Are you struggling to fix money problems in your marriage?
How to fix money problems in marriage must be one of the most asked questions in the save marriage niche. Money problems in marriage rate as one of the most common marriage problems couples have to deal with. In fact, in a report at familycornerstones.com, it’s estimated that up to 60% of couples cite money issues as one of the main reasons they fight. We believe this figure could be even higher. So why does money cause problems in marriage?
The truth is, money doesn’t cause problems most of the time; it’s people and how they handle and deal with it. One of the biggest issues with money and marriage problems is partners not telling their spouse about their financial activity. In other words, one of the other will have a bombshell dropped that they are in financial trouble because a deal he/she had been working on didn’t work out. Sound familiar?
One of the most common marriage problems that is related to money is when one or both partners have been secretive about a financial situation that has now gotten out of hand. If credit card debt, loans and arrears are kept hidden from/by your spouse, it undermines the essential element of trust and honesty in a healthy relationship.
If you’re looking at how you can start to get a handle on your situation with your finances – it all starts with being able to set aside the time to talk about your financial situation openly and honestly in a calm and rational way.
Go somewhere quiet in a neutral setting to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.
Decide in advance on some guide lines such as keeping your cool, avoid character attacks and if things do start to get too heated then take some time out to let each other cool down.
Discuss your financial situations openly and honestly – this is not a time for hiding anything (actually there is never a time to do this in a marriage). Determine exactly how much is owed in total and each month in repayments. Look at your joint and separate assets, liabilities, income and expenditure. Marriage trouble can arise when you don’t have a clear picture of your financial situation.
Discus your beliefs and ideas about money, credit, investing and what you believe to be good and bad debt. A fantastic resource for learning about ‘wealth consciousness’ is Robert Kiyosaki’s best selling book Cashflow Quadrant.
Additional common marriage problems about money are to do with your money experiences and how each of your families handled their finances while you were growing up. This is going to have a direct impact on how you view and treat money as an adult. The results will amaze you…..
Have you kept secrets of a financial nature from your spouse? Did it backfire on you and cause issues in your marriage? Did you consider at the time that it was like deceiving your spouse and you felt as if you were being unfaithful to them? How did things work out?
We’ll love to hear from you as always as we appreciate your feedback. If you have been in a situation such as the one described above then feel free to share your experience and how you solved it. Your advice could be just the help someone reading this needs to get their marriage back on track.
So, how to solve money problems in marriage? Money is like guns. People blame guns when something goes wrong but unless there is someone to pull the trigger, a gun won’t do any damage. It’s the same with money. It is too often mis-handled by people and when separate financial accounts come into play in a marriage without either spouse being aware of them then you can “bet your bottom dollar” that problems will arise. They always do. What do you think?ﾠ