Finances and Marriage

Marriage and finances said together can make some couples cringe, but it shouldn’t. I am a firm believer that the key to solving the marriage and finances problem is an open line of communication.

Everyone knows that communication is the keystone to good marital relations, but for some reason they fail to apply this well know strategy to their marriage and finances. If you are having trouble in the marriage and finances department, I highly encourage the two of you to sit down and discuss your financial goals.

You should NOT try to solve ALL of you disagreements in the first sitting. That is asking for something to go wrong and the discussion prematurely ended. Instead let each other voice their financial goals and let that be the end of your first conversation. This conversation should not last more than a few minutes.

Give the conversation a few days to sink in and then you can move on to the specifics of what each of you wants. It will be much easier to find middle ground if you know the others goals before you discuss money.

For example, if one of you wants to save more money for retirement whereas the other wants to travel the world every vacation, there is a good chance there will be conflict when it is time to decide where you are vacationing. However, if you know these two goals ahead of time, then the saver will know that suggesting you go camping will not be a good idea to the vacationer and taking a two-week tour of Asia will probably not be a good idea to the saver.

In this simple example, each party knows where the other stands and can adjust what they will suggest for vacation when the topic comes up. There will be less surprises and both of you will have already moved closer to compromise before your tell your partner about your vacation idea.

As you progress on your journey of solving the marriage and finances riddle you can begin to check out websites like Rule Your Wallet Blog which give you money saving advice and information on setting up various married budgets.