Book tackles personal finance issues

Are you on the verge of merging households — and finances — with your beloved? Or, maybe you’re a newly married couple trying to chart a lifetime financial course or a long-married couple trying to revamp and fine-tune a financial plan for the future. In any case, couples are working harder, making less, spending more and finding it more difficult to make ends meet.

“Their two-income household often has less discretionary income than the one-income household they grew up in,” said Point Breeze native Sharon Epperson, an award-winning CNBC correspondent and personal finance columnist for USA Weekend magazine.

“Rising housing costs, skyrocketing health insurance and tuition payments have forced many middle-class families to live paycheck to paycheck.” Her book, “The Big Payoff: 8 Steps Couples Can Take to Make the Most of Their Money — And Live Richly Ever After” (Collins; $22.95), offers financial advice for couples on making a budget, creating emergency savings, building wealth, buying and selling a home, saving for college, estate planning and selecting the right health, disability, long-term care, life and homeowners insurance. “I really wanted to write a personal finance book for couples because I felt there wasn’t a lot [of books] out for my husband and me that talked to us together to help us get on the right financial footing,” said Ms. Epperson, 39, who now lives in Westchester County, N.Y., with her husband and two children. “From newlyweds to those fast approaching retirement, just starting a family or soon-to-be empty nesters, this book is for all couples … who want to be financially empowered and have the peace of mind to enjoy their marriage, their family and the rest of their lives together.”