Now I'm no relationship or marriage expert but I know finances can make or break you and your relationship! The number 1 reason Americans get divorced is MONEY! Finance and divorce go hand and hand. Sadly it's not falling out of love, infidelity, or simply missing each other, it's money. They say money is the root of all evil and I believe that. Not because of the money but because of the person handling the money.
I believe that before marriage you need to have the dreaded finance discussion. You all need to figure out who's the more financially savvy person and that's who needs to handle the finances. Do you guys have financial goals and are they the same or similar? Will you have a financial advisor?
Start by writing your goals down. Come up with short-term goals (3 months, 6 months, 1 year) and long-term goals (3 years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years). Will you have separate bank accounts or joint?
I've talked to a lot of married couples and they typically have joint accounts. But each couple handles the accounts differently. Some couples allow both people to have their paycheck deposited into the account. And they discuss when money is removed and where it goes. Some couples have one person who deals with paying the bills and the other just gets to spend. It's all on you how it should be handled but let it be handled. Darrell and I have our accounts because we each run businesses but we have a personal joint account.
Creating a budget and sticking to it is very important. Have a standing appointment every week to go over how much money went in and how much money came out, adjust accordingly. I would suggest being frugal at the beginning. The reason being is that you are new to each other as far as spending habits. So work towards creating better habits initially so that you can have a head start.
Darrell and I both make LOTS of money. So we both spend even more money. We didn't have the finance discussion, we just balled out. Then we looked back like damn, we made a bunch of money where did it go? So now we have our budget in place, our standing appointment for money going in and going out. We also have our long-term and short-term family goals and believe we are on our way.
So it worked out for us because again God is first and we are friends. Yes, we may argue about these things but we talk through them more. We are both self-motivated focused people who always want more and to do better. So we are each ok with working together and changing for the greater good of our relationship.
There are lots of things to think about. I like creating tangible goals. So our goal is to pay off our house in 5 years. What's your goal? If your goal is to save for a down payment to purchase a new home then call Ritzberg Realty we can help. Click search to see what's on the market.
