Budgeting Help for Dyslexic Girlfriend

TJB24

Hi All,

My girlfriend (22) and myself (24) are discussing moving in together, into a flat that I own and pay a mortgage on. My partner however is severely dyslexic and also has dyscalcula. This leaves her functionally illiterate on bad days, and means she lacks confidence when doing comparatively simple things such as checking email, bills, banking apps and making payments.

Fortunately we were both raised to be money-savvy and are very much savers, than spenders. We've agreed that she will contribute 50% of the household bills, excluding the mortgage (i.e. she only pays for what she uses). I keep an active spreadsheet and have crunched the numbers so this works out at just £200pcm for her.

We want to trial moving in together first before changing addresses etc. In the long term, I'd have thought the best and fairest system would be for us to open a joint bank account, and both pay in £200pcm by standing order - and use the account solely to pay household bills which we'd link the direct debits to (preferably an account with a good cashback deal).

My question is one of general advice for sorting household budgeting for someone with dyslexia, and how I can empower her to have equal ownership in our finances. Especially are there any banks that have a good app for dyslexics, and is there any way I can make my budget spreadsheet more readable for her, i.e. visualizing the data in graphs etc?

Very greatful for any observations offered!

Tom & Hayley

sheramber

I don't know if your girlfriend will be the same but a work colleague who was dyslexic had his computer screen set up as neon orange and shocking pink instead of black and white.

There are some suggestions here
https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/employer/dyslexia-style-guide-2018-creating-dyslexia-friendly-content

Robisere

Taught our dyslexic son and gson to read by using upper case letters only and gaps between words. They do OK now, but neither have dyscalcula. In fact, gson is opposite, can carry out calculations in his head, which led to many problems in school. ("Where is your working-out") - He could not write that down, but his maths answers were always correct.

Try your GF with upper case printing and gaps: can she type from a keyboard? Gson finds typing and seeing results on a screen, works for him. I feel for her, having watched our son and gson struggle for years.

iammumtoone

Does you girlfriend have coloured tinted glasses? if not I recommend looking into this, she will need a test to determine which colour is most suited to her needs. They are not cheap but I know they help a lot of people.


Re the finances/bills do you pay everything monthly? if not start by arranging this as it will make it easier to understand rather than having to understand the concept of money needing to carry over into the next month.


Would she be able to read a pie chart. You could make a simple one showing where the money each month is being paid out to. If she doesn't have tinted glasses print it out onto coloured paper, dyslexics can read/write easier on colour paper than white.

TJB24

Thanks all, appreciate the suggestions and anecdotes.

I don't think colour difference changes things for her - every dyslexic experiences things slightly differently, I believe. Pie charts and graphs is a good idea though so she can visualise the data and see where things are going. She is financially savvy, she just struggles to read it.

MightMouse

1. Work out the difficulties that result from dyslexia. People are different with the condition and how it affects one person is not the same as the next.
This list could include:
a. Have difficulty with organisation.
b. Read numbers wrong.
c. Cannot follow the lines of text when reading.
d. Short term memory difficulties.
e. Difficulties processing information with regards to numbers at the same speed as other people.

2. Ask her how she prefers to learn. Does she prefer to see information written down at the same time as someone talks to her about numbers. Does the information need to be given slowly?

3. Then after you have made a list. Go through each point and think how that would affect the way you would want to organise the finances.

Then decided, given your girl friends disability you may decided together that its easier for you to enter numbers in a spread sheet as that way they are done correctly, minimising her frustration, but you will share the work that you have done, on say the first Saturday of the month. Made a set date. Keep to routines as far as possible as that enables organisational skills to develop over a longer period (if she has difficulties in that area).

Think through each item in the list and consider how it affects finances. For example: with short term memory issues they may be no point given numbers orally as they cannot be retained. Writing down as explaining may be the way to go.

4. Consider what items may benefit her to assist her with her finances that can be obtained through the bank.
a. A Bank Card in a different colour to assist her reading numbers.
b. Numbers in bigger print.
c. Large print bank statements.
d. Coloured overlays can help people read text. It may be useful to see if she can read text better if it is placed on red, yellow, blue, or green paper. You could ask the bank about overlays but I would find out more about that first yourself as banks often do not know. Coloured glasses with special lenses can do the same job but are a lot more expensive.
e. Making notes in meetings with bank personal that can be read over later, may assist short term memory difficulties.

And thought this might sound strange (given what I am assuming might be your age) I would also say teach her as many financial skills as she will allow. I have meet to many people whose husband did the finances and when they passed away suddenly they did not know what to do.