 Communicating About Money
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Audio/Video Script:
Laura Connerly
Family Resource Management
Communicating about money can be a challenge for couples and for families.
Individuals have different values and attitudes about spending and saving.
For one person, money may mean power, for another the importance could be
prestige or it could be financial security.
Also, individuals have different financial goals. So there is plenty of
potential for conflict when it comes to money management. And often when
families don’t talk things out, even the best spending plan won’t work. So if
your money discussions end up being shouting matches, it’s time to try a
different approach.
You don’t always have to agree about money, but you can still reach a
suitable compromise. So let’s talk about some of the main areas that are hot
spots for conflict when families talk about money.
There are four main areas that seem to cause problems: value conflicts,
unrealistic goals, emotional uses behind spending money, and a lack of financial
planning.
Value conflicts, if you had five thousand dollars, how would you spend it?
Well, one person might say for college, and another might spend it on a down
payment on a new car. If you had some extra money every month, would you buy
stereo equipment or would you buy more life insurance? These represent different
values and when different values arise in families, there can be money
conflicts.
Another hot spot for conflict is unrealistic goals. Sometimes families end up
trying to live beyond their income and this can cause conflict.
Emotional uses of money is another problem area. Advertisers know that
emotions are tied to our spending and saving plans, they play on that all the
time. You need to be aware of the emotions behind your spending, and that can
help families be more harmonious in their money management.
And a final area of conflict is a lack of planning. The old saying says that
“if you fail to plan, then you’re planning to fail.” So good money management
strategy helps you to avoid conflict.
So those four main areas of conflict when communicating about money are value
conflicts, unrealistic goals, emotional uses of money and lack of planning and
those four areas of conflict are important to keep in mind when your family is
trying to communicate about money.
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