It’s been said the biggest cause of divorce is money troubles. I did some research last year and found that is not correct. The biggest cause of divorce is marriage!

Nonetheless, money problems rank close to the top, but the real problem is couples’ inability to effectively communicate.

When we counsel couples about money management, a natural outcome is better communication. We usually find that the one who takes care of the money is stressed out and unable to talk about it without getting mad. The other party says, “I don’t understand. I bring home my paycheck, and I expect to be able to buy something if I need it!”

When couples have a “money date” once a month, they look over everything — what they spent the previous month and what they intend to spend the coming month. With that knowledge, we often hear, “Oh, I never understood why she was so upset when I bought some fishing gear,” or “Oh, I never understood why he was so upset when I got that new pair of shoes.”

If you truly understand where your money has gone and where it needs to go, it’s easy to put off a purchase that’s not part of the plan — and it’s also possible to include a little discretionary spending fund, so you can still reward yourself once in a while.

When we do workshops, we always suggest attendees bring their spouse or another family member because the success rate goes up exponentially when you have more than one family member trying to solve the money problems!

To you best money life,
Jude