Reaching Out to New Audiences
The importance of financial education cannot be overstated, especially in preparation for life changing events such as marriage. The research shows that conflicts regarding finances is still the leading factor to divorce. What ideas and proven techniques can you share to help reach pre-marital clients so that they are armed with information to understand their perspectives about money as well as to instill effective money management behaviors?
3 Comments so far
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by Cathern Bergeron
On November 10, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I have no proven techniques to relate; however, in my previous position with the military, couples were required to take one day counseling class. This included many areas of counseling i.e. communication, religion in marriage and finances. I taught the financial portion of the day. Because the class was required, many people were not there willingly, but at least for some of the participants, you could see the light bulb suddenly go on. I received quite a few requests for individual/couple appointments based on the hour long class.
I also found the couples who were required by their church to have premarital counseling with the pastor/priest were more open to having additional counseling. The faith based counseling also seemed to plant the seed, at bare minimum, of planning and speaking about money prior to marriage. These couples were more apt to seek out additional information or counseling.
I think it would be a good idea to open communication with churches, chapels, synagogues and temples to teach a basic financial class on a regular basis or at least let them know about classes given by AFCPE members in the local community.
This leads me to the slightly different topic of having financial education in high school. It is not a required subject and is not offered in most the states I have lived. I believe if basic financial classes were given to teenagers, you would find more openness to further education later in life.
by Sherri Overby
On December 3, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Pre-marital counseling is my favorite kind, preventative instead of cleaning up a mess.
Movie clips help get clients in the state of mind needed for particular subject. One of my favorites from “She’s having a baby”, a couple in their wedding clothes as their pastor begins a perfectly wonderful wedding ceremony that ends up with a list of all of the things he needs to provide for his new wife. The last part is only his imagination, but when he gulps and says “I do” everyone rolls on the floor. “Cinematherapy” by Birgit Wolz, Ph.D., MFT. is a great book to find clips. It’s written primarily for family therapists but translates well for financial use.
List their expectations separately and then go through them together. Sometimes they’re on the same page, sometimes not but it helps them see the other persons point of view.
Challenge their thinking. My experience is that couples go into marriage thinking that the way their family does things is right and the way their spouses family does things isn’t. My goal is to get them to think about the reasoning behind their decisions. e.g. Just because his mom and dad had a joint account doesn’t mean her parents were wrong because they chose to have separate accounts. I try to focus on the fact that there are many more options than A or B.
“what we want our life to look like” collages are a fun activity that helps them to jointly envision what they want their life to look like. How much money and time would it take to accomplish that life style? We start with the clients values; time with family, financial security, children, then work on the goals. It gives them a project to work on together.
by collin schriver
On January 26, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Check each other’s credit scores.