There is no doubt that the prime factor that bonds a family is love. At the same time, finance also has an important role to play in a happy family life. Money has a key role in the overall happiness of a family. Because, it is money that controls many things in life. When you do not have enough money to spend in exigencies, it will create rift between relations. This problem can be solved if you have financial equilibrium. So, it is essential that the couples have a mutual understanding and maintain discipline in financial matters. They should get into a mutual understanding on this from the time they enter into wedlock.
Couples should maintain transparency in financial matters. They should have mutual understanding on matters like salary, other income resources, expenses etc. There are many families where there is no proper awareness of these. There are some cases in which the wife does not know how much her husband earns. There are wives who do not tell their husbands when they get salary; likewise there are husbands who squander the lion share of their income. In such families, happiness will be wanting.
We, who advocate for gender equality in everything, should also implement it in family financial matters as well. Both of them should be ready to spend at least half of their income for the family. The whole financial burden should not be put on one spouse alone. In most families, one of the spouses will be taking up the whole financial responsibility of home loan and vehicle loan besides household expenses, education fees, medical and entertainment expenses etc. Hence, both the spouses should equally share the financial responsibility.
Take decisions in financial matters together. Discuss about the pros and cons before you finally arrive at a decision. Unilateral and arbitrary decisions will create a rift in family bonds and may result in the wreckage of the family.
Just like having financial equality, the couple should also have financial freedom. If any of them faces a personal financial necessity, he or she should have the freedom to spend it. For example, if the wife wants to help her friend or her family in need, the husband should be willing to help her with his money in such situations. Wife also should do likewise.
There should be an emergency fund to deal with emergencies. It will help you to tackle unexpected expenses. Both the couple must invest their share in this fund. Such funds will help you to solve problems when you face emergencies like loss of a job, illness, renovation of your home and so on.
