Friday, March 25, 2011

Marry me, marry my finances





Every time you repeat the words,

‘I can do it!’ with conviction, 

you cancel or override your fear 

and increase your confidence."
-- Brian Tracy

-- Brian Tracy




Source :mydigitalfc:Kumar Shankar Roy: Mar 24 2011 , Bangalore



Experts say couples will do well 


going for joint financial 


planning



Six months into their marriage, Shanti and Sundeep discovered that they have not been able to marry their money. A couple in their late 20s and both fiercely independent, for the wife the husband seemed to have too many credit cards, while the husband thought the wife’s Rs 20 lakh MBA education loan EMIs were taxing. Arguments about money hamper many marriages. Debt, power-play, extended family and financial decision making, among others, are some key reasons related to money that are among the top marriage-killing money issues, according to experts.

Modern power play: In the earlier system, the male earned and the women managed. Now, the power equations have changed. Both the male and female counter-parts earn and spend.

“I have seen cases where none of them is managing the money. Managing the money is important. I am not saying women have become spendthrift. But both have to earn, spend and manager money. Usually, couples adopt ‘spend from one account and save in another’ model. Fifteen years down the line, one account has the entire corpus while the other is empty. These situations create problems,” says Gaurav Mash­ruwala, founder of ACE, a financial advisory firm. Instead of the prevalent ‘you spend your money and I spend my money’, he advises couples to adopt the ‘we do it together” model.

Date with debt: From education loans to car loans, credit cards to luxury habits, most people come to a marriage with financial baggage.

If one partner has more debt than the other and does not share the information freely, sparks do start flying when discussions about earning, spending and EMIs come up.

“The age-old conflict between spenders and savers does rear its ugly head often. It is important to be upfront about debt servicing obligations such as car loan, college loan, and other such things. Even if one of them wants to support their parents, it is important to disclose this information. The same is the case with splitting the bills. While it is a reasonable scheme but the process often builds resentment over the individual purchases made by one of the partners,” feels Anil Rego, founder and chief executive officer of Rights Horizons, a financial consulting firm.

Problems aplenty: With the traditional model’s line of earning and managing money getting increasingly blurred, problems crop up. Quarrelling couples often go to court to settle the marriage once and for all: divorce.

The courts in India, unlike the western ones, are not that liberal in grating huge alimony. Permanent alimony depends upon the status and life style of the spouse during the marriage, whether the spouse (normally the wife) is employed or not, is there a justification in making a huge demand, what is reasonable, etc, said Thiruvengadam BC, a legal practitioner. Divorce is not the answer, say experts. Personality is an important aspect of a marriage and will play a major role in financial plans as well as marital bliss or lack thereof. “It is important to ensure that two people complement their financial habits. Enforcing rules later naturally cause nasty friction,” says Sanjay Das, a Kolkata-based financial planner.

No comments:

Post a Comment