How Your Financial Decisions Can Impact The Family You Love

How many financial decisions do you make in a week? From what you buy, to how you pay for it, every time you make a financial decision, the consequences can affect your family.

Single? You’re not excluded, because although some of your decisions may not affect your future family, many will, and it’s up to you to recognize the impact of those decisions. Unfortunately, many Americans find themselves suffering from “crisis living”, something I used to be very familiar with. With too much debt and no savings to think of, living paycheck to paycheck is a gruesome reality.

The Consequences of Your Financial Choices

For those of you who have not yet started a family, the financial decisions you make now, can also affect who you end up starting a family with. The amount of debt you have, your credit score, and your financial habits are all things that could make or break your engagement.

Here are three reasons you should ACT NOW, to start making better financial choices.

“I Just Can’t Take It Anymore!”

Life is stressful enough, but when you add money to the equation, it’s a much more destructive force. Before my wife and I started actively trying to improve our financial situation, we were like walking time bombs just waiting to explode. There’s a reason they call them “money fights”.

It is important to communicate with your spouse about your financial goals and dreams. As soon as you start working together and accepting equal responsibility with your money, the results are staggering. Being on the same page should be your ultimate goal. My wife and I still fight about stuff (who doesn’t?), but it’s usually not about money, and when it is, it’s minor compared to before.

“Till Debt Do Us Part!”

Becoming debt free was the single best thing we ever did for our marriage. It changed everything! We learned teamwork, contentment, patience, responsibility, and best of all, how to communicate better. We became closer than ever, and learned that living beyond our means was robbing us of our potential. The absolute best thing though was the fact that we possibly saved ourselves from going through what some people go through because of debt. D-I-V-O-R-C-E!

While we may have never really been close to getting a divorce, we still had more problems because of our decisions to spend more than we made each and every month. Whose to say we couldn’t of headed down that road had we kept doing what we were doing with our money? Debt has a tremendous impact on how you relate with your spouse and can tear you apart faster than you realize. Debt is a destructive force for any marriage. In less severe cases, getting out of debt is better than going to see a therapist, although I don’t feel the latter is a bad choice either. 😀

Want to save your marriage—GET OUT OF DEBT! Even if it doesn’t solve all of your marital problems, it’s a great place to start.

“I Want To Be Just Like You Daddy”

You are the single biggest role model your children will ever have. What you do with money, is likely to become what they do with money. You can set them up for failure, or you can give them the tools to become successful with much fewer struggles.

Our son is four and has saved money, given money, and spent money—all of which was money he earned. He’s young but learning some valuable lessons about managing money, and when we screamed “We’re Debt Free!”, he did too. Now that’s a teachable moment! He’ll never see us struggling because of debt, but he will be taught why it is the enemy!

You should teach your kids about money, but make sure you make the lessons age appropriate. Most importantly, your example is better than anything you can ever teach him at the kitchen table. How you handle money is what will have the most influence in how he/she handles money. If your kids are anything like mine, they are following in your footsteps. Make sure those footsteps are headed towards financial responsibility, and away from debt!

How much do you love your family?

If you are not planning and making solid financial decisions for the sake and benefit of your family, listen up. STOP BEING SELFISH! Your decisions will adversely affect your family and by the time you realize it, it could be too late.

Get your priorities in order and make better financial decisions!! Resolve to be able to feed your children during the worst depression, help them avoid the pitfall of debt when it comes to college, and secure a dignified retirement for you and your spouse! It can be done, but you have to stop thinking about yourself. Even if your spouse is following suit, be a leader, and start talking to them about the future.

Eliminate the stress! Avoid marital destruction and even divorce! Save your children from making the same decisions you have made!

  • If you have no savings, you are risking everything!
  • If you have debt, you are risking everything!
  • If you are waiting for social security, you are risking everything!

Once you get married and have children it is no longer just about you. Think about your family! You will be so glad you did, and I bet they will be too!

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About Brad Chaffee

11 Responses to “How Your Financial Decisions Can Impact The Family You Love”

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  1. Debt Solution says:

    Right On! The decisions we make determine our personal and financial future. Money isn’t everything but it does allow us to live a more comfortable life. Less stress, less money arguments with our spouse and our children learn from how they SEE us handle our money more than what we tell them about handling money.

    Keep up the great work I visit here each morning to re-energize my passion!

    • Brad Chaffee says:

      As usual we are pretty much in agreement! It doesn\’t start at the kitchen table, it starts by example and actions. The kitchen table is a place where discussion and further learning take place based on previous actions. Without the actions the words are meaningless! You know the saying \”Your actions speak louder than words.\” 😀

      I really appreciate your compliment too. Your passion is definitely alive and kicking, and together we may be able to move some mountains! 😀

  2. Great advice for married and single people, Brad! Money problems do affect everyone in the family, and can be avoided with proper financial management and direction. Teaching kids to be financially savvy is also a wonderful advice, as this will help them live a happy and balanced life! Thanks for sharing 🙂

    • Brad Chaffee says:

      Glad you liked it. I think people generally irrationally assume that it\’s their decision to make therefore ignoring the possibility that their decision has an impact on those around them.

      We have got to stop this way of thinking! 🙂

  3. Suzanne says:

    I write a blog on Divorce, Debt and Finances and this post hits right on the number one reason most marriages end-over money. We all tend to lose sight of what is important while we strive to reach career and personal goals for ourselves without taking an honest look at how this affects the ones we love.

    Kudos to you and your wife for overcoming money challenges and working through them together. Your story and advice are an inspiration to all!

    • Brad Chaffee says:

      Absolutely then you know all too well that divorce should be something that scares people into making better decisions. I believe that even people that once loved each other can be torn apart by money. What I think people fail to realize is that it\’s not money that\’s the problem, it\’s what they \”choose\” to do with it that is.

      Thank you so much for the kind words! 😀

  4. Excellent thoughts! I throughly enjoyed the lessons and the enthusiam in giving them. Finances is definately a part in responsible parenting and it starts with the two adults who have children.

  5. LaDyT_bABygIrL1 says:

    i have a fiancee who’s getting out of jail next week. A friend wants to help him get on at his job (driving), but he says that has to wait@ cause he has to get his DL back and wants to go to school for massage therapy and needs to help his mother get back on her feet. He stated that my 5 children and I won’t be ignored, but he have to get hisself together first before he can do what he needs to do for our household. i haven’t communicated with him yet about my financial situation due to wanting to talk to him in person and really trying to solve them before he gets home. I really don’t want to pressure him, but I don’t feel it’s right if he puts home on hold and helps mom out while getting hisself together and all he wants me to do is stand by him and what he’s doing. Am i doing the right thing? What is your honest intake/advise for my situation?

    • Brad Chaffee says:

      I’m no counselor, but I would say that you probably need to do whatever is in the best interest of you and your children. I do not know all of the circumstances but I certainly don’t see any reason why he couldn’t get back on his feet at home. Another thing is, he is no position to help anyone because he has to be able to support himself first. Helping his mom is an awesome goal, but he should first get to a point where he can take care of himself and his family. This post goes into that whole situation in detail: Great Financial Advice From The In-Flight Safety Handbook

      I will say that being supportive to him and what he’s going through is very important. That’s not to say you should just sit around and wait if nothing seems to progress, but it sounds like he’s got a pretty tough road ahead of him. There should be a balance and mutual understanding between you both though. Getting up and starting all over again from rock bottom is tough. I have been there before myself. I definitely think that counseling of some sort is in order to help you both deal with what lies ahead. It’s not going to be easy for either of you, especially with five children to think about.

      Good luck, and I hope everything works out for the best.

  6. M Michaels says:

    i totally agree, my marriage unfortunately did not survive the severe debt my husband had, and hid from me, he would not talk about it, deal with it or reduce it, and eventually i could not stay in the relationship as it was affecting my children and my health. I am still grieving for the loss of this relationship (5 years later) as i do not feel this would have happened if he had been able to talk and deal with this problem,

    i admire your resilience and commitment to each other and hope i too, will find this one day

    best wishes

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