Love & Money Matters – H&S Love Affair

Love & Money Matters: How To Strengthen Your Financial Compatibility!

Are you just married or planning to get married? If you haven’t as yet had the $ talk, it’s time you have the money talk with your partner. Even though this may seem like an uncomfortable topic of discussion, it is actually important as money can lead to stress in relationships & believe it or not, it is a common cause of stress, having a negative impact on the relationship. Most of the issues based around finance related stress stem from ‘need vs wants’, ‘spending priorities’ or when a partner spends ‘without discussing’ first. It is therefore important that all couples address their finances. After all, you don’t want love to be destroyed by poor financial decisions.

Here Are 4 Steps To Help You Strengthen Your Financial Compatibility:

1. Be Frank & Just Talk- There’s no good time to have this conversation than now. If you keep waiting for a good time, it may never come. No matter how uncomfortable, the ‘first’ of many conversations revolving around money may seem, it’s best to have it early in the relationship. It’s important to know where you and your partner stand financially. In fact, the earlier you have this conversation, it gives you time to plan for your future. So talk about your earnings, debts, how much you spend or save, how you budget if you budget at all. The way you both develop an approach to money will speak a lot about how your relationship in the long run will be.

2. Talk About Your Financial Goals- Have an in-depth conversation about how your finances look now, and how you want it to look. Your financial habits and goals should be compatible with each other. Say you want to buy that dream house together, or plan on taking a nice holiday together. You both may require to be willing to make compromises to get to a place that makes you, as a couple, happy and fulfilled, financially and otherwise.

3. Have A Joint-Spending & Saving Plan- Managing finances as a couple can be tricky, as you aren’t just financing for yourself, but for both. You need to decide how you want to combine the finances for your relationship. Some couples are comfortable opening a joint account together, others prefer separate accounts. A good idea is to have a simple joint budget, such as on a spreadsheet, that helps you track your spending as a couple.

4. Set Short & Long Term Priorities & Work Towards Your Goals- In order to achieve your goals, you need to know what they are. Discuss with your partner what you want and after building a budget together, if you have some savings left you can use it towards achieving your goals. If, on the other hand, you have zero savings, you will have to go back to the board and discuss what needs to be done to reach your goals. Jointly discussing and setting short & long term priorities can really help!