Money and marriage go hand in hand. From a practical perspective getting married means you are also sharing your life, home, and prosperity with another human being. Therefore, if you plan on spending your life with another human being planning your financial health together makes a great deal of sense.
Interestingly, we freely discuss budgets and financial planning for wedding days and honeymoons. However, creating a financial plan to ensure you and your partner are planning a healthy financial future are often challenging conversations to start. Be that as it may, having conversations about money before your wedding day is essential to avoid financial pitfalls during a marriage.
There is no easy way to talk about the pink elephant in the room, expect by addressing it openly and immediately. A simple method to talking about financial goals before getting married is to ask the question outright and then begin by setting a time to really put all your cards on the table.
You’ll notice the questions you ask at the onset will be very general questions about goals, habits, and an overall outlook of your partner’s financial health. This gives you a great idea of whether or not you share common habits or similar financial circumstances. At the initial stages of your conversations, it’s important to be brutally honest and disclose every nook and cranny of your financial state. At the same time be mindful with your responses to ensure you are fostering an open and trusting discussion free of judgment. The more forthcoming you are before marriage the better equipped you’ll be to craft plans that will steer your future in a positive direction.
Before you say “yes to the dress” or suit for that matter, be sure you say yes to a spreadsheet. By actually planning out your finances together pre-marriage, you’ll also have an excellent opportunity to be financially conscious on a collective level about wedding planning. The last thing any newlywed couple needs is to face financial stressors in the early years of marriage. Instead, opt for financial transparency and ask the hard questions early on.
Most communities, banks, and even online portals have literacy training. Taking a course or running through a financial planning exercise together will solidify the importance of this topic. You may also consider meeting with a financial planner, wealth adviser or tax adviser to formalize your financial plan and also answer any questions you may have about your financial future together.
If you are a newlywed and didn’t have the opportunity to develop a financial plan with your partner before getting married, don’t fret. You can still easily develop a plan during your earlier years of marriage. Here is a shortlist of financial planning tasks you should take care of in the first years of marriage:
Overall, having financial discussions and planning your finances as a married couple is essential to build a strong and healthy marriage. While getting in sync and holder each other accountable is a long term process it’s definitely the road worth traveling as financial responsibility is not something that can be ignored. More importantly, the state of your financial well-being will also impact the quality of your life together.
Still, have questions about financial planning? Contact a local banker and begin preparing for a financially prosperous future together.
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