Finances after Marriage
Ahh, marriage. The merging of two hearts, two souls, two lives, two… bank accounts. Sure, the conversation about combining finances after marriage isn’t as romantic as honeymoon talk, but it’s way more important, and rightfully deserves a top spot on your wedding planning checklist. And sure, you can spurn the conversation and wing it, keeping your finances separate and continue doing your own thing, but as your relationship evolves and becomes more and more mature, it’ll be come harder and harder to keep money things separate.
So, do yourselves a favor and hash out your plan for combining finances after marriage—you’ll be glad you did. Some pointers:
Start the Conversation Early
The more comfortable you are talking about something as personal as money with your partner, the easier it’ll be to make important decisions about combining finances after marriage when the time comes.
Pick a Plan
Talk about your goals together and pick a plan that’ll help you get there.
Bring your Plan to Life
As soon as you’ve decided what to do, don’t slack in making it happen. The longer you linger, the longer you two delay reaching your financial goals together—whether they be taking a fabulous vacay, buying a new dishwasher, or saving up for a down payment.
Let your Plan Evolve with Your Lives
Your plan should be scale-able as your lives shift—salaries grow (and sometimes shrink), people go back to school, babies are born, major purchases are made, major debts are paid—all of these events can tweak your individual contributions to a shared account, your savings targets, and so on. And marriage is, above all else, about partnership and support—not about constantly keeping it 50/50.
Do the Paperwork
Exciting stuff? Combining finances after marriage with your one true love and taking the first steps toward realizing your future together. Less exciting stuff? Thinking about taxes. But you still have to do it! After you’ve set up your accounts and made your plan, meet with a real financial planner to talk you through all the important nuts and bolts like whether or not you two should file taxes together (some people should, some, like those on certain student loan repayment plans, fare better by continuing to file separately), establishing one another as beneficiaries on certain policies and estates, and more. Oh, and if either of you are changing your name, be sure to do so.
Keep One Another In the Loop
As you and your spouse make deposits and withdrawals from your shared accounts, keep things as transparent as possible—even if it feels a little bit unnecessary at times. If you’re both the running-around-like-crazy types who barely have a moment to text one another during the day, simply schedule a monthly chat to go over all the activity on your shared account together. See? Money isn’t that hard after all!
This is for informational purposes only and not to be considered specific advice.