The state of your finances can have a profound effect on many aspects of your life. But are you aware of how much it can impact your relationship with your family, friends, and significant other? Here are some of the crazy ways your financial health can hurt your relationships.
1. Financial health exposes lifestyle choices
Pulse.ng tells us bad lifestyle habits, like impulse spending and never saving a penny, can really hurt your finances in the long run. These monetary choices can also expose that you don’t manage other things in your life, like your relationships, very well.
2. Is money the real issue?
Financial health can cause you to be angry with those around you — even if money isn’t the real problem. “Too often, disagreements about money have little to do with money itself and more to do with issues of control, security, self esteem, and love,” Psychology Today says. This is where communication is key. (More on that on page 7.)
3. It can expose your worst habits
“How people spend their time and money usually reflects what they think is important,” Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Stations summarizes for us. Plus, according to WalletHub, “four in ten people say irresponsible spending is a bigger turnoff than bad health.”
4. It can affect your sleep cycle
“Millions of people are being kept awake due to money worries, but they can impact on every aspect of a person’s life, from mental health problems, to relationship difficulties and to being able to do a good job at work,”
StepChange chief executive Mike O’Connor tells The Independent. This can add up to 11 nights of lost sleep a year, they say.
5. It can affect your desire to be with your S.O.
“Couples with extreme financial stress tend to have lower levels of satisfaction in their relationships,” TheNest.com summarizes. “Emotionally strained by their financial struggle, some people become more hostile, irritable or uncommunicative toward their spouse. Many couples even point fingers at one another for their financial downfall.”
6. It can make planning difficult
A big part of maintaining good financial health — no matter how much money you’re making — involves budget planning, whether it’s short-term or long-term. An inability makes it difficult to make a financial plan for the future can make it difficult to commit to any kind of plans with other people, like your family and friends.
7. It can test your communication skills
Long story short: You and your significant other have to have an open dialogue about your finances. “When you communicate about money often and it’s an open topic of conversation, where each person isn’t afraid to speak up about how they feel, it’s going to lead to more productive talks,” Silverman & Associates says.
8. It can create trust issues
DaveRamsey.com tells us one of the biggest problems couples make is trying to separate their funds and have separate bank accounts. This only creates trust issues. “This lays the groundwork for financial problems as time goes on,” the site says. And, as WalletHub shows, financial secrets are considered an even bigger relationship deal-breaker than irresponsible spending.
9. It can create unhealthy competition
This comes from one half of a couple making more money than the other, DaveRamsey.com says. “Instead of seeing the full pot as ‘our money,’ you might think you have leverage over the other—all thanks to a few extra digits on your paycheck. Sometimes the spouse bringing in the most money can feel entitled to the most say.”
10. It can create expectations
WalletHub did a deep dive into how financial expectations on holidays, like Valentine’s Day, can affect a relationship. They found it really doesn’t matter if you’re living paycheck or a millionaire, men are three times more likely to put themselves in credit card debt in an effort to buy gifts, And if that isn’t setting a relationship up for trouble …
11. It can encourage unnecessary sharing
As SmartAsset explains, having a joint bank account isn’t always the resolution to a couple’s financial health woes. This is where openly communicating about your finances comes into play again: Evaluate how you and your S.O. spend and save and add up your expenses together. Then you can determine whether sharing an account really is the right choice.
12. It can put you or your S.O. on the defensive
Let’s be honest — as much as we preach discussing your finances with your partner, we know that isn’t easy. And if one of you is extra uncomfortable with the conversation, that can make things hostile. “Bear in mind that not all people are comfortable talking about money right away in a relationship,” Psychology Today reminds us.
13. It can manifest into a constant argument
If money is an emotional trigger for you, poor financial health can wreak havoc. “Letting personal feelings get in the way of concrete financial planning and budgeting may lead to long-term problems,” Silverman & Associates says. “Being logical and productive about your money goals and spending can help any discussions about money be less fraught with emotion.”
Next: Hopefully it doesn’t get this far …
14. It can make you inactive
We’ve already said financial stress can make you withdraw from your relationships and cause you to lose sleep. It can also make you become inactive out of the mental exhaustion of the stress. NHS.uk insists you get some form of exercise to deal with the stress — taking a free class or starting an at-home exercise routine can help clear your head and sleep better.
15. It can make you spiral
“Not having money restricts our choices and wreaks emotional havoc on our psyche,” Debt.org summarizes. “Among the negative effects are low self-esteem and impaired cognitive functioning. That means you can’t learn, remember, be attentive or solve problems as well when you’re freaking out over your water bill.” Instead of letting these feelings bleed over into your relationships and make things worse, it may be time to discuss both your financial health and personal health with a third party.
Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!
Source: Read Full Article