When you get married, the number one thing that you’re thinking about is your future. You’re making a future with the love of your life, you’re excited to start something real with them – but you also need to be practical and think about your financial situation. Here are some tips to help…
Talk About Your Goals
First of all, it’s important that you talk about all your goals with your partner. Not only do you need to consider matters of your relationship like how many kids you want to have and where you want to live and just how much involvement your future mother in law will have in your life, but you also need to focus on other goals that might depend more on your finances. If one of you wants to stay home with your kids, you need to discuss that – if you want to push to earn more money at work and become more high powered, you need to discuss that too. Make sure you’re on the same side.
Make A Budget
It’s important that you make a household budget so that you can see exactly how much free money you have to spend and so that you can make sure that your outgoings aren’t exceeding your incomings. Use Excel to chart exactly how much you’re spending and to figure out how you could make any cutbacks.
Make Smart Investments
If you make investments it’s important that you talk about them together and that you make them as a team. Of course you wish you could roll back the clock twenty years and put all your money in Apple but the truth is that it can be hard to think about what you should invest in. Property is one of the most reliable investments out there in terms of getting a return for the money that you put into it, but being a landlord is a huge responsibility. You could put your money in gold or in diamonds – this blog post explains how to invest in them. Alternatively you could go for stocks and shares, but you need to make sure that you really know what you’re doing and that your portfolio is fully diversified.
Steer Clear Of Debt
It’s crucial that you steer clear of debt – make sure that you pay off your credit card every month and that you don’t end up charging a lot of purchases to store cards because the interest rates will be colossal. Be completely honest with each other about any debt situations – when you join your life together in marriage that includes your financial lives as well, which means that you need to keep your partner updated on that front.
Go To Relationship Counselling
A lot of people don’t go to relationship counselling until problems have arisen between them but the truth is that if you’re planning on getting married then counselling beforehand is a great idea. It will help you learn to communicate well and clearly with each other and to learn how to have productive conversations, which is important when you’re talking about your financial future.
