I recently had a chance to talk with Candace Addington and hear her story about how she came to appreciate financial planning. She’s been married to Matt, a WorthPointe partner and financial planner in the Fort Worth office, for 17 years. I’m sharing it because I think it will resonate with other married couples — and perhaps spur some thinking about investing for the future.

My focus was on my husband and career. I’m very engaged as a pediatric nurse and have always assumed the role at home of being the leader on all things health and medical related. What’s more important than someone’s health? We saved, but I never thought about money. Matt went off to work and did his money thing, whatever he was doing all day. He was happy and supportive of me; that’s all that mattered. He talked about his work, but honestly, I never really got it. I was married to the love of my life, in a career I loved, so my interest in the topics Matt came home talking about had nothing to do with what he was saying and everything to do with how cute he is when he gets passionate about something.

Then things changed. I became a mother — three times. I scaled back my hours so I could be home more, while Matt’s new workload as a little league coach and Bible youth leader at church kept him out a little longer. Suddenly we weren’t living for just us anymore.

I don’t know exactly when it hit me that I should be more concerned with money, because for a while I pushed it from my mind. But as the kids got older, I needed more than to just know Matt and I were doing our best; I needed to know we were doing it right. Would our kids have the best opportunities now and in the future? They’re growing up so fast (Garrett is 11, Ellie Kate is 9 and Audrey Jane is 5), I find myself doing mental calculations of how old I’ll be when my youngest graduates from college. Then … what about Matt and I?

Now I had a reason to really hear my husband because I was worried about our kids and us. Apparently, he wasn’t just fiddling around with money all these years. He was taking care of it, investing, planning and protecting us behind the scenes — allowing me to focus at work on what I’m best and most passionate at, and during free time on the people who matter most. I felt so much better knowing Matt was taking care of our family in that way, and I found a new sense of pride in him when I finally realized he was doing the same thing for other families. In a way, I suddenly saw Matt’s career as being just like mine; we both take care of people and their loved ones. We both educate, make sure people understand the steps they can take daily to reach their goals and uncover risks that may be in front on them.

As I began to understand, I got a little more curious about WorthPointe in general. “Matt, so you talk a lot about Joshua and your other partners; how does that work?” His explanation was pretty simple: “You hear me talk about Joshua the most because he’s chief investment officer, so we have to be in near constant communication, but at WorthPointe we are a team. For example, Joshua and I at WorthPointe are a lot like you and I are at home to the extent that we both work for a common goal, but we do so in different capacities. At work, we focus on different things so each of us gets to function in the capacity we’re best at, which ensures our clients get the best of both of us.”

That made sense!

I’ll be honest. I still don’t know anything about investing. It doesn’t interest me. I feel good knowing we have a plan, though, and I do understand now why Matt has us doing things the way we do. My actions have meaning to me now, and while I think my husband is extremely capable, it was also comforting to hear he wasn’t trying to do it all alone; his partners are adding their expertise to our life as well.

Yes, I did have an “ah-ha” moment about my husband’s work. I understand the plan and what I can do to make sure we are staying the course. So, I’m comfortable enough to have gone back to my old routine — just smiling at his passion as he talks about topics I know nothing about. But now, it’s not just because he’s so handsome.