Shikha is scared to death. She doesn’t know what to do. She and Rahul got married last year. Rahul had his job in Bangalore, so Shikha had to leave her job and has settled down as homemaker in Bangalore. She had one credit card from the time of her working days. When Rahul was gone to office she used to go out and buy things for herself from that credit card. Since she was working before marriage, she never got the habit of asking money from Rahul. And even Rahul never bothered to check if she needs some money for anything, because most of the time they used to do shopping together and Rahul settled the bill. But now due to extensive usage of her credit card and non-payment, credit card dues have mounted up to Rs. 25,000/-. And Shikha has no idea of how to break this news to Rahul.
As per Wikipedia, Financial
infidelity is the secretive act of spending money, possessing credit
and credit cards,
holding secret accounts or stashes of money, borrowing money, or otherwise
incurring debt unknown
or unwilling to one's spouse, partner, or significant other. Financial infidelity in
a relationship may also include any financial decision(s) made by a partner
that may effect, burden, strain or set back the financial planning of the
relationship.
To embrace today’s lifestyle,
couples these days prefer to have double income rather than depending upon one
person’s salary, but it also brings in a lot of financial independence for both
of them. And at some point, they forget the importance of sharing the financial
details with each other. It all starts with the small things, telling that you
have bought the dress on sale, when actually you have bought it at full cost
price, hiding your purchases, not telling anything about pending credit card
bill and taking a loan from friend to cover that. These all acts are small
steps towards financial infidelity.
We all know that for a marriage
to stay truly blissful one need to be utterly honest and faithful. But, when it
comes to money most of us lose the grip. Have you ever imagined a scenario,
where if you meet an untimely death, what would your spouse do if he/she has no
idea from where to start with in terms of your pending dues, your investments,
your bank accounts, your insurance policies, or even the loan you have given to
your friends. Nobody will come out in front and tell your spouse that he/she
owed you money and now that you are not there anymore he is returning it.
Most of the times we don’t share
financial details with our partners is because of the simple reason – Mismatch in financial aspirations. For
you, buying a home might be a priority but for your spouse, a Car is a must
have before owing a House. In such cases, both the partners must discuss things
and understand each other’s perspective towards money. Talking about such
matters, can help couples work out the differences between themselves and chalk
out a better financial plan for both of them. Couples can also set a budget for
each other - One cannot spend more than x amount without consulting the other
partner. This doesn’t only bring the financial security but also adds on to the
stability of marriage.
From a Financial Planner’s
perspective, one cannot achieve his/her financial aspirations without enrolling
his partner into this journey. Goals like Retirement, Child’s education, need
thorough details about family’s expenses, income, their lifestyle changes and
cannot be accomplished with just one person involved in it. Financial
infidelity puts family’s Financial Well-being into danger and makes it difficult
to achieve the financial goals.
Charu Hastir, CFPCM is
founder of www.theriteplan.com. Rite
plan is an online financial planning portal created to achieve a single
objective of providing easy and Do It Yourself Financial Planning to netizens.
Rite Plan is wholly owned by Tikkun Olam Financial Planning Services LLP.
Please visit: https://theriteplan.com/index.php?route=common/home/
There is an old proverb 'man proposes snd God disposes'.But in today's materialistic and fluctuating world it is no longer true.If a man or that matter a woman plans his financial dtakes well in advance then his immediate family can survive the turbulence thrown in life by God/Fate ! One should hope gor the best nonetheless br prepared for worst scenario.
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