You can't buy love. Spend your way to affection. Substitute stuff for time and attention. Paper over the cracks with lavish offerings.
You can't live on love. All the love in the world won't keep you out of debt, secure a stable home, put food on the table.
You need both. Love AND money.I used to think love was the most important thing ever. The real world has taught me otherwise. Love is not all you need. Love does not conquer all. Love alone, unfortunately, is a poor substitute for the basic necessities in life.
The partners we choose for ourselves play such an integral role in our financial situation. Lately I've been thinking a lot about where I am today and the choices that got me here.
Where I am today has been shaped by a lot of things beyond my control. But I made choices that set these things in motion. I may not have thought about it or realised it back then but now I have a much better understanding of why I made them.
Even if it's a bit of a hard pill to swallow, these are the facts. My relationship and circumstances now are a strong reflection of the choices that I've made to date. In trying to escape the shortcomings of my childhood, I gravitated towards certain traits, not realising what the trade-off would be or appreciating the value of what I did have.
I've come to terms with my tendencies as an enabler and the impact of this. I'm cognisant of how this has informed my decisions in the past and I know I need to be alert going forward to ensure I don't make the same mistakes again.
I now know what I need, what I cannot stand for, and have a clear picture of what the balance between love and money should look like in my life.
"The goal of a relationship," writes John Armstrong, in How To Worry Less About Money, "is that both people flourish together. And because money is a crucial ingredient in flourishing, it is a crucial ingredient in marriage."
