Smart Couples, Smart Finances

Money is ultimately a reflection of where and how our energy is focused. The way it flows in our lives reveals how we feel about ourselves and others, including whether or not we believe we deserve to receive it. People who truly trust that the money they need will come to them, one way or another, are pleasantly surprised to find that it does. Those who think the financial situation is always a reason to worry constantly find themselves in situations where money takes its time to arrive. Individuals who earn money doing what they truly love find that money magically arrives. Those who do nothing but chase after it often find themselves having to run faster and faster to make it go further. Thus, how we obtain and use money speaks volumes about how we perceive the world around us and where our values lie. From this perspective, it's easy to see that 50 or 500 dollars can achieve the same feeling in two different people. Some people need at least 500 dollars to enjoy a pleasant meal, while others can enjoy a satisfactory meal with 50 dollars. There are also people for whom even 500 dollars isn't enough, and others for whom, in the company of friends and in a beautiful place, 50 dollars provides a meal fit for a king. Thus, the value of money, contrary to what we have chosen to believe, is completely subjective and will depend entirely on people's attitudes as to whether money is an obstacle or a benefit to establishing more or less satisfactory relationships. And while money has a different connotation for each person, a fairly widespread idea is that, if it doesn't necessarily bring happiness, it does represent security and stability. Most people who save do so thinking it's better to have a cushion for any difficult situation that might arise along the way. Furthermore, those who fail to save generally feel they wish they could do so to feel more at ease. So, in relation to this topic, the central question to answer would be: "And if money is a reflection of where and how I put my energy, what do I want my way of managing money to reflect about me to my partner?" Setting aside any moral or religious connotations that marrying or choosing to live with another person might have, anyone who makes this decision does so considering it to be for their own benefit. Regardless of the partner's status, they provide us with some form of security, whether because they represent the ideal of what we consider to be our complement, because they consciously or unconsciously represent the love we need to feel loved and safe, or even because they distance us from what we fear. No one makes the decision to live with another person thinking it will be detrimental to their future and their own person. And at the risk of sounding trite, I will say that whatever the situation, the person who decides to make this decision always does so seeking, at best, happiness, security, and stability, and, at worst, at least the last two. Whether happiness is ultimately achieved or not is not the subject of analysis in this book, but the other two factors, being so closely related to the topic of money, are, because as already mentioned, money is one of the means to which we give the most importance when looking to achieve a sense of security and stability. The central axis of this book is to propose how, through adequate money management, both people involved in a relationship can feel more secure and stable, and therefore, with stronger support, in order to then seek the third of the characteristics they aim to experience as part of a couple, which is to 'achieve' happiness.