How You React to Money is Sabotaging Your Romance
“He likes to drink away his money.”
“She likes to shop and has several credit cards that I don’t even know about yet. The debt keeps on piling up.”
“He needs to have the new house, new car, bigger TV, etc.”
“She doesn’t know when to stop. She’s always getting her nails done, hair dyed and washed, tanning, buying make up, you name it.”
Think these problems are only on TV or for your friends? Think again. They’re everywhere. You might be in the middle of one or more of them right now. The key is not to let them hold you hostage to a wonderful financial future with your spouse, partner or lover. There are regrets in your past, some of them around money. So what? Deal with it by moving forward. Stop letting your past hold your financial future hostage. If you’re reading my blog for the first time, I’m Loral Langemeier and I’m dedicating this post to you. I’m president and CEO of LiveOutLoud.com and am known as the Millionaire Maker. To date, I’ve created 1,039 millionaires. I know how to make and keep money. And I teach others how to do the same.
Now before you get carried away, let me state that I’m not perfect. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, maybe more than you. I’m not proud of my mistakes. They live with me because I learned the lessons each one of them had for me. I’ll share a few of them with you, so you can learn from them as well.
I’m going to share with you during these next few pages how and why you need to have the conversation around money when dating. I’ll also share with you my 12-4-5 formula to making money.
Are you ready? Write down the numbers that sound the most like you:
- 1. I like to save money.
- 2. If there is money in my pocket I will spend it.
- 3. I like to know how much money I have left over each month.
- 4.If I want something I go out and get it.
- 5. I put money aside for my kid’s college before I treat myself.
- 6. I like to vacation… a lot.
- 7. I turn off the lights when not in a room, bank online to save postage and keep the temperature cool in the winter and warm in the summer to save money.
- 8. I like to have new things.
- 9. I shop at thrift stores, garage sales and coupon because I have to.
- 10. I’m always looking for more ways to make more money.
I know that some of you might have said to yourself that a few of those numbers might sound like your significant other. True, they might have. But what’s important to this exercise is that we focus on you first.
I purposefully wrote this to create a dichotomy between two prevalent money management ideas out there – Saver vs. Spender or Sacrifice Now vs. Indulge Now. The odd numbers represent a saver’s mindset while even numbers represent a spender’s mindset.No one, of course, is all one or the other. We’re a mix of the two. However, when they come out in a relationship things become interesting.
Men typically carry more money on their person than do women. Men carry around $100 on them while women carry less than $20. Carry more and you’ll start to see how your attitude around money starts to change.
I carry lots of cash on me. In my home I have thousands of dollars everywhere. I have it strategically placed in areas that I frequent often – closet, wine cellar, fridge, vanity, dresser draws, work desk, etc. I’m constantly surrounded by money.