Inspiration

Four Steps to Avoid Money Problems that Could Lead to Resentment

Take an assessment really quick of married friends, family and co-workers. Have they ever talked to you about their marital problems? How many of those had to do with finances and what their spouse did or did not do? As you prepare for marriage, have you thought to yourself, I don't want our marriage to be like that. Good for you.

Four steps to avoid money problems that could lead to resentment in marriage:

(1) Open and honest communication about money from the start. Make a vow to each other right now that you will talk about the financial situation. That means everything from what you are bringing to the marriage in the way of bills (student loans, credit cards) and even car loan to how you see these bills getting paid off.

(2) Don't let one person carry the financial load. This means even though every marriage has a person who manages the money, that doesn't mean the other person doesn't get to be involved. Sit down with the money manager and talk about how the bills are paid, what is the household budget, what is the contingency plan if someone loses a job, etc. When there is a shortage of money, the money manager is usually left to figure it out on their own and that alone can be stressful.

(3) Make sure both of you are giving 100% to your marriage and your finances. Even if one person stays home or has a home-based business, what is the picture you would like to see and live out when it comes to marital finances. How much will you save? How will you establish an emergency fund?

(4) Address money issues head on as they happen. Take the emotions out of it and look at it for what it is. Don't play the blame game. Here's the situation and what are the steps to fix it. Both of you are adults and if one of you have a problem, both of you have a problem. Plain and simple. Don't let other people outside your marriage dictate how you handle your finances (unless you are seeing a professional for advice).

Money

Image: freedigitalphotos.net

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *