Question 16
How will we handle money? What is our cash-flow pattern?
Default answer: The man of the house will earn all the money,
which will be spent by the woman of the house according to a budget
they have created together or by some less-organized or pre-planned
method.
Creative answers: Financial reality is seldom simple.
How you handled your own money before the relationship began
might set a pattern for your cash-flow if you combine your finances.
Or if you already have a combined cash-flow pattern,
you can examine those procedures—and perhaps improve them.
Many personal relationships have problems
related to money.
So before you join your finances, you should disclose your cash-flow
patterns.
The following questions will bring out your similarities and
differences:
Bankruptcy. Have you ever declared
bankruptcy?
If so, what were the circumstances?
Or do you avoid debt, buying things only when you have the money?
Checking accounts. Do you bounce
checks? If so, how often?
Do you make cash withdrawals from cash machines
without recording the amounts in your check-register?
Do you balance your check-book after every check you write?
Once a week? Once a month?
Or do you balance your check-book
only when you think you might be getting close to zero in your account?
When you balance your check-book, do you and your bank agree?
Or do you just call the bank to find out how much money you have left?
Do you ever have to make a midnight trip to deposit a paycheck
so that the checks you have already written will not bounce?
Do you ever try to calculate how long it will take for checks to clear?
In other words, do you write checks 'on the float',
before you actually have sufficient money in the account?
If you have overdraft protection, how often is it needed?
How much does your bank charge you for each check you bounce?
Is there a maximum you can be charged in one day for bouncing checks?
Do you borrow money from other people to cover checks you have written?
Do you attempt to control your spending
by having a small balance in your checking account?
Is your checking balance usually near zero?
Question
16:
HOW WILL WE HANDLE
MONEY?
by James
Park
87 Above you
have the first page of Question 16 from Designer
Marriage.
The next 3 pages explore other problems related to cash-flow patterns.