THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE AND MONEY
Though it might feel a bit uncomfortable and unnatural, exploring the complex relationship between love and money and learning to talking about money and love are skills that need to be practiced at a young age to eliminate relationship roadblocks in the future. So much of our students’ comfort levels are determined by what they see modeled in their homes, so if they don’t hear the adults in their lives discuss money in their relationship in a positive, healthy way, they could be headed for troubled waters unless they are taught about the benefits of talking about their finances.
“Psychological, behavioral and neuroscience research indicates that how stable and secure you feel in your interpersonal relationships tends to mirror how stable and secure you feel about your finances. So it’s worth examining your close ties, both past and present, to understand how they may influence your spending, saving and investing habits—for good or ill.”
STUDENT AWARENESS
It is important that students are aware that, “Nearly half of Americans (48%) who are married or living with a partner say they argue with the person over money, according to a survey of more than 1,000 people by The Cashlorette, which is owned by personal finance site Bankrate.com. Most of those fights are about spending habits, with 60% saying that one person spends too much or the other is too cheap. The remaining fights are pretty evenly split between someone being dishonest about money, how to divide the bills and other types of money fights, which could be anything from disagreements over forgetting to pay a bill to a couple’s financial priorities in life.”
“At least two studies show that this could lead to divorce. Data released Wednesday by financial firm TD Ameritrade found that 41% of divorced Gen Xers and 29% of Boomers say they ended their marriage due to disagreements about money. What's more, if you’re arguing about money early on in your relationship, watch out: That may be the No. 1 predictor of whether or not you’ll end up divorced, according to a study of more than 4,500 couples published in the journal Family Relationships.”
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Money Management in Love Relationships
When I was a college student, my husband and I became very close friends with a couple who lived across the street from us. After spending some time with them after what we thought was a lovers quarrel, we realized the gravity of what was going on. Whenever this couple had a tiff, they would purchase something to punish, in a sense, their spouse. On this particular day, she had purchased a VCR (yes, this dates me) to demonstrate her “take that” frustration. In response to her action, "He” had a new speaker system installed in his car, just to show her who was boss. Not only did they fail financially, their marriage eventually failed, too. A much better option would have been for them to discuss their goals, make a plan, and make things happen for each other, rather than in spite of each other.
Balancing emotions and finances in relationships can be tricky!
LOVE AND MONEY BOOM CARDS
Using a teaching tool like BOOM CARDS can lighten the weight of a heavy topics like money and the impact it has on relationships. This “deck” allows student to explore the relevance in an individual and comfortable setting to build a fundamental understanding of its important potential impact on their futures.
TALK IS CHEAP
They say “talk is cheap,” but not only is it cheap, it is FREE! So often conflicts arise in relationships because those involved refuse to talk about MONEY!
LOVE LANGUAGES
Verbal communication and written communication are effective tools in conversations around money. Business Communication is a great place to learn how to decipher appropriate ways of written expressions. Using a “sweetheart” scenario, learning to write a business letter gets a lot more interesting. Your students will love these creative scenarios to base their business letters on. Specific details, such as names, addresses, and purpose of the letter is provided in each scenario so students can focus on the appropriate business letter format.
SHARE YOUR LOVE with your students
Sharing a little love with students of any age doesn’t have to be complicated or break the bank. Especially for students whose love language is “Words of Affirmation” these post it notes go straight to the heart! This resource allow teachers to simply print a blank template on card stock, arrange sticky notes of any color on the template, and print the sweet love notes and feedback to stick on student work. Students are pleasantly surprised to receive this special touch from their teacher on a special day like Valentine’s Day.
This template works with any color of 3x3 sticky notes and with any printer. Simply print the template, place the sticky notes on the template and run the template and sticky notes through the printer one more time, with a different page selected, printing the sticky notes. Complete instructions can be found here.
