Let's talk money, honey

IN the old days of match-making, parents ask their prospective son-in-law about his income so that they can assess if he was able to support their daughter comfortably or at least to the level of what she’s been used to.

I suppose this was to ensure a longer lasting marriage.

While having a lot of money is not the cure-all to marital ills, financial issues are apparently a predictor of marriage breakdowns, according to a study done by Dew, Britt and Huston titled Examining the Relationship Between Financial Issues and Divorce.

In modern times, talking about money is a bit insensitive - rendering the person asking like a gold digger.

But perhaps it is actually something practical that we should be talking about to ensure the relationship has another one-up chance ofsurvival.

After all, we are so hung up on making sure our partner has similar interests, complementary goals, good emotional intelligence, and some intelligence quotient. Surely the financial alignment is important, too.

While Ido agree that it is quite hard to ask bluntly howmuch a person is earning on the first o rsecond date,it maybe allright to ask:

1)What is your moneymanagement style? Do you pay your self first orlast?

2)What percentage of your income do you save?

3)Howare you planning for retirement?

4)Which do you think is more important - earning more money or saving more money?

5)How do you feel about sharing financial information with yourpartner?

6)On a scale of1to 10, how do you think you fare in the money manager role?

7)How do you feel if you have less than three months’ emergency money?

These questions may get you a lot of different responses, and from these responses you get a better gauge about your prospective partner’s view on personal finance.

After all,it’s not about how much money is made but rather how well that money is managed that is the most important.And also, this may help avert a marital disaster.

BY AMELIA HONG AND SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT OF SUCCESS CONCEPTS LIFE PLANNERS

The writer can be contacted info@successconcepts.biz