"The Financial Dating® Wealth System"

9 Building Blocks to a More Prosperous Marriage
And Financial Life

Part I

If you’re looking for a way to create more prosperity and partnership in your marriage, The Financial Dating Wealth System is a 9-step process you can use to get there. The 9 easy-to-do steps I describe below will help you build a secure, rewarding and prosperous relationship with your spouse, that with commitment, action and persistence, will become your lifelong path to financial and relationship success.

I’ve used the metaphor of house-building to describe what it’s like to follow the 9 steps on this path to show you how you can build your financial house. That’s because this process, like that of building a house will make a huge difference in your life, and will feel like shelter for you and your partner. It’s a lot of work, but very doable, and can be done by following the steps listed below.

Step 1 Groundwork: Learning How to Have A Financial Date

Before you begin building a home, you must bring in heavy equipment to dig out the dirt and pour the foundation. The groundwork for your prosperous marriage will be spending time talking to your spouse about money. This sounds simple, but the truth is most of us don’t know how to talk to our partner about money in a way that is actually helpful or productive. Either we try talking about it and end up fighting, or we avoid talking about it despite the fact that we deal with it on a daily basis. This is like building a home without a foundation. Your shelter is bound to sink, shift, maybe even fall over.

This first step on the path involves using the Financial Dating Wealth Formula to learn how to have an effective Financial Date. The Financial Dating Process will help you feel connected to partner, and identify the financial steps you need to take to get the work done that needs to be done (a big challenge for many people). In short, following this formula will ensure that you have successful, connecting and action-oriented Financial Dates with your partner.

Step 2 Foundation: Getting to Know Yourself & Your Partner

Financial success is a team sport. Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad says that the secret to building personal financial success as well as a business success rests in having a powerful team. If you’re handling all the financial responsibilities yourself because you don’t trust your partner or he or she isn’t interested in being financially involved, you’re not positioning yourself for maximum financial success. You’re also not empowering your partner, and it’s possible you might even be enabling your partner to avoid taking responsibility. It’s important that both of you be involved and educate yourselves so that you can experience the synergy, excitement and deep connection that comes from working on achieving your goals together.

It’s essential to start off on a solid foundation. If your house is resting on a cracked foundation it will affect the entire house. It’s the same way with your marriage. You build a solid foundation for your financial house by getting clear on why it really matters to you to work on your personal finances with your partner. You start by focusing on yourself first (instead of your partner!). You’ll come to know your partner in new ways. You’ll gain a deeper understanding about your own money history, spending habits, and money personality and you’ll learn how to take responsibility for your interactions. You’ll define your financial roles, and learn how to develop trust, work as a team, set goals and create a shared vision and a new money/marriage dynamic.

Step 3 Framing: Getting Honest

Just like framing is the skeleton of your house, financial honesty is the backbone of your relationship. It gives your relationship support and depth and builds trust. One Financial Dating workshop participant shared, “If I can’t trust my husband about money, what else can’t I trust him about?”

When you’re able to “come clean” about your financial secrets you’re on the path to lifelong change. Honesty must happen in order for change to take place. In order to get to where we want to go, we must first gain a solid understanding of exactly where we’re at. Many people try to tackle their financial problems without having a clue as to their financial numbers. You’ll learn how to take a “moral financial inventory,” which will get you honest about what your actual net worth is (not just a guess), how much debt you have, and how much money you’re spending. You’ll learn how to organize and locate your financial documents.

Step 4 Roofing: Managing Your Money Masterfully

After you’ve done the framing you’re ready to roof your financial house by masterfully managing your money. This is one area that many couples struggle with. They complain that there’s not enough money left at the end of the month, or that it feels like their money is managing them. If you don’t stop to look at where you’re money is going, you’re like a person building a house without a roof, and who wants to live in a house that doesn’t keep out the rain and snow? It’s essential to put a roof over your head to keep out bad financial weather.

This is all about managing your money effectively by creating a spending plan that both of you can stick to, creating a needs and wants list so you don’t have to fall back on using credit cards, setting up effective bill-pay systems, automating your savings, setting effective goals and using powerful financial housekeeping systems.

To Be Continued. Learn About steps 5 - 9 of The Financial Dating®
Wealth System in the next issue of "Inspired Living."

Financial Dating® Wealth System
1-Minute Action Step

Print off this article and create a “Financial Dating” folder to place in your file cabinet. Use this information as a reference the next time you sit down to talk about your finances and money goals during your Financial Date.

Pull out your folder, review these steps and ask yourselves which step you would like to focus on first - I recommend starting with step one and working your way up. I’ll provide in-depth information about how to achieve all 9 steps in my 9-week Fall Workshop Series.

About the Author

Leslie Cunningham, CTACC, “The Financial Dating ® Expert,” has over 17 years experience as a service professional, leading groups, presenting, and helping individuals and couples achieve success. She is dedicated to helping couples build wealthy relationships and turn their money & lifestyle stress into inspired action.

If you liked today’s issue check out Leslie’s free articles, teleseminars, and workshops, which offer step-by-step guidance on creating wealth & closeness for couples. Learn more now at http://springwindcoaching.com

Spring Wind Coaching | 7781 Nez Perce Dr. | Bozeman, MT 59715 | Phone 406-586-5561

www.springwindcoaching.com

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