Money Monday!

For this exercise, I am using an analogy of an airplane because talking about money directly can stress couples out.  The more I can remove that stress, the better results we can get together. To get started, think of your financial life as if it were an airplane, and ponder the questions below.  You get five minutes per section (set a timer), and put down as much information as you can. You can’t skip any sections.  In next week’s blog, I will be sending my “answer key” of sorts with some actionable thoughts on each section of this exercise.

PART 1 – The Pilots

• In your “financial airplane”, who would you say is the pilot?
• Who is the co-pilot?
• Or, do you split piloting duties perfectly down the middle?
• What is the best thing you have in common as fellow pilots of this plane?
• What would you say are the risks of your approach?

PART 2 – Your Training

• How were you trained as a pilot? Describe how you were raised to think about money.

PART 3 – Navigation

• How do you chart the course of this financial airplane?
• Your plane can only fly in one direction at a time, and there are only so many flights it can make in its lifetime. With this in mind, what “destinations” for each of you are non-negotiable?
• Which destinations could possibly be trade-offs for you in the name of something one of you or both of you feels is more important?

PART 4 – Emergencies

• What do you have in place in case of “engine failure”?

PART 5 – Communication

• Communication before takeoff and in-flight is critical.  How do you ensure you are hearing the communication of the other pilot?
• What rules can you put in place to ensure that poor communication doesn’t guide the plane off course or even crash it?

PART 6 – Fuel

• Money is the fuel for this plane.  Often, one pilot feels as if the other pilot uses too much fuel, and that pilot feels the other doesn’t use enough.  Is this the case for you?
• If so, explain why.

PART 7 – Maintenance

• Who is in charge of the routine maintenance of the plane? In other words, who pays the bills?  Or, do you each channel handle certain bills separately?

PART 8 – Mistakes

• How do you handle it if a pilot makes a mistake?

 

 

 

 

Any opinions are those of Wheeler Financial LLC and not necessarily those of Raymond James.