5 Ways to effectively deal with family finances

With money being one of the top causes of divorce how do you avoid money conflicts in your marriage. Family finance can be a source of great joy or tremendous hurt depending on how its managed.

Here to tell us about how manage family finance is Stacey Tinsdale author of the book “The true cost of happiness: the real story behind managing your finances.”

“A couple is soon parted by their money conflicts” this is such a true statement, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here are 5 ways to effectively deal with family finance

1. Understand your partner’s financial personality.

Men and women bring different attitudes and ideas about money to their marriage union. That is why you should make sure you fully understand your fiancé’s financial personality.

What is financial personality?

This is simply the way we have been socialize to behave and think about money. Some people horde money – the misers. Some people spend money like crazy – the spend thrifts. Some people don’t really care about money – the missionaries. All this is based around what we learnt about money while we were growing up.

“The financial aspect of your relationship is just a big a part as fidelity,”  Stacey Tisdale says.

1. Decide what is best for both of you. Don’t take on the media’s idea of what is best for you.

We all feel some sort of pressure – peer pressure. We want the best car, house, clothes etc. However all these have associated costs.  Decide what is best for you and what your budget can afford and don’t try to keep up with the Jones.

1. Take your financial personality into account. Be away of the what you believe about money and how you acquire, spend and save it. You need to change, modify or adjust so that you can best meet your financial goals
2. Come up with goals together – think about why you want and collectively work together on this.
3. Monthly money meeting – have a financial meeting every month, like you would talk about the children’s education. Talk about your goals. Have it in a positive activity.

“Money represents the things we value in life,” Tracy Tisdale