How does money affect relationships?
Money makes the world go round but it shouldn’t just be for getting from one week to the next without touching your overdraft. Instead, you should see money as the best way to achieve your goals and ambitions as well as have a little bit of fun.
Budgeting is a really important part of money management as it can be used to project your future worth as well as allocate funds for specific areas of your life. While lots of people think of budgeting as a negative thing that only happens when you are falling short, you should think of it instead as lots of dedicated pots of money, all for you to spend wisely. In short, everyone should have a sensible budget.
Within your budget, you should account for all your basic needs such as rent, groceries and bills as well as your financial goals including savings and investments. But, you should also give yourself some money to play with. This money can only come out of your disposable income (don’t choose fun over electricity!) but it will show you what you have to spend on luxuries like dining out, going to the cinema or playing online games - whatever floats your boat.
Shepherds Friendly recently carried out some research looking into how does money affect relationships and collaborated with relationship expert, Becky Spelman, to analyse the results. There's a full infographic below but here's a few surprising results:
- 36.1% of women think money plays a part in how attractive they find a partner whereas only 24% of men do.
- 68% of men agree men should pay on a date night however only 41.9% of women agree that men should pay.
- 31.4% of women think that how much their partner earns is important in terms of pursing a relationship - 22.4% of men agree.
When you have a budget in place, you get to decide how you spend it each month. However, just because you know that this money is essentially for fun, doesn’t mean that you should stop looking for the best deal or spend for the sake of it. If you can manage your budget smartly, keep your bad habits reigned in and maybe even earn a little extra on the side, you can give yourself a fantastic lifestyle without breaking the bank.
This is a collaborative post. For more information please see my disclosure policy.