Loving couples that don’t have ANY disagreements do not exist! Take it from two people who are a year away from celebrating 25 years of marriage. That would be my husband and me 😉
The truth is, every relationship has its conflicts and we all know people who still get to survive numerous disagreements with their partners. Why? Because, after a fight, we remain willing to patch things up.
 |
| Did you know? Dr. John Gottman’s Balance Theory of Relationships suggests a little bit of negativity is necessary for healthy partnerships? Balance, however does not mean fifty-fifty. According to Gottman, the magic ratio is 5:1 (five happy moments are needed to balance out one conflict) for a relationship to remain stable. |
Last year, Pru Life UK released the results of the Pru Life UK Relationship Index (PRI) that studied peoples’ relationships in 10 Asian countries. The Philippines ranked second out of ten nations in terms of relationship satisfaction. On average, Filipinos’ primary relationships – with their partner (74%), their children (59%), and their friends (50%) – fulfill 79% of their desired relationship needs.
“Filipinos are a highly relational people,” affirmed Gizelle Villareal-Camua, Pru Life UK’s Head and AVP for Brand and Communications in an intimate media event held at Frank & Dean in Bonifacio Global City. As a good example, she mentioned a certain fast food brand’s series of Valentines Day videos that went viral last month. “Those are about relationships and are clear examples of how we are as a people.”
Referring to the PRI survey results, Gizelle likewise shared that, despite a high satisfaction in relationships, Filipinos were found to argue more, with money as the most likely source of quarrels. Too, there is some disagreement between Filipino married couples over who decides where the money goes.
 |
| Gizelle Camua of Pru Life UK |
(Please read more about the PRI results in my other blog post, here: http://mommywrites.blogspot.com/2016/12/pru-life-uks-2016-relationship-index.html. You may learn a lot things that could help improve your relationships with the people you most care about.)
As part of its financial literacy advocacy, Pru Life UK invited bestselling author and finance and relationship coach Rose Fres Fausto to conduct a couple’s workshop on money management for members of the media. This is in line with Pru Life UK’s goal to help Filipinos understand our relationships better so we can make them more rewarding.
My husband and I joined other couples in taking a Financial Intelligence Quotient (FQ) test that can be found on Rose’s website, FQMom.com. She said that our results would help us know where we are in terms of financial know-how. I got a higher score than my husband, which affirmed that I am more diligent in studying about savings and investments than he is 😄
 |
| FQ Mom Rose Fausto |
Next, Rose discussed with us the difference between Conjugal Partnership of Gains (CPG) versus Absolute Community of Property (ACP), under the old and new Family Code of the Philippines, and how ACP (promulgated in 1987) affects married couples and their children when it comes to ownership of properties.
Third, she had us recall a Childhood Money Memory that we wrote down on a piece of paper. Some of our fellow participants shared their stories to the whole group and how certain circumstances in their past continue to influence their money issues today.
I liked how this activity started a lengthy and healthy discussion between my husband and me while we were going home. Together, we analyzed why we feel strongly about certain money matters and conceded that many of our finance-related decisions in the past, up to the present, indeed had a basis on some of our childhood experiences.
Rose then showed us a Power Point Presentation that highlighted lessons from her book, The Retelling of the Richest Man in Babylon. It’s a story written for children that adults can also learn a lot from. From the book are three things we should remember about handling money:
1. Pay yourself first.
2. Get into a business that you understand and get advice from those who already have experience.
3. Make your gold work for you.
If you’re curious about the longer explanations for each, do get yourself a copy of Rose’s book (with English and Tagalog versions) so you can also share the story with your family.
 |
| Cha-Ching on the web |
Lastly, she encouraged us to work on a design that will help us Become a High FQ Couple:
1. Start with your life goals.
2. Keep no secrets from each other.
3. Automate saving and investing.
4. Have your regular balance sheet meeting.
5. Raise your kids to have high FQ.
Speaking of High FQ Kids, Pru Life UK teamed up with Cartoon Network Asia to create Cha-Ching, a TV show for kids ages 7 to 12 that teaches them the 4 Basic Money Smarts: Earn, Save, Spend Wisely, and Donate. In case you don’t have access to the cable channel, your children can visit chaching.cartoonnetworkasia.com to watch educational music videos, play games, check out apps, or download catchy songs.
In addition, there’s a section for parents that provides resources for at-home activities they can do with the kids to practice money smart habits and enhance learnings from the music videos.
 |
| moms and dads with Gizelle, Rose, and the Pru Life UK team |
I highly encourage fellow moms and dads to learn more about raising your Financial Intelligence Quotient (FQ) as a family. As Pru Life UK CEO and President Antonio de Rosas said in a past media event, if you’re more knowledgeable about money matters and are focused on your goals, you and your partner could avoid quarreling about finances more often.
Personally, I’d rather argue with my better half over what ice cream flavor to buy the next time we go grocery shopping 😉.
No comments:
Post a Comment