The original topic-suggestion was “Financial Handling.” That was back in January when we were brainstorming ideas. What did we mean?
Shucks, I don’t know – someone else made the suggestion. But I’d think we could discuss “how poly finances are different than monogamous finances”…
Or we could discuss finances in general. As always, the two are related. People who aren’t poly sometimes ask me, “Why would I be interested in your discussion topics?” As if polys and monos were vastly different (whereas – despite the obvious differences – we actually face many similar issues).
And finance illustrates what is distinctive for polys, and what we have in common with everyone else. Finance (whether joint-finance or keeping-it-separate) is always a difficult topic. It is a chief contributor to divorce. As with sex, so with finances: Polyamory tends to amplify the characteristics of how you live. Polyliving can amplify how well off you are – or can lead to amplified headaches, if your family communicates badly or if there are large financial imbalances within your household, or big financial problems.
I’m not an expert on this. Fortunately, my partners and I have usually been well-enough off so that financial crises were not looming. Also, I myself have never actually lived in a poly-household. But I imagine that other members of our discussion group will have some insights to share with us.