This week, my wife and I celebrated our 20^th wedding anniversary.  We can point to a lot of reasons for our success, but I'm convinced it's because we've never had so much that either of us would be willing to settle for only half.  That, and the realization that one of us would have to keep the kids.

After two decades of beating the odds, we took some time to reflect.   What was it that originally attracted us to one another?  She says it was my willingness to talk.  Having been around the block a few times, I know that's her way of saying it wasn't my good looks.  I was a 20 year-old sailor.  Care to guess where my mind was?

Here we are, twenty years later.  Two decades of beating the odds and shattering her mother's dreams.  What's the secret to our longevity?  I can sum it up in two words … joint credit.  Nothing we own is worth fighting over, and neither of us wants to get stuck paying for it.  It's that simple.

Some people blame their problems on a lack of money.  If that's true, why do so many rich people need both hands to count their past marriages?   Attorneys are the leading cause of divorce.  If you can't afford one, chances are you'll make it.

Neither of us is a financial genius.  While most people build a nest egg, we scrambled ours and served it on toast.  At the rate we're going, I can retire at age 96.  Since it's a safe bet I won't live that long, why bother?   Whatever we leave behind will be split between the kids and the state, and we've already given both more than their fair share.

We always had a simple philosophy.  Never put off until tomorrow what you can finance today.  The bank saves money so I don't have to.  Never mind the price.  How much are the monthly payments?

Bankers, bless their hearts, are on to this way of thinking.  You can have anything, right now, for only six hundred easy payments.  The problem is, I've never made an "easy" payment.  They all bite.

We seem to be learning a little as time goes on.  For the first time in our lives, we've kept a car long enough to put new tires on it…twice.   Our microwave and clothes dryer are so old, they're actually appreciating in value.   I've even been known to mend holes in my socks.

The fact is I'm cheap, and it's getting worse with age.  Combine that with the fact that my salary has nearly doubled in the past two years, and the results are obvious.  For the first time ever, we have a savings account and, worse yet, we actually have money in it.