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Are you going to tie the knot with your partner soon? Have you talked about your financial thoughts and views? No? Let us tell you why and what you should do to bring the conversation around money management prior to your wedding.
Now that you have decided to tie the knot, it is critical to converse about the most crucial topic affecting your lives- finance. It may be awkward to talk about money initially, but it is a must to have money conversations before marriage
When you decide to marry a person, you merge your life with them. It means that the actions of one will affect the other.
Therefore, staying clear about your finances- income, debt, perspective about savings, investment, etc., beforehand is critical to eliminate conflicts later.
It’s never too late to overcome the awkwardness and sit with your partner to discuss your bank accounts. After all, it’ll only allow you to begin your new journey on the right track.
The Necessity of Money Discussions Before Marriage
If you’re having doubts about why you should have money conversations before marriage, here are some compelling reasons:
A High Divorce Rate
Not to alarm you, but a significant percentage of divorces occur due to money issues. A healthy marriage has its foundation in aligned financial perspectives and other factors. Therefore, discussing these matters before marriage is essential.
Goals and Dreams as a Couple
Post marriage, you will have a family, your long-term dreams as a couple, etc., to fulfill. You’d want to purchase a house, go abroad on annual vacations, etc. Money matters can bring conflicts around these discussions. Therefore, discussing your income, expenses, and investment perspectives are critical.
Find Money Compatibility
Along with your Kundali matching, you must evaluate your monetary compatibility and views before marriage.
While you can have opposing individual goals, you must come together and find a middle ground as a family. Having these conversations pre-marriage will help you prevent future disputes.
5 Money Conversations to Have With Your Fiancé
If you’re thinking of what to converse around income, we have curated a list of discussions you can initiate with your partner. You need not talk about all these aspects in one go. However, ensure to know their take on different financial topics.
Make your goal to end each conversation by remaining on the same page financially.
Now let’s dive into the potential discussions to have with your partner before tying the knot:
1. How Has Your Money Mindset Evolved From Childhood to Today?
Our initial take on money begins with our experiences with it in childhood. The primary point of discussing the childhood experience is to eliminate the awkwardness and gain clarity on what drives the motive today.
While some children would get anything they put their hands to, others learned to control their desires seeing their parent’s financial condition.
Childhood experiences shape the young mindset, which evolves into the current views and thoughts about money.
Some people are ambitious and run towards earning more because they can’t stay in poor conditions. Others saw periods of ups and downs and thus have a different view about money saving and management.
Having open and clear conversations about the childhood financial journey can help you better understand and connect with your partner.
2. What Do You Do With Your Income? Which Money Personality Do You Deem Yourself as Fit?
After connecting your childhood anecdotes and experiences, now is the time to move to the current situation. Now that you understand what drives their money goals, you need to know what they actually do with the money.
Every person has a different outlook on money saving and spending. Therefore, money personalities can be endless. However, the two broad categories include ‘money saver’ and ‘money spender.’
Many people feel uncomfortable sharing how much they earn with their partners. While there’s no pressure, try to bring comfort around the topic to discuss the amount openly. This conversation will let you guys know who stands in which position.
You don’t need to give up on your earnings. But tying the knot means tying your finances together as well.
Therefore, you need to find a middle ground and think of ways to create a balance between saving, spending, leveraging debt, etc.
3. What are Your Financial Goals Post-Marriage?
While staying alone, individual goals influence the financial movement. However, the couple should balance their personal and couple goals after marriage.
Now that you know how they treat their income after receiving it, you need to know what they think of the future. It takes time to form a habit, especially regarding money. Discussing your financial goals will help you lay everything on the table.
If you have similar thoughts, you can make a foolproof plan for it. However, in case of opposing objectives, you must find a middle ground as a team.
Financial goals include thinking about retirement, owning a home, financial freedom, etc. While the long-term goals must follow the SMART criteria, the short-term objectives should consider factors like job security, stability, growth opportunities, etc.
4. What are Your Thoughts About Managing a Financial Crisis?
Although no person should face financial difficulties, it ultimately depends on their decisions regarding money management. Discussing what each person would do to prevent, resolve, and avert such situations will help you gain insights into their money management skills.
Often, people being extreme spenders, forget their boundaries and fall into financial crisis. They may face losses and even considerable debts. Moreover, job or business situations will also change frequently. As a couple, all these things will affect the entire family.
Therefore, ponder about these situations and have an outline beforehand. Financial crisis management is a skill; you and your partner should develop it with open discussions around the topic.
Be transparent and honest about this.
5. What debts and financial resources will you bring into the marriage?
Since your finances will also merge with marriage, knowing each other’s economic condition is critical. If one of the parties is in high debt and fails to disclose this information, it will be a challenge to face this situation later.
Along with the current resources and debts, talk about your capabilities. Will you guys be able to work for your financial goals by hustling on the side and taking extra jobs?
Moreover, consider your savings and investment plans to safeguard your and your family’s future. Several mutual funds, insurances, and other options are available for consideration. You can have an open conversation about your assets and liabilities if you keep your judgments aside.
Bottom line
When you tie your knot, you are a couple and a team. Conversations around income will help you secure your future and eliminate future conflicts.
It’s not necessary to talk about everything in one sitting. Each conversation will bring you closer to your partner’s strengths and flaws. Therefore, maintain an understanding and a non-judgmental view.
We hope that these points gave you insights into what, why, and how you should initiate a financial conversation with your would-be life partners.
