lawyer’s hourly rate for what amounts to legal secretarial
services. If you can easily afford to pay this, you save a little
time. If you cannot afford it or don’t want to, commonly
available legal guides show you how to draft any kind of
agreement, from purchase and sale of real estate to divorce.
Once you have the agreement drafted, you only pay the at-
torney’s hourly rate for reading it and providing counsel.WHATDIDYOULEARN?
Now look back over your list of transactions over $5,000.
Identify the transactions where you are less than satisfied with
the result. In light of the negotiating suggestions you have just
read, what mistakes can you identify? What can you do better in your
next negotiation?
Negotiating with Your Children
Some of the wisest parents negotiate service agreements with their
children. These agreements, documented and often posted on the
refrigerator, consist of the name of each child, a list of the agreed-
on tasks, and places to check off when the job is completed each
week. The compensation (allowance) is also shown on the refriger-
ator. Documents such as these seems to build children’s sense of
self-esteem and ability to assert themselves in the world. They give
children an idea of what the world outside the home is like.
Negotiating with Your Children 191