Money issues between couples can cause tension. How should one handle money issues between couples?
28.8 is a play showcasing lovers Nerissa and Andy (played by Farhana M. Noor and Al-Matin Yatim). Like in most Singaporean romances, the BTO flat features prominently in the play.
The writer-director, Mr Adib Kosnan, drew on his own experience when working on the play. Before Kosnan married 2 years ago, his wife and he talked extensively about expenses and how to pay for their BTO flat. As a freelancer, his income is irregular. The young couple have a 16-month daughter. In Kosnan’s words, money issues between couples “creates conflict” and “tension”.
28.8 depicts how Nerissa and Andy met, married and bought their BTO flat. While the couple are in love, they think differently about money. For instance, Nerissa will pay for new experiences in life while Andy is thrifty and makes plans for their future.
See: Akshita Nanda, “Darling, let’s talk about money”, The Straits Times, 28 March 2017
As a family lawyer in Singapore, I have seen how money issues between couples cause many couples to argue and eventually fall out with each other. Very often, one party feels that he/ she has contributed everything to the marriage while the other party did not contribute financially. This causes tension and stress.
Recently, I was engaged by a female client whose husband had been unemployed for close to a year. While she was flying high in her career as a general manager and did not care for minor cost savings during shopping trips, her husband would go to great lengths to save on grocery items. The wife felt that her husband did not live up to her expectations and elected to end the short and childless marriage.
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