Billy had grown-up in a family with strong finances. When I talked with him, that seemed to be his focus. He stated, "While money is not everything in a relationship, it can be a blessing or a curse. Fiscal discipline can make or break a relationship."

Billy's father was a special interest attorney in the private sector and Billy claimed that his mother and father constantly fought about money. They had plenty, as D.C. is no place to live on the cheap; but the bickering and fighting seemed to ensue on a regular basis. Billy had no interest in forming a relationship with anyone where money would be an issue, and cautioned me against a life with Samantha or anyone else where that issue arose. I agreed with him in theory, and had yet to see where that was an issue between Samantha and I. However, having not lived together, it seemed that our trip to Tuscany would flush out or at least give me some insight into her spending habits and her regard or disregard of personal finances. It was perhaps going to be a baseline to go by.

As I thought more about money, I resigned to the fact that Samantha and I would have to iron-out a budget for our trip. We had talked about it briefly with her being a student and I sort of on my own at this point, but bringing a finer point of clarity to the "nuts and bolts" of the issue might be strongly warranted.

Billy himself was a strong saver. While I too leaned toward the "save" part of the equation, I had a propensity to splurge on occasion. Within my proposed profession, seeing others pay dearly for a bottle of wine and even "throwing caution to the wind" on occasion was something I would definitely see regularly.

My personal preference was to build a wine cellar on the idea of investing. I would invest in bottles over time that might be able to be resold at a higher value. Like any investment, I hoped that my solid choices within the background of my knowledge of the industry might lend to some solid gains. Billy, too, planned to have a top-notch personal wine cellar. That was something we had in common.