Yesterday, a slew of articles appeared in the news proclaiming Married Couples at a Record Low. I’m aware of the trend that younger people are delaying or reevaluating whether they want to make the plunge, and with over 50% of marriages still ending in divorce, I can understand the hesitancy.
So as we prepare to bid farewell to 2011 and ring in 2012, I find myself wondering, will money continue to be one of the major causes of couple’s calling it quits?
One obvious yet significant way you can increase the odds that you will not become a divorce statistic is by working as a team with your partner around your personal finances. That means you’re both on the same page in terms of how you spend, save, invest and earn your money.
The Power of 2
To get on the same page with your mate regarding money is easier said than done. But you have to start somewhere, otherwise conflict is just a visa bill away.
As a holistic financial planner that works extensively with couples, I love helping them find their mojo when it comes to managing their money and discovering what it feels like to have money harmony in your relationship. It’s an amazing gift to your relationship and one of the best investments you can make towards your long-term financial success. Working together as a team, being in sync and alignment with your mate, both of you rowing in the same direction and both focused on the same financial life goals, now that’s real power. My wife Pat and I refer to it as The Power of 2!
When you consider how much time throughout our lives that we spend trading our precious life energy for money and how little time we invest in smartly managing, investing and strategically planning how best to use that money, it seems crazy, doesn’t it. All those precious hours spent making money and so little time invested planning for it.
As you go about making your new year’s resolutions for 2012, how about making a commitment as a couple that you’re going to become a Power of 2 couple by once and for all, summoning the courage needed to get your financial house in order by co-creating a comprehensive financial plan that you both are fully invested in.
Working together on a financial plan will help you clarify and prioritize your financial and personal goals. It’s a time when you step back from the busyness of day to day life to take an active role in architecting your future. You’re reaching deep inside on a soulful level and sharing your deepest hopes and fears. It’s your time as a couple to plan your future, set your intentions and actively design a financial roadmap to make it all happen.
Carpe Diem
Designing and creating a comprehensive financial plan has the potential to bring you closer together as a couple than you could ever have imagined. Couples that “seize the day” so to speak, set themselves up for long-term happiness and success. At the heart of this success is the power of teamwork.
A couple that discovers how vitally important teamwork matters when it comes to managing their money is a couple I am eager to be of service to and is a couple destined to harness the Power of 2!
