Getting spouse on board with investing

[Meghan Custer]

Newbie here - No deals under my belt yet, I'm still in the education/learning phase (though, I guess you never really do leave that stage). 

I am hoping to create and grow a buy and hold rental portfolio that will eventually allow me to make REI my full time career. I tend to be a very low risk person and even if I grow things slow, I should be able to pull that off within 5 years.

The only thing is - my husband isn't as excited as I am to jump on the REI train. We were talking about it last night and he would prefer to wait until we're done having children - which could be any number of years. I am anxious to get started now because I feel like we're missing out on potential income and the growth potential for our portfolio.

So, I'm curious - has anyone here had difficulties getting their spouse on board with their investing? What eventually made your partner comfortable with the idea? My husband understands the numbers and our income potential, I think he's just being risk adverse...

[Michael Albaum]

What would your spouse rather do with the money? I totally get being risk averse, but money sitting in a bank is actually more at risk due to inflation that putting it into a safe investment. I've always found that showing someone what the income could do on a personal level is helpful. As opposed to saying, "we could make an extra $500/mo" you could say something like "this rental could pay for Susie's day care" or "this rental would allow us to take that vacation to Hawaii we've always been talking about". Numbers are often boring and don't resonate with everyone, but tying those dollars to tangible things or trips can often turn things around. 

Best of luck