Family Resource Management in USA Family Resource

Family Resource Management in USA

Family Resource Management

Family resource management is a way or a series of steps that help a family organize their resources in a way which benefits them the most. Some people misunderstand this concept as personal finance but in reality family resource management encompasses the management of not only personal but the whole family's financial and cognitive skills. A family with a good knows how on the subject have greater chances of thriving in today's challenging economy of the United States of America. (Abdul-Rahman, 2010)

In addition to the economy, the knowledge of family resource management helps the family to convert complex personal fiscal structures into cost saving mechanisms. The whole family's resources are considered as a whole and thus managed in a way that increases the mutual benefits derived from the scarce resources. (Abdul-Rahman, 2010)

Family resource management also triggers the use of underutilized resources. Some of these resources include internet banking and governmental services. As a single person will not have considerable amount of resources to use these services, the amalgamation of the resources of all the family members makes the use of all these services an open option. (Abdul-Rahman, 2010)

The Issue Faced by American Families

Despite of the benefits of family resource management, families in the United States of America face many problems in managing their resources. These problems include managing work and time, overseeing the financial resources, family planning and poverty. Of all these issues, the biggest and most common issue faced by American families is poverty. According to the statistics, 15.1% of the American population was poor in 2010. This rate was 6.7% in 2000 and has increased by 8.4% in 10 years.(W. Smith and Debord, 2005)

Families, in general, need eight types of resources to survive. The types are: financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, relationships, support systems and knowledge about the things that are untold. Poverty is the name given to the lack of financial resources. The main determinant of the availability of financial resources is income. In addition to that, the social and economic class of a family or an individual is dependent on financial resources and income. So, poverty creates a lot of problems for a family in the management of their resources. (W. Smith and Debord, 2005)

First of all, the lack of financial resources causes an unavailability or shortage of the things needed by a family. This creates problems as the family then has to arrange for other sources of income and to generate enough income to buy what they need daily. The lack of things that are needed daily also disturbs the family members, especially the ones who are earning more income than others. This is because they will think that the other family members are becoming a burden on them and it will eventually cause them to leave the family. (W. Smith and Debord, 2005)

A family also needs social capital to survive. This is the social network of a family which helps and aids them physically, emotionally and financially in times of need. Poverty disturbs this social setup as poor families usually have only extended families in their social networks. These extended families have a tendency to leave this support mechanism due to two reasons: either they don't have enough resources to support the family or they start to consider the family a burden. This is a direct effect of poverty on the social / relationship resources of a poor family.

This social deprivation also causes the family to lose their support system as well. (W. Smith and Debord, 2005)

Poverty also causes a family's emotional setup and resources to alter. In poor families, the family structure is matriarchal. This causes the children to copy these setups and thus the poverty trap continues because single parent families are more likely to get into a poverty trap than two parent families. (W. Smith and Debord, 2005)

The mental resources of a family are also changed by the lack of financial resources. The main aim of a family becomes limited to survival, relationship and entertainment. This minimizes the worldview of the family. The family loses the driving force to go forward and succeed. The members of the family become stagnant and thus lose whatever interest they had to make their lives better. (W. Smith and Debord, 2005)

Solutions to the Problem of Poverty

The first thing that can be done about the betterment of a poor family is encouragement. This encouragement can drive them to think about a better future. The encouragement can give them back the driving force that they have lost. This encouragement can come from anyone such as friends, family or any other institutions. In addition to that, the children must also be trained in a similar way in order to put a stop to the poverty cycle. (W. Smith and Debord, 2005)