Marriage, Finances, and Conflict

Dollars & Sense, Work/Life Balance|October 4, 2024
Reading Time 2 minutes

Don’t let your relationship suffer. Consider these five tips.

By Jennifer Paulson

Many NRHA Professionals work with their spouses to manage their businesses. Don’t let conflict about finances cause a rift in your relationship. Photo by Denny Muller on Unsplash

Debt and finances are top two reasons former couples cite for ending their marriage. Add in the stress of owning your own training business, and you can have a recipe for a tough relationship. But that doesn’t have to be the case.

Financial woes can cause marriage trouble for one or more of these five reasons.

  1. Stress. Money troubles are stressful. That’s not a newsflash. But the unintended responses stress can cause you to have can challenge a marriage. Think about[RR1]  those times when you’re stressed. You might isolate yourself, snap at your partner, find yourself dealing with anxiety and/or depression, and have difficulty sleeping. This all influences how you interact with your partner.
  2. Resentment. Financial turmoil can lead to resentment when your partner spends money or judges how you spend money.
  3. Trust. It’s tempting to want to hide financial shortcomings or poor decisions about spending. But that deteriorates the trust between you and your partner.
  4. Broken partnerships. Not being on the same page for handling money can cause you and your spouse to turn against each other.
  5. Lost opportunities. When you’re dealing with huge amounts of debt or poor credit scores, you can miss out on opportunities you and your spouse had planned to seize, whether that’s buying a new place or a great broodmare for your breeding program.

Simply because you face financial problems doesn’t mean you can’t overcome them. Further, thinking ahead and enlisting these tactics can help overcome other issues in your business and partnership.

  1. Communicate openly. Create an environment of open communication to maintain trust, strengthen your partnership, and work together.
  2. Prioritize. Work with your partner to set goals and priorities that suit your shared vision for your business and financial future.
  3. Ask for advice. Other professionals have been in financial trouble before and found their way through to a better situation. Ask for their insights and advice.
  4. Agree on goals. Work with your spouse to set financial goals, whether saving or paying off debts. Work together to set a plan of action, and check back regularly to evaluate progress.