one or two working people in that house, that almost bankrupted a lot of people. >> a bushel of kids, having multi-generations would give you baby-sitting. >> i want my mother to move in with me, shorten costs. robert is here.

help me out. who is right, ali or christine? >> i think it differs by person, maybe that's what you're saying. depends on your circumstance. also, we just don't know. you know, interest rates have been declining for 30 years. they have reached an all-time low. i don't know whether they are going to go up immediately or not. the forecast seems to be they will go up a little bit. but it's not clear. we don't know what home prices -- i hate to see this. nobody knows. nobody else knows either. how could anyone know after the biggest bubble in history, after near miss of a depression. it's fundamental uncertainty right now. >> it's a lost decade for housing, if you look at the wealth lost in the housing market. some people spent the money built up in their homes to send kids to college, to live a middle class life even as maybe things were getting tighter for them on the job front.

can we call it -- was that a mirage, all that wealth in the housing market, was that a mirage that's never coming back? >> i think it's pretty clear it was a mirage, talking about 2005, 2006, home prices reached levels never seen in u.s. history. it's not part of a long-term trend. way beyond anything called trend. it was a bubble. it was something that happened to our thinking that got us crazy. that doesn't mean we won't go back there. we could have another bubble. right now look at the situation. we're not about to embark on another housing boom, i don't think. >> doesn't feel like it. doesn't feel like a housing boom around the corner. >> doesn't feel like that. robert, if you're making a decision whether to buy or rent is personal, has to do with your circumstances, depending whether you're going to be somewhere for a while. putting those things aside, if it's not a matter of your own

circumstance, buying versus renting, where do you fall on that right now? >> it's also a lifestyle thing. rental properties are different. it's a matter of family situation. so i think you said it right. if i had a young family, i wanted to settle down, get into a good school system, there's probably some good bargains out there, i'm sure there are. the mortgage rate might be another an all time low, i'd say definitely do it. don't do it in anticipation of a boom that's going to make you a lot of money. i don't know how many people are thinking that way. some people i'm sure still are. >> you mentioned a good school district. i advocated in the book, if you need to rent to be in a good school district that might be important for your family, too. we know an education, good education is also an investment in your family. i feel as though 1990s, 2000, everyone has to have a house, everyone has to have a house, it's really much more

complicated than that now. >> i remember in the early 2000s a young woman told me she wasn't going to get an mba because she put so much money into a house. what a tragedy. what a mistake. >> that's entirely the wrong decision to make. >> human capital matters more. your children matter more than your house. let's not get -- this idea that you have to have a big and beautiful house to impress people is way overrated. you can get on living in a modest apartment, right, and send your kids to a good school. that makes a lot more sense to me. >> you don't have to pay the $1200 plumbing bill when something happens in the apartment. in the book we profile a guy zander clark, a young guy, wants to move to the west coast for a job. he's not going to buy a place because then he couldn't move there for his job. thank you. if you're a saver like me you're getting burned, not getting interest on your money.

i'll tell you ways to make money with your money. >> finally listening to me. get on twitter to talk to both of us how to speak money. if you have questions tweet us. we'll help you. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. ♪

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welcome back to the special edition of "your $$$$$," how to speak money. never before have savers been awarded so it is for stark their money in a bank account or cd. is there a place to park your money with interest to make a little money, least risky to most risky, here is what it looks like. there's your mattress, least risky. not a good idea. not guaranteed by the federal government and won't grow. with inflation your money gets less valuable every year you leave it in there. what about pa bank account. you know the answer. the pro is it's insured by the federal government in case the bank goes belly up, up to $250,000. the con is, you're not getting

anything on it. half a% ept in interest, unless you have a lot of money in a jumbo checking account, combined a lot you're not getting squat. next option slightly more risky but with potential for reward. stock with dividends. the company pays you interest on each money you own, altria, going to pay you 6% to hold its shares. other companies merck and pfizer, pay dividends of 5%. hundreds of companies do this. to keep your risk low stick with large cap blue chip stocks with a history of raising dividends over the next several years. with more risk comes more reward. high-yield exchange funds, etfs. another option. with these you pick a basket of stocks. these are some of the most popular etfs from wisdom tree, van guard and standard & poor's. high-yield mutual funds.

when you contribute along with thousands of other small investors, a fund manager buys stocks with that money. ranked by fees and performance of fund managers, pemco and fidelity some of the top ranked funds. ali. people most responsible now in light of the recession want to be most responsible will not be rewarded at all. it's unfair, it's terrible but it is the way it is. doug flynn you have people who come to you with these questions. they say i don't have the appetite for more risk. what do you tell them? >> it's a good point. i think part of it is in the book we have a detailed risk profile. that's something that deserves to be looked at. i think you might have more appetite for risk than you think with goals that might be 20 or 30 years away. goals a year or two away you shouldn't have anything to do with the stock market. people tend to put everything in one bucket and be the portfolio, i'm in the market, out of the

market. if you separate goals think more like long-term goals i can be more aggressive with than i'm comfortable with and i'll learn to be comfortable. short-term things, savings, i don't worry if the market goes down 20%. you have to start looking in and thinking that way. that's the beginning of developing a portfolio and getting comfortable with investing. two bad things can happen to people when they start investing. you either do really well or do poorly. when you do well you take bigger bets until it case in. or if you do poorly, they have been burned, haven't made anything, they might shy away from investing for the rest of their lives. >> interest rates are so low. they are so low. that's because the government is trying to spur, the fed is trying to spur economic activity. >> trying to get people to borrow. >> if you're on a fixed income you're not getting any money for your money. you're not getting rewarded for saving and that hurts a lot of people who doesn't have a lot of

big means. >> most mistakes are not made on interest rates they are made on behavioral mistakes. an older person doesn't realize if interest rates aren't going up the principal will fall. they are looking at their statement at the end of the month and they lost $20,000. they get stared and pull the money out. >> and book the loss. >> was happening it's based on emotion. most people will earn a lot less in bond fund or stock funds because they get scared when the market goes down. they do have money in the mattress. >> let me ask you this. doug has a practice where he deals with a lot of people who they may not have talked to each other but they have a level of so fist addition. you and lynette, you deal with a lot of people who, this is their first foray into having a conversation with somebody about their finances. how do you approach this differently because generally speaking the less sophistication

and experience and comfort you have with money the more conservative you're likely to be. >> lou brought up a point that is very relevant. he said process versus products. that's one of the things i tell people who are no destroys the stock market or world of investing, do not worry about specific investment products. what's the hot stock of 2011 or 2012. what's the best mutual fund. that's the wrong focus. you should think about the process of investing which is simply in my view a five phase process. strategizing to meet your own personal goals and needs. buying the right vechlts. holding and monitoring the assets in your portfolio. selling in a judicious manner and tax efficient way. with a sell discipline or sell strategy. and fifth phase is working effectively with financial advisors, your cpa. >> they are conservative. i think this is where people get ripped off. that's why there's financial

predators. you're getting 1%, put money in this gold account. you see a lot of gold commercials. you have to be really -- >> for people who are afraid. >> when you don't have enough you want to win the lottery. these are the people that stained line to win lotto tickets and then they have nothing and want to make a lot of money the next day. they get greedy. greed or fear. you have to be careful. >> strategy part of what lynette said is good. we agree with that. that's our point. if you understand a little bit more about how to speak money you will simply be less -- >> that's where you have to go basic. educate yourself. buy the book "how to speak money." you didn't pay me to say that. finance is not sexy and a lot of people will bypass that in the newspapers and magazines, instead of reading the vampire novels all the time like do i, go out and get yourself a book on finances and be more educated and you'll be more in the comfort zone and understand.

>> i would add one thing. you speak the language slightly differently depending on your age and that's your investments. depending what you need that money to do four. the language you're speaking tore way you hear money in your 20s is different at 40 or 60. it has to be a conversation that's evolving throughout your working and retirement years. >> we have an entire chapter as a quiz four. this isn't a general conversation. you go through and pick every one of those things. it tells you where you fall into that whole gauge. this is a great conversation. we hope it's been helpful to you. jeff, doug, lynette and louis, thanks to all of you for being with us. fights over money may be the leading cause of divorce in this country but christine and i have made it through this book and this hour and we still want to work together. >> hypothetically speaking.

since you made it this far with us you should be more confident we hope about your own financial situation. a throat digest in one hour. coming up now we share what we want you to know what you learned when it comes to how to speak money.

you know throughout the process of writing this book we came across a lot of people who really said that they were intimidated by the conversation. >> smart people. >> people who were smart in other areas of their lives, confident in other areas of their lives and in their business, job, profession, in politics, in news. but for some reason when it came to money it was more intimidating. i think of the fact that i don't know much about auto mechanics but when something goes wrong with my car i know the route to get it done and get it fixed. that's the approach you have to take with money. if you do it it becomes less intimidating. we can't live under this rock where money is scary to us. >> think the most takeaway for us on money and how to speak

money cyst happening all around you. it's happening in politic, you speak money when you vote, go to the grocery store choosing the name brand over the grocery store brand. it's how you're choosing to push your children in what areas because we didn't talk about this, science, technology, engineering, math these are important growing areas of the economy. is your family ready to position themselves for those things. every position you take is speaking money. >> all this discussion about election is all money as well. these are important points. i guess one of the other things we thought about is people speak money differently. sometimes they speak the same long but they speak it with different accents. >> you and i speak money differently. in the end we come from the same place which is that you need live slightly below your means. right. to grow your wealth. to grow your wealth not for selfish reasons but for comfort and a cushion. >> to protect your kids and family and to help them being successful. thank you for watching this