(Newswire.net — May 8, 2018) — Handled carelessly, money can lead to breaking lifelong friendships. It becomes tricky handling money issues with your friends since you don’t want to come out as arrogant and pushy.
Occasionally, a friend may find themself in a financial spot of bother and ask you to bail them out. Repayment then becomes an issue since you are torn whether to demand the money back and strain the friendship or let them pay at their own convenience and mess up your plans. This why money and friendship don’t mix.
It is also inevitable to have friends at different income levels. One can on a Gynecologist Salary and have friends who are teachers, engineers, accountants, all with varying incomes. It then becomes tricky to adjust appropriately when you meet for a meal or drinks together. This can also happen with your work colleagues who are on a different salary band from you.
How then do you handle your friends when it comes to money?
Peer pressure
If your friends are into designer clothes and fancy cars, it may also start rubbing on you too. If you can afford such a lifestyle then well but if you can’t, then you need to know how to handle peer pressure.
It can be tough to make smart financial choices when everyone around you is splashing their money extravagantly. You feel the pressure to spend in order to feel a sense of belonging.
The key is to stick to your budget and only spend as your budget permits. Funny enough, you will find that your friends understand your financial situation and decisions and the pressure to keep and impress them is mostly from yourself.
Understand that you can still be friends but have different spending habits and life priorities.
Be open about your financial goals
Making your friends aware about your financial goals could ease the pressure to spend and keep up. If they know that you saving towards a goal or have financial obligations that take up most your income, then most of the time they will factor that in when inviting you for shindigs and may even offer to pay for your portion of the bills.
This may help change the perception that you are miser or that you are always looking for excuses to meet up with your friends.
You can also have a positive influence on your friends by helping them make smart financial decisions and talking about your future plans.
Budget for social spending
Budget for social activities while making your monthly budget. If you have a weekly night with girls, factor that in so you don’t break your spending limits and mess up your budget.
More importantly, request your friends to always give you a heads up when planning for meet ups so you can forecast how much you are likely to spend depending on the location and the time you can going to spend there.
There is no shame in suggesting less costly alternatives when your social meeting seem to exceed your financial capability.