3 things relating to finance that you can do with your family to enhance relationship
The above news raised concern for Malaysian families. Kids become the victim if families are broken. It is hence important for families to find ways resolving financial issues so that families are being protected.
The followings show 3 things you can do with your families to increase family relationship and enhance the family finance.
- Have your spouse to discuss the family financial goals with you. Make sure his / her financial goals are aligned with what you want for the family. Financial goals include retirement goal, children education fund goal and lifestyle goal. How much money you both anticipate for each of the goal and by when you need to achieve the goals? Having these to be discussed will reduce misunderstanding and arguments at the later stage.
Following the goals setting, both of you should start discussing about the budgeting plan and the saving plan. Who should save for what? How much to save per month to achieve the goal? How much to spend to enable the saving required.
Family financial planning doesn’t just end with goal setting and budget setting. It is suggested that the spouse can sit together to discuss the actual implementation and the plan. Monitor and discuss about the progress. Better communication about finances can help to deepen the couple’s relationship which in turn strengthen the family tie.
- Involve the kids on simple finance matters. The parents should start having money talks with the kids since young. Many Malaysian families tend to avoid the kids from financial issues thinking that it is good for the kids. However, kids should know the family financial situation so that they don’t bother the family with more financial commitments, or if possible can contribute financially. They should be educated on the basic things such as the costs of the toys, activities, classes they were enrolled into. Let them understand the impact of the cost and have the choice to make decision to select what is best for them. This will also help raise the financial literacy of the kids and they can better manage their money in the future.
- Have the whole family to plan for family activities with a budget in mind. It can be a family vacation with a bigger budget or just an evening activity with a small budget say RM 150. Let the kids or spouse to discuss what to do with the small budget. It can be a meal or a movie.
Having the whole family to plan for the vacation including discussing and determining the hotel, places to visit will enhance the relationship and it gives more chances to the family to have conversation. Less arguments will occur pertaining to the selection of hotel and trip packages. Sometimes, when there is a budget set, some elements within the vacation package need to be compromised. Having the family to discuss together can help the family to identify the priorities and spend more effectively. If we want to be happy, having a loving family is important. We do not hope that the financial issues will affect a loving family relationship. Let’s implement the above 3 suggestions for better family relationship.
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