How Power and Risk Affect Your Relationship
Assess your risk
To help you understand how much financial risk is present in your relationship, ask yourself these questions:
- Do you have a plan in case of a financial emergency, such as loss of a job or a medical crisis?
- Are there a lot of high-risk stocks in your portfolio?
- Do you own your home?
- Do you have multiple credit cards with high interest rates?
- Can you easily make the minimum monthly payments on your credit cards?
- Do you have an adjustable rate mortgage?
- Do you have six months’ living expenses set aside in case of emergency?
- Have you ever had to take a loan from friends or family to “bail you out” of a bad financial situation?
- Do you pay yourself first by putting money in savings before paying your bills?
If your answers to the even-numbered questions are mostly “yes” and your answers to the odd-numbered questions are mostly “no,” you are living with a very high level of risk in your relationship. If the reverse is true (the even-numbered questions are mostly “no” and the odds are mostly “yes”), then you have an extremely conservative approach to financial risk.
In order to successfully navigate the power struggles that occur around money, it is important to know how comfortable both you and you partner are with financial risk. It is also
important to consider your relationship’s power dynamic and your personal relationship to money and power. Acknowledging these different perspectives can help you to understand where your partner is coming from when you find that you are locked in a power struggle about money.
To learn more about Dr. Bonnie Eaker Weil, visit www.DocBon.com.
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