Business With Your Spouse: A Test

CNBC show The Big Idea hosted by Donny Deutsch ran a segment the other day on running a business with your spouse. On their website, they've posted a seven question test that grades how well you and your spouse would do in business. Some of the questions it asks are: Is your spouse a momentum builder? Does your spouse respect your time? and Is your spouse a good interrogator? Each question is weighted from 1-5 and the results range from: "Your Husband or wife is standing in the way of your success" to "Your relationship fosters success and your spouse gives you an entrepreneurial edge!"

Would you ever run a business with your spouse or are you currently doing so? Running a business together is one of those things that could bring you closer together or tear you apart. What's your story?

Private Names

A while back we published an article on "Naming Private Parts." Included are some common names for men and women. We recently came across a new website that asks people to submit their "thingy" names and then vote on the most popular submissions. The site is called ThingyNames and we have to warn you that some of the names are not G-rated. At the time of this post, just shy of 40% of Hitched readers say they have a name for both his and her private parts while 35% don't have a name for either, according to the article poll. Furthermore, 18% just have a name for his and 8% just have a name for hers.

Let the Wife Rule the Home

That's the key to a happy marriage according to a new study by Iowa State University. The response they got from 72 couples was that the wife's opinion took precedence over what the husband said or thought. "The women were communicating more powerful messages and men were responding to those messages by agreeing or giving in," says David Vogel, one of the leaders of the study and an associate professor of psychology. The couples questioned had been married an average of seven years and had identified themselves as having a happy marriage. The study of these couples also showed that not only was the wife's opinion the one that mattered, but the husbands were happy to accept the opinion of the wife without objection. Who rules your roost?

A Bad Marriage Can Kill You

This sounds like the punch line to a joke, but it's not. Canada.com posted an article about the strain a bad marriage can have on one's health. The article cites: increased risk for heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke, depression, eating disorders; not to mention it could affect the body's immune system, reducing the ability to fight off disease. The article also says, however, that 55 percent of couples who seek help are able to salvage their marriage.

This is definitely good news, but we say why not focus on your marriage all the time. Take the approach of living well and striving to maintain a healthy marriage all the time, rather than trying to bandage something that you neglect and then it becomes broken. We're not saying you shouldn't seek help when you need it, but problems are a lot easier to resolve the sooner you address them.

You Know What Gets Better With Age?

Sex! That's what a study by the University of Gothenburg in Sweden show. The study tracked the sex lives of four groups for 30 years and showed an increase in sex as they got older. The subjects of the study are now in their 70s and 68 percent of married men said they were having sex in 2001, up from 52 percent in the early 1970s. Married women having sex rose to 54 percent in the group interviewed in 2000-2001, up from 30 percent in the early 70s. This article on MSNBC also says that more men are expressing their low sexual satisfaction, which they think may be a result of more men being open about their sexual failure.

Marriage Counseling May Hurt Your Credit!

On June 10, the Federal Trade Commission has sued credit card issuer CompuCredit for deceptive marketing practices. The reason is that while many credit card companies have their formula for how they adjust the interest rate or credit score, CompuCredit makes its decision on purchasing behavior, not just payment history--and does so without telling the consumer.

The suit, for the most part focuses on CompuCredit's Aspire Visa, a subprime credit card for risky borrowers. The FTC claims that CompuCredit didn't properly disclose that it monitored spending and cut credit lines if consumers used their cards at certain places. Among them: tire and retreading shops, massage parlors, bars, billiard halls, and marriage counseling offices. According to this article from BusinessWeek, CompuCredit maintains that the FTC's lawsuit is without merit, and defends its practices. "Every time a consumer accesses their credit, a new decision to extend a loan is being made," says Rohit H. Kirpalani, CompuCredit's general counsel. "These scoring models are commonplace across the industry."

Doesn't it seem odd that taking steps to improve or salvage your marriage would hurt your credit score? You'd think it would improve your score since married couples statistically have a higher household income. We'll keep you posted as this story develops.

Moms Get High on Baby's Smile

A study of 28 first-time moms revealed that seeing pictures of their babies' smiles activated parts of the brain that signals a hormone called dopamine. When a mother sees their baby smile, they get a rush of dopamine, the same chemical rush that occurs when people use cocaine or nicotine. The study helps explain how the brain fosters maternal devotion, effectively making mothers addicted to their babies. An excerpt from the article explains the other side of things:

The study may also shed light on postpartum depression, which affects one in 10 new mothers, says Louann Brizendine, a neuropsychiatrist at the University of California-San Francisco who was not involved in the study. In depressed women, dopamine levels may be too low for women to respond to their babies, Brizendine says. Antidepressants, which replenish dopamine levels, often help these women.

The results of this study are interesting, but it is only with 28 mothers. But seriously, those little dimpled baby cheeks are too cute not to get you high. Click here to read the full article.

Mindfulness and the Art of Choice

Our very own Dr. Karen Sherman has a new book out titled, "Mindfulness and the Art of Choice: Transform Your Life." Dr. Sherman was recently featured on the Reader Views website, which offers a review of her book, a video overview of what you can get out of her book, an interview with Dr. Sherman, and you can listen to the audio interview with Dr. Sherman. Here's a brief snippet of their review of her book:

There are many books on the market that cover the same issues as Dr. Sherman, however, there isn’t one that is as concise and to the point as "Mindfulness and the Art of Choice" is. In less than 100 pages she helps the reader become aware of personal issues/reactions embedded in the memory. Within a few simple exercises we can change the feelings associated with the situation. At the same time we can move away from recreating those same feelings in another situation. It may sound like a difficult task, and it could be. However, Dr. Sherman simplifies everything for us through her explanations and exercises--to a point where "Mindfulness and the Art of Choice" becomes truly a self-help book.

If you weren't aware, Dr. Sherman is a regular guest on the Hitched Podcast and can also be found on the Hitched website here.

Would You Hire Your Husband?

The number of women starting and owning their own business has been consistently growing for a number of years. So it's not surprising that more women are asking the question: Should I hire my husband? The NY Times has an article offering several wife/husband teams. The article even addresses the concern of wives making their husbands feel emasculated in the workplace. One wife in the article believes that men measure themselves in the amount of money they make compared to women. So for and her husband, one year he makes more money and then the next year they switch it and she makes more money.

Would you ever own a business with your spouse? Men, would you be okay working for your wife and not being in charge?