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When you have a family, financial planning isn't just about yourself. Your financial goals encompass not only your own desires, but the needs and desires of those you love most. And since your family is such a big part of your financial present and future, it makes sense that they should be involved in your financial planning as well.
 | Financially, your spouse, partner, or children can be a help or a hindrance. As a family, you will face many challenges along your financial journey. But if family members are truly on board, they will work to help find solutions and not create additional challenges for you. |
How do you get your family on board with your financial goals? You must inspire them, just like a coach might. A coach needs the cooperation and coordination of each player on his team. In order to get teams to pull together, great coaches lead by example and command the utmost respect from each and every team member. Their team members strive to perform at their very best each and every game, not only for themselves, but also for their coach and their team. Great coaches inspire greatness.
So how can you inspire your family when it comes to your personal finances? Share your vision, in living color, with your family members — your team. When you present your vision, make sure that you include the vivid details of why a goal is important to you and your family, and what accomplishing this goal will enable you all to enjoy. Elaborate on the payoff for putting in the hard work, compromise, or sacrifices that may be required to achieve these goals.
Allowing and encouraging your family members to participate in the family's financial decisions and money-management responsibilities is beneficial in many ways. But mainly, the more informed everyone is, the more you can work together for your shared goals.
This is an all-too-common complaint: "We never learned about money at school, and my parents definitely never talked about it — at least while we were around." Where are your children going to learn to make informed decisions about money if you don't teach them? What happens to the spouse or partner who was never interested or involved in the family finances if something happens to you? Are you really doing them any favors by taking on this responsibility single-handedly?
The answer is no. You must make managing money a shared responsibility within your family. No one learns this stuff in school; it's an on-the-job learning experience. Allow your family some on-the-job experience while you're around for guidance.
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