The Sheng Kung Hui Macau Gambling Counselling and Family Wellness Centre has announced that according to the findings of its recent survey about the impact of financial attitudes on marital relationships over 70 percent of the more than half of the survey’s 372 respondents who are indebted said that they have debts accounting for more than 30 percent of their total household income, indicating that their debt stress is causing imbalances in their lives.
The Anglican Church centre hosted a press conference on Sunday on its premises at Leisure Garden on Avenida Marginal do Lam Mau.
The survey was conducted by the centre between April and August when its members collected 372 valid questionnaires from married residents aged above 18, aiming to understand the influence of different stages of the family life cycle, the financial behaviour of a family, and the couple’s communication on marital satisfaction.
The findings showed that half of the respondents said that their family has no debt, while nearly 30 percent agreed with the survey’s answer of “I am worried about the way my spouse manages money”, reflecting the lack of communication among families about financial management, according to the centre’s representatives.
Three representatives of the centre said separately during the press conference that according to the findings, respondents’ financial and marital relationships were “generally healthy”. However, the representatives said, the findings showed that respondents seldom planned their family’s financial goals while some planned their financial goals but rarely achieved them.
The representatives pointed out that married couples were less satisfied with their communication about financial matters, and that younger couples were more likely to deal with conflict in a “high-pressure manner”.
According to the findings, among those with debts, mortgages were the most common which accounted for over 75 percent, followed by consumer loans with nearly 19 percent, while the third was student loans with about 5 percent. Less than one percent said that they have gambling debts.
The findings noted that more than 70 percent of the indebted respondents said that their debts accounted for more than 30 percent of their total household income, while more than 30 percent said that they owed more than 50 percent of their total household income, indicating that there were hidden worries about debt pressure, and that it was difficult for them to cope with financial adversity, the representatives said.
The findings pointed out that nearly 30 percent of the respondents said they agreed with the survey’s answer that “I am worried about the way my spouse manages money”, and more than half of the respondents said that this would lead to conflict over financial matters. Among them, nearly 40 percent said they thought that their financial problems were serious, but their difficulty in solving money issues was “moderate”, the findings indicated.
The survey also found that when family members disagree on money issues, the severity of their financial problems and the difficulty of solving them will impact them, forming a vicious circle.
The representatives said that a family’s “healthy debt” should be maintained at or below 30 percent of their total income to ensure a balanced life, adding that financial soundness was “very important”, especially at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting Macau.
The representatives underlined that both men and women should make overall planning and discuss their financial goals before marriage and during the early days of marriage, and effectively manage resources to reach a consensus before financial problems deteriorate into a vicious circle.
The representatives also said that young families should focus more on financial issues, and understand the married couple’s financial concepts, which would help improve their marrital relationship. Based on the findings, the representatives added, more financial planning services will be launched by the centre for newly married couples.
Sheng Kung Hui Macau Gambling Counselling and Family Wellness Centre representatives address Sunday’s press conference about the impact of financial attitudes on marital relationships, in its premises at Leisure Garden on Avenida Marginal do Lam Mau. – Photo courtesy of TDM
