Master class

WISDOM FOR BETTER MONEY MANAGEMENT IN MARRIAGE (part 1)

June 6, 2016

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MONEY AND MARRIAGE MASTER CLASS: LESSON 6

WISDOM FOR BETTER MONEY MANAGEMENT IN MARRIAGE (part 1)

Permit me to give you some keys to better money management in your marriage. If you don’t do them among many other things you won’t be able to manage money rightly in your marriage.

BUDGET YOUR FAMILY INCOME

The word budget raises dust in the minds of many people. The preconceived notion that it is too technical and only a few people ever understand the true essence of a budget makes it easy for people to shut their minds. That is why I prefer to call it “financial planning”, using the layman term.

Budgeting at home need not be a difficult task. It is your money and you are just planning how to spend it. Nobody is pointing a gun at your head to perform, so relax and plan your future together.

Aims of Budgeting

The aims of budgeting majorly are:

To be in charge of your finances.
To know your monthly income and how it is being spent.
To minimize expenses.
To create room for saving.
To avoid debt.
To plan for the future.
To maximize your money and give room for investment.

Budgeting is very important and every family should do it. It is not my plan to take you through the technical aspects of budgeting as that has already been dealt with in one of my other books in the Prosperous Family Series, titled: MAXIMIZING MONEY IN MARRIAGE. My focus essentially will be directed at motivating you to have a budget and the principles involved.

Trail your expenses together as a couple for about three months to keep track of your expenses before setting a proper budget.
Know your expected monthly income.
Plan your expenses based on the expected income, giving room for tithing and savings first before the rest of the income is allocated.
Budgeting needs openness and transparency between the parties involved.
Plan your budget together.
Make all figures, expenses or plans clear to both parties.
Don’t be too rigid or too flexible.
Be rigid only to the level of making the budget work and be flexible to give room for emergencies and opportunities. It is unwise to deny your child emergency medical needs simply because you have exceeded your medical allocation for the month.
Don’t use any other family as a template to allocate money in your family; no two families are the same.
Give room for enough “pocket money” for both of you.
If you have older children carry them along.
Love and truthfulness between both of you will make your budget work.
If your budget fails as it may be in the first months of operating it, don’t despair; rather, re-plan.
Let any wind-fall of money go into your savings or project; don’t increase your expenditure.
Forecast big expenses and put aside an amount each month to meet them when they become due.
Don’t blame each other for budget failure, work as a team.
Don’t spend more than the amount you allotted to any item on your budget.
Reward each other for budget success.
Always look for new avenues to improve your budget.

HAVE A FAMILY VISION

“Where there is no vision the people perish, but he that keepth the law happy is he” . Proverbs 29:18

The concept of the word, vision, cannot be over flogged in matters of family finance. Without vision “people perish”. Mismanagement of money, life, other resources all culminating in a destitute destiny are offshoots of the absence of vision. Vision is not optional; it is mandatory because it determines your life. When you see people spending money today as if there is no tomorrow, what is lacking in them is a vision. When vision is lacking, everything goes wrong.

What is a vision? Vision is the power of seeing or engaging your imagination, looking ahead, and grasping the truth by the fact. It also means gaining insight into God’s plan. It is the unfolding of God’s program to an individual. Any family that will manage money rightly must first and foremost have a solid vision. Vision guides, leads and protects; without vision, people will truly perish.

BENEFITS OF VISION

It eliminates confusion and ensures clarity of mind.
It helps you to discipline yourself.
It helps to eliminate waste.
It helps in your financial planning and budgeting.
It helps you to know where you are, where you want to be and how to get there.
It is the mother of prosperous living.
It saves time.
It generates favour.
It helps you to gain speed in life.
I want you to note this as you plan your life and build a vision-based life.
Vision is the source of life.
The greatest gift God gave men is vision not sight
Sight is a function of the eye; vision is a function of the heart.

God gave man the ability of vision so that he will not be a victim of his eyes. Without vision, you cannot go far in life as vision is the foundation of life.

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