Using Family Meetings for Budget Planning
Collaborating on Family Finances While Bringing Everyone Together
Oct 7, 2009
Family budgets are often challenging to create, and even more difficult to maintain over time. Not only does a good household budget have to help balance the checkbook, it must also guide family decisions and keep family members moving in the same direction where finances are concerned.
Family Meetings for Budget Planning
Many people know that family meetings are a great tool for resolving major issues or discussing rules and changes. But family meetings are also the perfect venue for discussing family finances, setting priorities, and sharing goals. Family meetings are also excellent for teaching children about money management, saving and charitable giving.
To use family meetings for household budget planning, it is important to hold the meetings on a regular basis. This allows for not only the initial planning, but for keeping up with progress and maintaining accountability. Families may wish to meet monthly or quarterly, so that healthy spending and saving patterns can be maintained, and negative patterns can be easily spotted and corrected.
Parents may be unsure about including children in meetings about family finances, but there is an age-appropriate lesson for every child about money, and participation in family decision-making will help children to feel empowered and invested in the plan. It may also be helpful, particularly when there are children in the household, to pair family budget planning with enjoyable activities such as board games or movie night.
Elements of a Family Budget Meeting
To be successful, a family budget meeting should incorporate several basic elements.
- Rules. Guidelines like "everyone gets a turn to talk," and "no interrupting," will help the meeting go more smoothly and ensure everyone is treated with respect.
- Listening. For a family meeting of any type to be successful, each family member must listen with an open mind to the needs, concerns and opinions of the others. The meeting should be a safe forum for expressing feelings as well as opinions and suggestions.
- Agenda. There should be basic goals for each meeting that are set out at the beginning, so everyone knows what to expect. These can change during the meeting if needed, but an agenda will help the family meeting stay on track. Issues not related to the budget or the goals can be written down to discuss later.
- Education. Family budget meetings are an ideal time for parents to educate children about saving and spending money. The family meeting can serve as a reminder about how kids are managing their own money, whether from allowance, gifts, or a part-time job.
- Priority-setting. Before building the nuts and bolts of a specific budget, the family should talk about its general priorities. How important are things like charitable giving, physical fitness, religious commitments and social involvement? These priorities may help the family make choices in the budget later, and to keep the focus on what is important.
- Income and expenses. To create and stick to a budget, the family must know how much money comes into the household each month, and how much can go out.
- Mandatory vs. Discretionary expenses. Everyone in the family should have a sense of which expenditures are mandatory or fixed (like the rent) and which are discretionary or optional (going to the movies). Parents may wish to meet separately to discuss income and mandatory expenses, and then bring kids in on the discussion of discretionary ones.
- Measurable goals. Part of every family budget planning meeting is the creation of realistic, measurable goals that the family can track together to see how they are doing.
- Progress check-in. In order for budget goals to be useful, the family must check in periodically to make sure those goals are being met. If not, the household budget meeting is a perfect forum for discussing what changes need to be made going forward.
Brainstorming for Solutions
No matter how challenging the family finances are, everyone has something to contribute to the solution. Whether it's an idea for a way to save money or simply a willing spirit and emotional support for one another, each family member has a unique and important perspective to offer.
When creating a household budget and considering solutions, it is a great idea to brainstorm together for fun, creative ways to earn more, save more or spend less. One place to start is with 20+ Inexpensive or Free Things To Do with Family. The best ideas, however, come from the family members themselves.
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