Filed under: Dr. Boyce Money
Forgive me for being silly, but in my book, "Financial Lovemaking 101," I enjoy connecting money to the thing that everyone understands from adolescence: Sex. It may seem like a strange relationship, but similar to sex, merging your money with another person means putting something valuable at risk. In fact, your emotional and physical health are more important than your financial health, so the investments we make in love are far more impactful than anything that happens on Wall Street. At the very least, any method of merging important assets with another person must be done with care and caution.With that said, one chapter of my book asks the age-old question, "Does size really matter?" Now, you might have your own answer to this question based on the bedroom. But when it comes to money, the answer is almost always, "usually, yes." There are some who feel comfortable with a mate who is financially secure, while there are others who don't care much about a person's financial status.
What's also interesting is that we are not only influenced by our mate's financial size in an absolute sense, we may also be affected in a relative sense. Some have mentioned men who become insecure about their female partner earning more money than they do. There are some women who've reported feeling disappointed in men who earn less than they do, to the point that they won't even considering dating the good-looking, kind brother who works at the post office.
Within the context of relationships, there are situations where a person's financial size may lead them to feel the right to dominate the relationship. Because of what they bring to the table, there may be less willingness to make sacrifices for the relationship or someone may feel that being financially stronger than their partner gives them the right to mistreat them. How we respond to our financial status and the status of others varies from one situation to the next.
Read the rest of 'Does Size Really Matter' on The Loop 21!