In marriage and family life, after sex comes money. Issues of sex, intimacy and companionship are one thing but money issues are another big thing in a home. But it’s unfortunate that many of us ignore this very important aspect of a marital union and focus more on the intimacy aspect, when preparing for marriage.
Financial issues should be strongly taken into consideration long before you set out to embark on a marital journey. As a matter of fact, whether you are male or female, as a single person, it is your personal responsibility to gain financial intelligence and start applying the principles you’ve learnt. If many of us were financially educated and properly orientated during our single years, we would not be having some serious financial challenges we face in our marriages today. Financial intelligence is not just about having money or working hard to get a good job, its about having an investment and saving mentality; always thinking about what you can build towards the future rather than consuming all you earn at the moment. In this series, we are going to be looking at several financial issues that affect marriages and create unhappy or even broken homes. Issues regarding finance that affect homes include:
– Inability of a man to fend for his wife and children.
– An idle and ‘demanding’ wife.
– Lack of financial cooperation/trust between husband and wife.
– Difference in taste and class as regards their standard of living.
– Wife earning more than husband.
– One spouse earns money and the other wastes money.
– Difference in family financial backgrounds.
– A stingy or miserly man.
– Lack of future plan or investment for children.
And many other financial issues that affect homes and family life.
Dear single lady, before you run off to marry that young man, are you really sure he has a steady source of income that can at least put food on the table when you get married and start having children? Is your man stingy or finds it difficult to part with money? Are you financially stable already or do you have a job or a business idea that you can bring into your new home and assist with the numerous bills? What standard of life do you plan on living from the onset of your marriage? Are you ready to stomach any financial challenge that may hit your home along the line? Are you willing to submit to your future husband in all aspects of life including finances and money? Are you ready to support your husband’s financial decisions and give him adequate support and honest advice? Have you discussed your family size with your man and when you would like to start having the babies? If yes, is your future husband financially ready to play the role of a father to your unborn child/children? These are serious questions you should ask yourself especially when fixing a wedding date. And if most of your answers are NO, then you should seriously consider postponing the wedding date till when you are both financially responsible enough to start a family.
Now to the young and vibrant young men. Here are a few questions for you to also consider; Do you think you are financially ready to be the new father of your wife and future kids? Fatherhood comes with a good dose of financial responsibility; are you ready to maintain the beautiful flower (your wife) the way you met and admired her in her father’s house and are you ready to bear children that would wear good clothes, eat healthy food and go to good schools? Do you even have a job or a steady source of income? If you are presently working for someone else, what is your financial plan in case you are retrenched or fired? Do you have any investment plans on ground? What is your financial plan for the next five years of your marriage? At what age do you intend meeting certain financial goals and milestones and what are you presently doing to work towards them? Are you financially able to plan even a low key wedding ceremony without borrowing some money? Are you financially discipline or are you simply a stingy person? Genuinely answer these questions before going to see your bride’s father and ask for her hand in marriage.
Well, here’s where we draw the curtain for now. Keep checking this space for more on this topic. Cheers!
