Monday, January 26, 2009

Family Finance Truly is a Family Affair


Posted By: Sean Brown


Family Finances should be handled just as it sounds as a family. All decisions should be explained and passed through the whole family. I’m not saying to involve your three year old child, but between husband and wife both should understand how to handle the family’s finances. I have a personal story that demonstrates the hardships of not discussing family finances. A family that I know recently underwent a tragedy in that their father passed away over night. It was a complete freak accident, and there was no planning for it. This caused a huge amount of trauma due to the fact that the father handled all the finances for the family. When it came to the family finances the wife knew literally nothing. She had never filed the tax returns or paid the bills. He had a living will but they never discussed it together so she has been left to ask, “What would he want me to do?” This is not a situation you want to leave your spouse or your family with. First handle your own finances, then talk and discuss them with your partner because you both need to have a common understanding. Both parents should know how to take care of the family finances as well as having a firm grasp of where the family lies in their current financial standing.
Most fights that occur in a family are caused because of money related issues. When money is coming in than there are no problems, but if times are tight, having a common understanding of current family finances and what costs need to be reduced is a decision that should be made mutually between people in the family.
I feel it is necessary to involve your kids in your finances, and your family’s current financial situation because closing them off from the true realities of the financial world will not benefit them in the long run. They need to understand the importance of properly handling their finances in order to succeed when they finally do depart from the house.
The point of this is to make sure nobody in your family is financially illiterate. People no matter what the age should understand the impact of their decisions in relation to their finances otherwise we will end up staying in this downward spiral of an economy.
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