Ask Jay: How do I handle rejection?

Got a relationship problem? Jason Godfrey, our resident columnist and man about town, is here to help.

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I've been flirting with a male co-worker and want to ask him out. What should I do if he says no?

I get it. Asking a co-worker out is always potentially super awkward, even if things go well. Maybe you can ask him out by not asking him out.

Like, invite him to a group dinner where you can strategically plop yourself next to him and monopolise his time, and then go from there.

That way, you get a better sense of whether he's into you or not, and you can avoid embarrassment by never showing your face on Zoom again.

After chatting online with this guy for a while, he asked me out on a date! How do I ask if he's fully vaccinated without sounding rude?

We are living in times of a pandemic. There is nothing rude about asking anyone if they are fully vaccinated!

In fact, if he isn't vaccinated and it's not for a good reason, like he's got an allergy or there's a potential conflict with existing medication, he's the rude one if he's not vaxxed!

People who aren't vaxxed are akin to the people who say they're not going to follow traffic rules – they put everyone else at risk because of a misplaced sense of what freedom actually is.

In fact, you should ask – it's a good litmus test to find out if the guy is worth your time.

Men and women handle money differently

Men and women spend and save very differently. Is it true that men are more astute? How do you deal with the differences in your own life?

There are differences to how guys and girls spend their money.

As a new dad, I'm thinking about how to save up to send our boy to school, while my wife is out buying cute shorts and tops so he can wipe his dirty fingers on his new clothes. Seriously, that's all he uses his clothes for.

I don't think this disparity between the sexes is that uncommon. I may think that saving is a priority; however, my wife is right too – if I had my way and dressed our son in old pillowcases, social services might come knocking.

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What we both agree on is that we need to save for our future. Before, we really didn't know what that meant. Then, I found the idea of F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence, Retire Early).

If you google it, you'll find stories of people who saved up and stopped working young, and are now writing the great Singapore novel, or just playing Fifa all day. Either way, it's about freedom.

Now my wife and I know what we're saving for, and how much to save.

The best way to do that is to find a number that will give you financial independence in the future and aim for that, and watch as your excess spending on lattes, taxis and cute tops suddenly drops.

This article was first published in Her World Online.