A blue screen with multicolored polka dots. Serene music plays.
Onscreen text: A Richer Conversation
Music plays quietly throughout the video.
An animated man and woman hug. A heart-shaped bubble appears above their heads that turns into an empty word balloon.
Man’s voice [off-screen]: Your relationship is going well—and that’s exactly why it needs a conversation.
Even the best relationships can benefit from an odd-sounding thing: structured, deliberate conversations guided by carefully selected, probing questions.
An animated man and woman climb up white blocks that form an empty word balloon in a blue sky. The white blocks tumble away under them until the remaining blocks form a question mark.
This is especially helpful when talking about one of the most taboo topics of all: money. That’s because we rarely know each other as well as we think.
Two dollar bills overlap on a black background. The people pictured in ovals on the center of each bill come to life, reach out, and peel back the corners of each bill, separating the bills and themselves.
Perhaps we’ve been more focused on what’s great about being together, and it doesn’t feel very romantic or necessary to think about things we might not see eye to eye on.
A couple shares a toast over a a candlelit dinner, then the angle changes to show they are at two separate tables, and a crack forms in the floor between the tables.
Or we find it’s easy to sidestep darker issues, or we simply never get ’round to raising some important topics.
A couple in the dark shines a flashlight, revealing a house and then a baby’s crib. The man points the flashlight at the ground, then the woman switches it off.
That’s why Charles Schwab and The School of Life have collaborated to bring you A Richer Conversation.
Onscreen text: [Charles Schwab logo] [School of Life logo]
A Richer Conversation
A tool for talking about money
It’s a set of questions that gently helps us to clarify our own thinking and to recognize more fully how our partner sees things.
A box marked A Richer Conversation spins around and opens up. Cards emerge from it that read: What was your smartest financial decision? What was your biggest money mistake? What financial habit of mine really bugs you?
We might assume that a good relationship is one that’s free of conflict, but what’s actually important is the way couples cope with their disagreements.
A couple sits at either end of a couch. The couch stretches out, pulling the couple farther apart. The man is looking at his phone while the woman is reading a book. The couch squeezes back in, bringing the couple close together. The couple drop the phone and the book and embrace.
The extent to which both partners can listen, compromise, sympathize, and work to understand the mind and values of the other person.
A couple in an open field hold tin cans connected with a string to their ears. Another couple hold a blue circle and an orange square, then overlap them to form a hexagon. A person holds an umbrella over the head of a shivering person in the rain. A person pulls a light switch, revealing they have shone a light inside another person’s head.
Take turns drawing questions from the pack, and take the time to reflect, elaborate, and listen. We hope it leads to a happier and more fulfilling future together, because the best life choices and relationships start with asking better questions.
Two different people’s hands draw cards from the A Richer Conversation box. A hand holds up a photograph of a couple; the couple move closer together. Two people appear talking to each other; one unrolls an extremely long piece of paper that stretches across the floor. A person steps out of one side of an oversized tin can phone, then takes another person by the hand. A couple with white hair hold hands and hug. Canes appear in their hands and turn into question marks.
Onscreen text: [Charles Schwab logo][Own your tomorrow® logo]
The School of Life is not affiliated with The Charles Schwab Corporation or its affiliates.
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