As most of us know, conflict is a destructive force in any relationship. Money is often a source of conflict. Money is an immense issue in our everyday lives; how we manage and communicate about it sets the tone for our relationships. Is that tone potentially explosive, argumentative, deceiving or open and honest?  

 I wrote Romance & Money - 12 Conversations Every Couple Should Have, because of the painful and caustic communication, or lack of that I saw in the couples I worked with as a mortgage banker and credit counselor. Often I worked with divorcing couples and became convinced that with better money communication skills they would not have been divorcing.  

 Whether couples have a $20,000.00 a year income and a taut budget or make a cozy six figures, the communication skills are the same, only the numbers and the faces change. Developing financial integrity will save many of the arguments that plague and often destroy marriages.  

 In this economy especially, people don’t need just another self-help book, they need solutions, skills and answers. They need the skills to engage in critical conversations like; what questions to ask before you say ‘I Do‘, budgeting, spending, saving, children, college expense, life insurance, death and more. All of these topics can have deep emotional roots that manifest in thorny, often dishonest communication that harms the relationship; the family and ultimately the person who cannot heal from their past and so drags it into their future.  

 Learning to openly and honestly discuss romance and money won’t heal the world, but it will heal one relationship at a time.