Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

Dear Scott,

I've written some pretty damn good questions to you before and you've never answered them. Hopefully, I'm not wasting my time with this one. My husband is not putting his money where his mouth is. He runs his own business and is the sole breadwinner for our family. We have read your book and set up buckets with our income going into mortgage, daily expenses and splurge. This year his business has been slower and the percentage going into our mortgage has not covered the monthly repayments. On top of this, I have discovered he hasn’t been putting the percentage we agreed upon into the mortgage and has instead been skimming it into our daily expenses. If the mortgage isn’t paid each month, I want to know about it! And I definitely want to be involved in any decisions about ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’. How do I make sure the money goes where we have agreed it should?

Wendy

Hi Wendy,

I want you to re-read the first two sentences of your question.

(Go on, have a read, I’ll wait.)

It’s kind of … gruff.

Is that the same tone and approach you use with your husband?

If so, that may be part of the problem.

(After all, it’s not like he’s siphoning off the cash to blow on wizz fizz and hokey-pokey.)

Wendy, like it or not, you’re a small business family, and he needs to know that you’ve got his back.

Here are a couple of suggestions on what you can do together:

Set up buckets for the business – especially for paying tax and suppliers. Separating the business from your personal finances is really important. Ultimately, the business needs to pay at least as much as he’d get working for someone else; otherwise, what’s the point?

Once you have your buckets set up, and a clear picture of what the break-even earnings of the business are, work together to set some sales goals over the next year.

Finally, if things get really tough, call the Small Business Debt Helpline (sbdh.org.au, 1800 413 828). They’re experts. They’re confidential. And they’re free.

Scott.