Where did you learn Money Management skills?

Who taught you your finance skills?

Did you learn from your parents, your friends, partner, the teachers at school?

Did you read books or do research?

Are you listening to podcasts, or are in facebook groups?

There's so many ways these days to learn new skills.  In fact, so many that it's hard to know where to start.

I have a cupboard full of books, plus several memberships where I continue to learn new ways of teaching money management. 

I have people that I follow online, that inspire me.

Who is your biggest influence?

Generally we were either taught money by our parents, or taught not what to do by observing them and their behaviour.

I grew up in a one income family, being one of 3 kids.  My parents are both very frugal, as we lived on a farm, were able to grow our own veggies and eat meat from the land, it meant that a little money could go a long way.

I realised that this set me up with a "can do" attitude, being able to do anything, fix anything, cook from scratch, be able to adjust recipes based on what was in the house (no way that  we could get to the shops and back quickly - it was an hour trip!).

Our parents showed us the way

My parents set great examples, showing us that they could buy property on a small income (a small block of land out in the country, that they later had a transportable house fitted on).  A lot of our holidays were spent camping out on the land, imagining the house layout, where the shed would be and what animals would live there too.

My husband's parents both worked, and had one child, so my husband seemly had a different childhood to me.  They have been retired from full time work for nearly 20 years - in their late 40s.  They spent a lot of time travelling in a caravan around Australia before settling into a seaside village, and still travel a lot.

And Now

For both my husband and I, we have been super lucky, having parents showing us the way.

But we still both had our own issues.  I am very much a saver - based on my upbringing, I didn't always love spending money, and especially not on myself.

My hubby - he's a spender.  If there's money, he will spend it.

Between the 2 of us, we have been able to move closer from the extremes.

One of the ways we did this was both of us have our separate bank accounts that's just for our own personal spending.

This helped me by giving me permission to spend money on me and for me.  

This helped my husband, by giving him limits to his spending.  He now manages this quite well, and so do I.

How are you managing?

In my 7+ years of teaching money management skills, I still learn what works for me and my husband.

I love working with couples where there's a spender and a saver, and bring their extremes closer together, so that they can work together to manage their household finances, and work as a team.

Generally I find that this provides a stress-relief for the saver - they are usually the ones managing the bills and shopping, and having their partner on board and helping to make decisions makes them feel less alone.

And for the spender - this is about being aware of what the household budget is, so that they can help to make changes - big or small.

I have a program for couples like this - a spender and a saver... called Couples Money Mentoring.  It can make a huge difference to your relationship with money and each other - see here for more info:  intentionalmoney.com.au/couples-money-mentoring