Research shows that money issues are often cited as one of the top reasons of marital conflict

One can be a spender and the other one, a saver. Differences over money management and spending patterns can make finance as one of the most challenging and probably intense topics for couples to discuss.

To handle marriage and money together, couples must understand each other's opinions about finances. They should communicate regularly on how money is going to be spent.

Couples must also remember that they are partners on the same team, so to resolve financial problems they must agree to work cooperatively and honor each other's ideas on how to move forward together.

It is a process of discovery, both individually and collectively, that allows them to live in harmony and happiness.

The Cathford Group recommends the following tips for a successful money management on married couples.

Write down goals

Problems arise between couples when they don't talk to each other about individual or common goals and plans to achieve them. The Cathford Group suggests that couples must work together to prioritize financial goals and then identify the necessary steps to get there.

They can agree on goals that included staying to a budget each month and review them regularly.

Couples should also thoroughly discuss their long-term financial goals with each other, like having a retirement plan.

Design a budget

In order to achieve the shared financial goals of married couples, they must create a mutually-agreeable budget and they need to ensure that they are within that budget each month.

Couples have to really understand the difference between 'needs' and 'wants'. They should prioritize their basic needs such as food, water, clothing and shelter, but also sanitation, education, and healthcare; they should limit themselves on how much they're allowed to spend every month to avoid debt.

Budgeting requires discipline and it can be a work in progress for couples. It may involve making adjustments and even some sacrifices especially over the first few months. However, they don't need to worry because this scenario is normal on newly married couples.

Deal with debt together

Debt can be damaging to anyone, but it is a large threat to married couples because they are both responsible for paying the money back.

If one partner goes into the relationship with debt, spouses must talk about it together and figure out what are the best ways to pay for it.

Couples must agree to talk often about finances and discuss any debt together to avoid further problems down the road.

Don't forget to save

Couples should consider the pros of creating a joint saving account if they are looking to develop a strong financial future with each other. Unpredictable circumstances might happen and costs are sometimes difficult to predict, so having a reserve fund is always a smart move for married couples.

They must plan together on how to save money as part of their financial management goal. Starting to save early will benefit the couples in the future.

Remember that movie with Will Smith in it: The Pursuit of Happyness? Many of us can relate with the feeling the character had in being jobless and penniless. The sense of powerlessness can be totally depressing and energy-sucking. On the other hand, people who have no money shortage tend to be sociable, confident and level-headed, as opposed to commonly lonely, diffident and irritable "poor" souls. This holds true in many cases that we know, if not from personal experience, at least from our close relations.

The National Foundation for Credit Counselling in the US did a survey which showed that almost 80% of people claim they lose sleep from money problems over other issues such as their marriages, kids or job security. It seems, therefore, that those many sleepless people in our midst comprise a big bulk of unhappy families.

In general, we agree that genuine happiness does not come from our material possessions but in the intangible things that truly matter in life. However, being able to handle money wisely can add much to the level of contentment and confidence that people have in life.

Understanding the principles that govern the dynamics of money would greatly enhance our capacity to maintain a meaningful and comfortable life. But handling money requires knowing several powerful tips you can learn to develop, namely:

Unlearn bad habits through the power of self-forgiveness. Habits have a great influence on how we control money. Our early home-and-school training somehow predetermined our ability to make money work for us. Many keep falling into the financial trap of overspending or borrowing to purchase lavish stuff because we learned it from someone close to us or someone we know in the past. Once it becomes a hardened habit, we will find it hard to escape the vicious cycle.

What to do then? Forgiving yourself for your failures is the way suggested toward reversing this trend in your life. It is the proper way of dealing with the guilt that emanates from the bad habit. Sacrificing instead of always looking for the easy way out can break that cycle of emotional and financial slavery to your weaknesses.

Know how you behave with respect to money. Our early years, especially our formal education, molded the way we think and act in relation to other people and material things. Even the kind of music we listen to, sing or download online is controlled by the upbringing we had as well as the environment we lived or live in.

Getting to know how you handle money will help you understand yourself more. With a clearer appreciation of how money affects you, you can learn to control you tendencies in order to benefit you financially. Perhaps, some of your habits or patterns of spending and borrowing can be traced to past experiences which were stressful. Knowing that you now have enough experience to control your emotions, you can then adjust and create a better way of handling money so that you do not end up in the same rut as before.

Knowing yourself, as the wise Marcus Aurelius said, is the key to defeating the worst enemy you have, which is often no one else but yourself. "Conquering yourself" should be the better motto to keep from now on.

Seek professional help if nothing else works. A financial counsellor has the experience and ability to help you understand how your financial habits are influenced by your emotional conditions. Possessing positive money habits can be developed as we can see in some cultural environments which engender respect for and skill in handling money beginning in childhood.

Yet, the best way to develop good money habits is learning from those who have the experience of creating wealth - the business-people. They are the ones who spend their whole life making money and making it grow to benefit not just themselves but others. Perhaps, for most people, bad money habits may have come about not just from lack of discipline but lack of appreciation as to what money can do for themselves and to others. Spending money unwisely may have come about because it was earned without effort early in life. Going into business and "making hard money" may be the only way for many of us to finally appreciate the real value of money - not its worth but what is can do to better people's lives.

The feeling of being debt-free can be truly liberating. But it comes with seriously considering the above steps toward setting yourself free of the negative and unproductive thoughts and attitudes we have with respect to money. In the end, happiness does not depend on having so much money; neither are your troubles due to the lack of money. We make ourselves happy by how we deal with what we have and what we do not have.

In the past, communal ownership was the rule and private property was inexistent. The land was not even owned by any person or family but by the unseen spirits. In essence, people believed that the land owned the people. Because we have lost this valuable concept and taken to ourselves the exclusive ownership, control and transfer of real estate, so much has changed and even resulted into adverse use of land, strained relationships and even so much violent conflict which continues today.

Today, our laws provide rights and limitations to such rights to ownership of property. We have come a long way to establishing a sense of order and equity as far as owning and using real estate property is concerned. Hence, every person dreams of owning a house of one's own. That is true even for those who are born into wealthy families and who have already so many houses. Being able to claim and to say to oneself or to others that your name is attached to a property is a powerful thing in almost any context.

But owning a house is not as simple as buying phone or a bicycle. Aside from the price of the property, you have to consider costs for repairs, taxes, unpaid utility bills, perhaps, and so many other pertinent things.

Cathford Group Credit Inc. has several tips to provide home buyers, especially first-timers. Here they are:

1. Get the help of a professional realtor which is the first and most important step of all for it will save the buyer a lot of trouble and unnecessary expense.

2. Get a loan pre-approval by consulting with a Cathford Group Credit Inc. realtor who can refer you to a loan expert or a bank who will furnish you a pre-approval letter. Based on your qualifications, you can get a pre-approval letter which will provide the realtor a way of assessing your options.

3. Be open and honest with your realtor and lender as they will need accurate information regarding your capacity to purchase the property. Filling out forms about your net worth or credit is a vital part of closing the deal and maintaining a viable agreement free of trouble.

4. Ask questions so that you are clear about what you are getting into and what is expected of you. This is the sure way of preventing problems that may arise later on since you did not fully understand or clarify some issues.

5. Let the realtor do the negotiations for you in order to prevent your emotions from encumbering the process. The realtor is there to work for your benefit by getting the best price for the property. Unless you know the job, it is better off letting experts do it.

6. Be aware of the time frame needed in closing the deal since a property may not be in the market for long. Make all communications with your loan adviser, your realtor and the seller as promptly as you could. When deciding whether to buy or not, make the decision within the period given to you or you might lose the opportunity to own the house.

Remember that all the pain and trouble of going through all these steps will be all worth the pleasant and triumphant feeling of entering your new property. Every climb up a mountain always gives that exhilarating experience; so, endure the trouble of reaching that final moment of success.

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TOKYO: The Bank of Japan may next week decide to expand two loan schemes aimed at encouraging commercial banks to lend more and extend them beyond their current March expiry date, sources familiar with the central bank's thinking said.

Many BoJ officials feel that the programmes ought to be continued beyond March. But there is no consensus yet on details such as how long they should be extended for or by how much they should be increased, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

If the nine board members can reach agreement, the BOJ may announce a decision next week, the sources said.

If preparations take more time, the decision may be delayed until next month, they added.

"There seems to be decent demand among banks for the loans and if so, there is no point ending the programmes" when they expire in March, one of the sources said. Under its "quantitative and qualitative easing" programme, or QQE, the BoJ is buying government bonds and risky assets aggressively in a bid to double base money in the economy and achieve its 2 percent inflation target.

Aside from asset purchases, the BoJ has several loan programmes including one that aims to encourage banks to lend more to industries with growth potential.

Another scheme, introduced in 2012, offers cheap funds to banks that boost lending in general.

Both schemes offer banks loans for up to four years at a 0.1 percent interest rate and were expanded in February last year.

The balance of loans extended under the programmes exceeded 20 trillion yen ($171 billion) last year and reached nearly 25 trillion yen as of Jan. 10.

With the BoJ's massive bond purchases nudging yields into negative territory and crowding out investors, many BoJ officials are reluctant to expand asset purchases under QQE any time soon.

But the central bank is set to cut its consumer inflation forecasts at next week's rate review due to slumping oil prices and may come under pressure for not focusing more on the slowdown in inflation, some analysts say.

While expanding the loan schemes by definition won't be tantamount to monetary easing, it will help the BoJ fend off such criticism, said Izuru Kato, chief economist at Totan Research.

"The BoJ doesn't have many policy tools left so it may use the loan schemes to appear as if it's doing something to address the slowdown in inflation," he said.

Why make it personal? There are times in your life when despite your best efforts you fall short of the funds you need to achieve what you desire. Personal loans can provide a way of achieving what you need in the present by allowing you to pay it off in the future. Whether you are trying to consolidate your debts, booking an overseas trip or need the money to set up a nursery, we will show you what type of personal loans are available so you can feel comfortable choosing the right one, at the right price. What to consider when choosing a personal loan 1. The benefits of a personal loan 2. Types of personal loans 3. How to get the best deal on your personal loan 4. Personal loan application Checklist 5. Star Ratings 1. The benefits of a personal loan What's the difference between a credit card and a personal loan, which both give you access to money you don't have? The main benefit of a personal loan and what attracts many people to this option compared to a credit card, is that their interest rates are usually lower and you have an allocated time frame in which to pay the loan back. This means that it's often easier to pay off and you could save you a lot of money in interest.

1. Buy used … usually You knew this would be the first bit of advice, right? Of course it is. How could it not be when Edmunds reports that the average new car loses 11 percent of its value as soon as it's driven off the lot? 2. Do your homework Regardless of whether you're buying new or used, you need to do your homework first. That means researching the going price and available options for the cars you're eyeing. Of course, KBB and Edmunds are good places to start, but don't stop there. These sites tell you what cars should be selling for, but, in the end, capitalism rules. Supply and demand where you are will dictate actual prices. 3. Get your trim right OK, this one might seem silly to the gearheads in the audience, but for everyone else, make sure you're doing an apples-to-apples comparison when shopping around. 4. Embrace high miles I don't think I even owned a car yet, but I still remember that old Kia commercial with the car driving until the odometer on the roof rolled over to 100,000. 5. Time your purchase right There are two facets to this piece of advice. 6. Forget the monthly payment We drive by a car lot on our street nearly every day. Right on the corner is a shiny new SUV with "$198" plastered to the side. 7. Don't mention your trade-in Along the same lines, don't mention your trade-in unless it absolutely has to be part of the transaction because you still owe on it and can't afford two payments. 8. Think twice about trade-in promos Another trick dealers use is luring in shoppers with promises of huge trade-in values. 9. Offer to pay with green Buying with cash is a strategy that may or may not get you a discount. 10. Buy from private sellers Speaking of private se