Your Relationships And Money For Personal Finance

By: Brandon Schmid Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Relationships in many ways are much like your own personal finances. Your relationships take a great deal of dedication, planning, communication, understanding, goal setting, deposits and withdrawals. Personal finances take the exact same amount of work, planning, understanding, goal setting, deposits and withdrawals. both are inexplicably connected in many ways and if one encounters some sort of difficulty the other will be adversely affected. Here are a few ways you can manage your money and your relationships and watch both grow amazingly together.
GOAL SETTING: Where will you be in 5 or ten years? This is a wonderful conversation starter for you and your mate. The great thing about this question is managing money can easily be connected with goals for the relationship. Your partner may not be happy with his or her current job and has thoughts of opening their own business or planning to go back to school. Together you could discuss what steps need to be taken to accommodate each of your unique goals and not sink the financial boat. If you keep this line of discussion open you will be able to set some real goals in money and in life.
COMMUNICATION: This is probably the most fundamental requirement for any great relationship. Because many misunderstandings are about money it is wise to keep an open line of communication in everything else so that talking about finances comes naturally. This means that any big purchase should be thoroughly discussed. Imagine how annoyed you might be if your life partner came home one day with a fifteen hundred dollar flat screen T.V. or a fifteen hundred dollar dress or fifteen hundred dollars in penny stocks. If you can talk about money, that would be one less thing that may result in disagreement. Communication is key in relationships and in financial planning as well.
JOINT ACCOUNT: The age old question. Some feel that having a joint bank account is important because it displays a big degree of trust. Others feel that it is important to keep the personal finances apart from the relationship due to the freedom it allows. The problem is it may cause disruptions in the relationship. Why not have both? The first thing you need to figure out is what your bills are and what is left over for pleasure. {In my opinion|I think a simple formula to follow is both of you takes 20% from the paycheck each week to deposit into a personal account. That money is yours and yours alone. You might use it to buy a nice pair of shoes, football tickets or whatever you want. The remaining eighty percent is placed into a joint account that will cover living expenses like food, mortgage, retirement planning, car payments etc.. This way if you choose to treat yourself, you are using your money to do so.
STAY ON THE SAME PAGE: This is extremely important. Stay informed. One of you could know a little more about personal finances. There aren't many things more exciting in a relationship then learning together and understanding the same things. If both of you know where the cash is going, how it is being invested and what investments you could make there should always be an understanding. There is nothing more heartbreaking than when one person makes a solo decision and loses everything. If you constantly inform each other about financial opportunities and financial decisions it will be more difficult to make silly mistakes. As the saying goes, two minds are better than one.
Relationships are a continual work in progress. It is inevitable that you will encounter problems and probably won't see eye to eye with your partner all of the time. Finances are one issue that can easily be avoided with an open line of communication, goal setting, planning and understanding. If you and your life partner can communicate honestly when it comes to money and have the right plan in place, your relationship with each other and with money will grow stronger and stronger each day.

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