Kind of an open ended topic to talk about, but it’s something that I get asked a lot. I suppose in most cases that when it comes to a relationship that also means more financial responsibilities and people often adapt a “who cares†attitude when it comes to money as love conquers all right? Basically, everything will somehow work out by itself financially or that you will worry about it later.
I guess certain couples with children would be a great example of this as many people simply decide that they want a baby right now without trying to plan their finances first. Obviously this is not true for everyone, but I’m just surprised when people agonize on how expensive it can be in these cases when really it is a decision placed on oneself. Weddings are another example of this such as how people say who cares as it is your wedding day and some people imply that if you have to second guess about finances, even if the person can’t afford it, for your special day that it is bad.
While it’s true in life you can’t exactly be fully prepared for everything, I think for most people finances do play some kind of factor in deciding the type of lifestyle that you can sustain which in hence does affect your love life as it in some ways dictates things such as how much you have to work. Because of that, I don’t see how that can be a bad thing to plan ahead. For myself personally, I think it is better to prepare yourself financially to a certain extent before diving into big decisions.
People often tell me that you can’t be stable financially for a long time when it comes to being in a relationship as it is not like say a business where you can kind of prepare for certain things. I personally have no idea how people can really say that as even in business you can’t fully prepare for everything, but you at least do certain things to minimize potential risks. For example, what is the difference between a business spending $6,000 a month to be in a very luxurious building when it only brings in say $3,000 a month and doing something such as getting married and starting a large family which costs $6,000 a month with you only bringing in $3,000 too?
I kind of have fun with this topic as well as it is interesting to hear people’s perspectives. You get to hear a lot of stories too from couples which puts things like that 1.0 husband and wife joke into perspective. As always, there is more to life than just money, but even when it comes to relationships I don’t see why one should completely neglect to plan things out financially. I would think that you would be able to enjoy each other’s company a lot better without having to be flat broke or having to worry about money all the time as well.