Why is it so hard to talk to family about money? Shouldn’t the people who love and care about us most be most open to what we have to say? At our live event in Cape Town, someone wanted to know how they can convince their family members to think like them about money. We said it’s impossible, but Ivan disagrees. If this is a problem you’ve been longing to solve, you don’t want to miss this episode.
Ivan
I listen to the Dave Ramsey Show podcast.
On one of the shows someone asked the exact question on how to get his wife on the same page financially.
The response was to talk to him/her about their “WHY” He recommended talking to your loved one about what they want to achieve in life and showing them how saving now and sacrificing in the short term can help him/her achieve that dream.
I thought long and hard about this. With the financial info I had from my father’s affairs made a spreadsheet and powerpoint presentations. I started walking him through the baby steps with a whole comprehensive list of “why’s” he can achieve once he has reached the baby step 7.
I pitched the idea to my father. It gave him hope to change his behaviour since there was a reason and a plan to change his behaviour. It is still early days and it takes effort to remind my father why he is not spending on a credit card anymore, but there has been changed behaviour from his side. This has impacted his finances and his sanity since he has a plan for the future and his life.
Talking about WHY he does things now has changed a lot of elements in his life. I understand that it might not work for everyone but maybe it can work for other people as well.