Dear Moneyist, My children’s father recently pledged to pay $10,000 of $20,677 child-support arrears. He initially wanted the funds divided between his two sons. When I mentioned our daughter, he said divide it between our three adult children. Our adult children are 42, 39, and 34 years old. I received a rare child-support payment from my ex when my children were young.Hence, the arrears. If I actually receive these funds as arrears, I plan on giving about half to my children and keeping the...

Dear Moneyist, I knew my husband of 5 years was poor at managing finances before we got married. The fact that he made $85,000 a year, and had little retirement and no savings clued me in. But he’s so much worse than I expected. He generally seems to have little concern for saving money, which is generally left up to me to manage. I watch our finances like a hawk. But now I’m at a complete loss. We got a letter from the Internal Revenue Service that our tax refund ($3,000) was being held...

Dear Moneyist, I am a white woman of privilege. I am also the full-time working single mother of an adopted child, and I have led a very successful career. While I have benefited throughout my life from my parents’ financial support, even though I have never married, my parents have worked hard to keep things financially equal between me and my siblings. My issue is this: my sister-in-law constantly makes snide comments about how I have it so good. She implies that my brother/her husband and...

Some residents reflect on the pandemic and costs of globalization, and say it’s not too late to turn this medieval city’s fortunes around I don’t know what went wrong I don’t know if it was your fault Or the usual scratch of some human touch Poisoned sneezes all around my canals Over the old pompous marble of my city Then down to the endless slums of the planet How did we get HERE? You ask, Surrounded by this victorious solitude In the streets of our world And now I cannot touch you I cannot...

Dear Moneyist, I have been with my partner for 5 years and married for 1 year. I left my apartment, threw away all my furniture and moved into their home they own from an inheritance. I racked up debt from helping to rehabilitate the home so we could be comfortable. During the pandemic, my spouse and I decided to file a Chapter 7 so we could start over fresh and do things differently. Once the bankruptcies were done, my spouse asked me for an open marriage! I was taken back and shocked. I...