Lifestyle: Consider financial spending before marriage - Counsellor

Clinical psychologist and lecturer at Ghana Telecom University College, Dr. Mabel Oti-Boadi, has advised young ladies to discuss financial matters in details with their prospective spouses before they tie the knot.

Dr Oti-Boadi explained that failure on their part to discuss how to invest and save monies earned after they get married could result in misunderstanding in the family leading to psychological issues.

According to her, couples who are about getting married should decide whether to have separate or joint accounts or an account to deal with the payment of expenses.

In addition, she said, couples should indicate their responsibilities so as to reduce the load of spending and time wasted to pay these bills.

Dr. Oti-Boadi was speaking at Young Ladies monthly breakfast seminar at the Accra Newtown branch of Seventh-Day Adventist Church last Sunday, April 2, 20017.

Although she shared the concerns of these young girls who believe that it is the duty of a man to provide for his family since he is the head, she noted that women nowadays can equally share responsibilities since most of them now have careers which provide monthly allowances for them.

“Men by divine power of God are superior beings, which does not mean women should not work to support the house. Women are helpmates to men,” she said.

She continued that when couple seeks proper counselling before marriage, it can help them to understand the importance of letting one’s partner know of his or her properties and investments in order to avoid future misfortunes.

She cautioned men to include their spouse’s correct and full names attached to their properties and investments since it makes it easier for their wives to get access to them after their death.

“This will save them the trouble of looking for Power of Attorney (POA) before any claims are made,” she added.

She further advised women to put their full names as it was before they got married on deeds of investments and properties instead of prefixing their names with ‘Mrs.’