6 Money Matters To Discuss Before Marriage
By Scott And Bethany Palmer The Money Couple. Posted on .
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3. Income. Get a realistic picture of the present and the future by talking about how much you make. It's amazing how many people don't really know what their spouses get paid. Not only will knowing this help you make plans for the first few years of your life together, it also helps prevent money secrets from creeping into your marriage. What Women Wish They'd Known Before Marriage
4. Expenses. Do you have a car payment? A gym membership? Medical expenses? Loan payments? Hopefully you have a good sense of how much money you spend in a month, but if you don't, this is a good time to figure it out. You should both think through every regular expense you have and write it down.
Combine those totals to get an idea of how much you'll spend as a couple, and compare it to your joint income. How does it look? If you have some wiggle room, that's great. But if you are spending way more than you're earning, you know you'll have some budget decisions to make once you start your life together.
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5. Savings. Whether you have $100 in savings or $100,000, you need to talk with your partner about what you've got and what you're saving it for. Talk about more than just the amount you've got socked away; talk about how you got it there. How important is it to you to have money in savings? What kind of sacrifices have you made to put money away? What investments do you have or hope to have?
Planning for your financial future retirement, college funds, vacation or emergency money will be an ongoing conversation in your relationship and you might as well start having it now. 4 Skills You Need Before Getting Married
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6. Expectations. You've probably had a lot of dreamy conversations about your life together. But have you included the "how-we're-going-to-pay-for-this" part? Probably not. Eventually, couples that are headed toward a life-long commitment need to talk realistically about their vision for their future, and the implications that vision has for their finances.
