Let’s Talk Finances: Exploring How People Feel Discussing Their Personal Funds
There is something we all can agree on; money is the most taboo topic of all. Asking someone about salary or going into details about debt is just not a casual conversation. At MoneybyRamey.com we provide a ton of tips and articles that can help you out with your savings, budgeting or making money so we feel quite comfortable to have this conversation with you.
There is a time and place for everything, but, does this applies to money? Is there a financial question you always try to avoid or do you feel comfortable talking about money? In this survey we got the answers of 980 employed people to get an idea about the do’s and don’ts when it comes to financial discussions.
What can you ask?
As we can see in the infographic above there are some questions people should stay away from. For example, asking how much money someone has in his or her savings account was perceived as the most inappropriate (92 percent) along with asking about salary (83.5 percent).
Also 56.6 percent of people said that financial discussions with their significant other strained their relationship. Although having these conversations is super important when it comes to starting a family or cohabiting, it might be better to stick to easier money questions at the beginning of a relationship.
Dealing with your landlord
Let’s not forget that what you ask often depends on whom you are asking. For example, a relationship between renter and a landlord might be tricky and it’s going to revolve around money most of the times, but asking a landlord if you have to pay your rent on time was perceived as highly inappropriate and a conversation most landlords don’t want to have.
And let’s be honest we all want to save money if we can in any situation, especially on a rent. However nearly 60 percent of landlords said they were unlikely to rent a potential tenant who asked to drop the price. But if you want to secure moving to your new home and don’t feel pressured about money you could ask to pay in installments, only 9.2 percent of landlords thought that question was inappropriate considering that 48.4 percent of landlords thought it was inappropriate to haggle move-in fees or security deposits.
Asking in the workplace
Talking about finances with co-workers can be awkward, but this is an important conversation we must have, not only does this benefit employees by having a transparency but it puts a spotlight on issues, such as the gender pay gap that still persists. According to the results of this survey, over one-third of employees admitted to lying about how much they brought home and 80 percent of women said that co-workers should not talk about their wages.
We can see clearly that women feel more uncomfortable talking about money with their peers, almost the double compared to their male counterparts to be exact. But pay transparency is one way to know how big this pay gap is between genders and take action to reduce it.
Responding to financial questions
So if someone’s asks you a financial question, you got two options: either answer honestly or avoid it entirely. But this seems to depend on certain aspects such as gender, age and the person who is asking. Over half of the men said they would answer questions about their finances but nearly 60 percent of women said that they would divert the conversation.
As for age, millennials seemed to be the most comfortable with money talk. For example, Gen Xers and baby boomers also said that they would totally answer financial questions if a family member asked, but only millennials were the only generation to answer financial questions posed by co-workers and friends. Gen Xers said that they would answer a friends question about money (34.8) but if a co-worker asked, almost 36 percent said that they would divert the conversation.
This being said it makes sense that the oldest generation we asked, seemed to be more traditional in this topic. Thirty-eight percent of baby boomers said they would tell a friend that they were uncomfortable talking about finances.
What we learned about this survey is that coming up with the right questions its crucial, asking a landlord about a payment plan might be a better idea than just asking to lower the rent or even better find a location that is suited to your budget. As for discussing finances with your colleges or friends, consider your relationship with them, someone who is close to you and in your personal life will likely be more receptive and open to a financial discussion.
Originally posted on Porch.com
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Before reading your article, I had very little idea about this finances fund. In your article, you have wrote in details which will be beneficial to me. Thanks for sharing this article.
I feel offensive to talk to someone about my salary & savings. I don’t understand how to present it. However, most of the time, we bring up the issue of reducing house rent because money-saving is more significant than increasing expenses with a low income. But I didn’t know that the landlord had such an opinion. I also need to refrain from asking these questions. Thanks for presenting this information.