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Are you one of the 33% of Australians that find dealing with money stressful? Does money and all matters financial cause conflict and stress in your relationship? You are not alone. We are all different and that includes our money beliefs and money personalities, and just like other beliefs and personality traits, if we don’t recognise and address the differences the conflict and stress can fester and cause great divides in our relationships.

Our beliefs around money and our money personalities affect our financial attitudes and behaviours. Money beliefs are the thoughts or opinions we hold about money, what our parents taught us about money, what our money fears are and what our financial goals are.   Beliefs about spending and saving are often subconscious and we may not even be fully aware of them.

Money personality is how we deal with money; and like our beliefs this can influence our financial attitudes and behaviours.

Conflict can arise in a relationship where we have different spending and saving styles, here are our five crucial issues to discuss to minimise relationship conflict around money:

1. Discuss money regularly, don’t wait until the credit card is maxed out to talk about it. Work towards fostering open communication, mutual understanding and working as a team.
2. Agree on money responsibilities-agree on who will manage the family finances and be responsible for paying the bills. Agree on who will manage long term saving and investing.
3. Share your feelings about your finances, understand your attitudes to spending and saving, think and talk about your parents and the part money played in your upbringing. Agree to
   disagree on some spending.
4. Understand your situation, understand your current financial situation and where your money is going to. Work out what you can change and how you will do it.
   The word budget is sometimes associated with depravation, agree on your relationship goals and think about your financial situation as a spending plan, working towards achieving those goals.
5. Get help, if you find your money discussions always end up in a fight, look to get help from a financial counsellor or speak to a financial adviser to set you up with a plan that you can both
   agree on and work towards. At Lumix Wealth, we can work with you to develop your financial plan and keep you on track, call us now for an obligation free discussion.