Got money issues?
Lots of people have "issues" with money.
I was just reading Salon.com and came across this.
Since the internet changes things so often, I'll give you a brief synopsis: everyone needs to learn about money, even writers.
The author, Cary Tennis, answers a letter where a woman talks about caring for her partner, but because of his ideas about and patterns with money, she does not think the relationship has a future. They otherwise seem to have a great connection, but money is the pits.
Money is not something we talk about or get taught about - not by parents, teachers, in school or even college. Although we often pick up our parents attitudes and ideals, we don't always pick up their skills - if they had money skills at all.
This is no longer a world of pensions and jobs with lots of retirement planning and ease of buying single family homes (or even in sustaining two-parent families over time). The national economy is crashing and the global economy is in constant flux. It's up to us to create the future that we want.
In the case of this article, not understanding and talking about money has lead this couple to have a potentially serious issue. What to do?
Tennis suggested just what I was thinking - talk to someone and get some support. Talking about money can be inititally painful, but it often leads to openness and connection - enhancing relationships rather than detracting from them.
If you want to create clarity about your relationship with money, set aside some time to talk through your money stories. Talk about what your parents did with money and what that meant for you, how it felt and what the repercussions have been. Talk about what your parents spent money on and how you spend money and what you want your experience of money to be.
And listen. Listen to youself and your emotions as you talk and listen to your partner, friends and loved ones when they talk about money. Open the conversation and see where it takes you! And you want support around that let me know!
I was just reading Salon.com and came across this.
Since the internet changes things so often, I'll give you a brief synopsis: everyone needs to learn about money, even writers.
The author, Cary Tennis, answers a letter where a woman talks about caring for her partner, but because of his ideas about and patterns with money, she does not think the relationship has a future. They otherwise seem to have a great connection, but money is the pits.
Money is not something we talk about or get taught about - not by parents, teachers, in school or even college. Although we often pick up our parents attitudes and ideals, we don't always pick up their skills - if they had money skills at all.
This is no longer a world of pensions and jobs with lots of retirement planning and ease of buying single family homes (or even in sustaining two-parent families over time). The national economy is crashing and the global economy is in constant flux. It's up to us to create the future that we want.
In the case of this article, not understanding and talking about money has lead this couple to have a potentially serious issue. What to do?
Tennis suggested just what I was thinking - talk to someone and get some support. Talking about money can be inititally painful, but it often leads to openness and connection - enhancing relationships rather than detracting from them.
If you want to create clarity about your relationship with money, set aside some time to talk through your money stories. Talk about what your parents did with money and what that meant for you, how it felt and what the repercussions have been. Talk about what your parents spent money on and how you spend money and what you want your experience of money to be.
And listen. Listen to youself and your emotions as you talk and listen to your partner, friends and loved ones when they talk about money. Open the conversation and see where it takes you! And you want support around that let me know!
posted by Infinitely Possible at
9:42 PM
2 Comments:
Briana, Great post. Yes, even us writers need to learn to talk about money. Thanks!
I'm firmly of the belief that we need to have a required course on business in 9th or 10th grade. Everyone's life is a business — it has assets and liabilities (a balance sheet), income and expenses (a P&L), and a net cash flow. Anyone who doesn't understand the basics of how a business works is almost guaranteed to struggle financially all their life, even if they get lucky a few times here and there.
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