You can’t separate many of your family decisions from your financial decisions. More often that, your choices for your family has an impact on your finances. If you’re just starting out as family, or even if you’re married for a while, you and your spouse need to make these important decisions. Each of them has huge implications for your financial present and financial future.
- Where do we want to live?
Where you decide to live matters a lot. Do you want to live in the city or in the province? In the Philippines or abroad? It impacts your cost of living, including rent or amortization, transportation, etc. It impacts your quality of life, including your health and stress levels (imagine a daily two-hour commute.), which also has a financial effect. If you are definite about where to live, then setting down roots for the long run makes sense. That answers the buy versus rent question.
- How many children do we want to have?
The number of children you want to have – or if you even want to have children – affects your finances for decades to come. They may be a blessing but children – let’s face it – are a financial drain. Think about the expenses of pregnancy, childbirth, early childhood rearing, education, food, travel, recreation, etc.
- Which of us should work?
You must decide if you want to be a single-income or dual-income family, whether temporarily (like while your children are young) or permanently. While the traditional role of breadwinner goes to the husband, there are cases where roles are reversed, like when the wife has much better career or business prospects.
- Who is going to manage our finances?
Agree which among you should manage the budget, keep records, pay the bills, invest, etc. Usually, it’s the wife who handles the day-to-day budgeting and the husband who makes investment decisions. But it depends on who has the inclination, knowledge, and time. If the one in charge is not good with handling money, that will have a huge negative impact on your finances.
- What kind of lifestyle do we want?
Do you like to travel a lot? Eat out a lot? Or are you more of homebodies who enjoy cooking meals? Are you the work hard-play hard kind of family, where you work five days straight and become out-of-town weekend warriors? Or would you rather integrate work and play throughout your day every day? The kind of hobbies, recreation, and entertainment you like will affect your bank account.
- Which school should our children go to?
What kind of education do you want for your children? Do you want to try homeschooling? Do you want them to go to the best school in the country? What about sending them abroad for college? The college course they prefer will also matter.
- How much should we give to our relatives?
Supporting our elderly parents financially is something of the norm for many families. Decide how much you should give to them and to other relatives who may be in need. Set guidelines and limits you need to agree on for lending or giving money to relatives and friends.
As you can see, these are all important decisions. And you cannot separate their financial impact. You can’t simply have a carefree attitude or come-what-may mentality when it comes to your choices for your family. Have a serious sit-down as a couple or even as a family at least once a year to discuss these matters.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
