Talking about Finances

Today’s class described exactly the way my parents view money: polar oppositions. For example, my dad bought some sort of shotgun shell reloader. To him, spending money like that is security. He believes that in the long run, reloading his own shells will save him more money than having to buy new ones all the time. To my mom, however, spending money on a shotgun shell reloader is enjoyment. She believes that the things my dad buys are “toys.” Thus, there are many arguments in my house about the way money is spent.

Understanding how finances affect families is important as a professional because, as we discussed during class, this is about conflict resolution. The content of financial disagreements isn’t the problem; what matters is the process of solving the conflict.

I will use this in my own professional development as I prepare to work through financial situations with my fiancé. Just last week in marriage preparation, we talked a lot about finances…because we hadn’t really talked about them before! We agree on a lot of things (we both are savers, we both follow budgets, etc), but it’s good to know that when we do disagree on a financial issue, we must realize that it’s not about the content of the argument; it’s the process of resolution. Because we aren’t sharing finances yet, we don’t have those arguments. But we can use this time of engagement to work on our conflict resolution, so that when those arguments do arise, we can work through the process effectively.