According to several experts, letting someone bully you to pay them is just an equal opportunity offense. The levels of the financial bully have crept the Indian society, and like women who face sexual bullying, there is the same number of men who face financial bullying. Let’s take a look at some of the common bullying scenarios and how to deal with it.
There are various ways a person can be financially bullied. The first one perhaps has happened to everyone, when someone is making you feel guilty for your shopping habits or showing signs that you did a regret shopping. The major thing to consider here is that whether or not you did something to feel guilty. If it is connected to buying additional supplies for your family or a small gift for a member or friend for any specific occasion. You should know that whatever you’ve shopped for, the decision has been smartly and you’ve made the right steps to keep them under the family budget. Keeping this in mind will not allow you to sway away from your decision and can help you shut down a bully’s ability to make you feel guilty. Another way is to start tracking your monthly or quarterly spends to see where you can make appropriate cuts.
Take a control of your monthly spending. This one too goes with every Indian household. There are so many bills to pay for your children’s tuition, food, clothing, house maintenance, and bank debts. If you live in a nuclear family, the couple should take necessary efforts to keep a record of money spent individually. With the right money to pay your bills and rents, you’ll definitely save enough to buy an extra furniture or a home appliance. Many a time, other members of the family might bully you on the spending that they find unnecessary or if the amount wasn’t used to purchase items of their likings. In such cases, you need to keep a motto of equal distribution of supplies and tell them the importance and even the process of how spending is done. You can also choose to show a receipt of all the purchases to let them know everything’s right. You can find several websites that will guide you through right mode of financial planning like KnowsWhy.com and more.
Keep your credit score correct. Bank officials can be quite harsh when it comes to making you pay your obligations. Say it bullying, harassing or formal threat, they are selected to keep a tight vigil on your financial transactions so that you don’t falter with your credit account payments. Several types of research have shown that many couples in India argue regularly because of their credit card payments. The best idea is to keep all your credit accounts open to your spouse so that he/she has all the information about the movements. Maybe, they can motivate you to keep a good credit rapport.
The feeling that you’re being bullied pops due the emotion of inadequacy, low self-esteem, a poor self-image or the fear of getting embarrassed by your peers or family members. If the feeling has crept up your mind, it is important to consult a financial advisor or a therapist. However, the crux of the thing is that when it is your finances, you should be steering it and not others.