It is very important to come into financial terms with your spouse when entering marriage. Not only do you have to know you and your spouse are compatible you must also make sure your financial aspects are compatible. Believe it or not, the majority of relationships fail because of financial tribulation between the man and his wife. So it is very important to manage your marriage and finances properly.
The Importance of Managing your Marriage and Finances
Everyone knows money is a relatively touchy subject. It is the main commodity everyone strives for and most people will protect it with their lives. This becomes an issue many times in while dealing with your marriage and finances as most of the times the spending habits are not seen as fair. This is mostly due to the different views on your spending habits you might posses individually.
Dividing the Costs
You should combine your marriage and finances in an agreed manner. No one person should decide on the budget and it should come to a consensus between both people. Although there are many ways to split your incomes, I will list three ways you can divide the bills.
Let’s say, for example, the monthly home expenses amount to $3,500, the husband’s monthly income amounts to $3,000 and the wife’s monthly income amounts to $2,000, here are 3 ways you guys could divide it between each other.
- Dividing the Payment into Proportionate Costs: Take the upper example, with what the husband’s income is compared to the wife’s. Respectively the proportions will split 60/40. The husband should then pay $2,100 worth of the living costs and the wife should pay $1,400 towards the expenses.
- 50/50 : You could take this approach if you wish the living situation to be fair, in this case both the husband and wife would contribute equal payments of $1,750 and the husband would be left with more spending money than the wife.
- Combining the Accounts: By combining the account completely, both of your paychecks will be deposited into the same bank account and you will possess the same spending money. You can either build allowances between each person’s spending, or you can make 2 credit/debit cards that you can each use however you wish.
Each of these ways are equally effective, but it is important to establish some guidelines with your partner before deciding anything, they might wish to do things differently.
Financial Issues to Avoid in your Marriage
It is very important to realize that if not properly managed your marriage and finances could potentially ruin each other. Although you might be tight as a couple now, down the road continual financial issues can take its toll on your marriage. There are some other things you should consider while figuring out how to combine your marriage and finances efficiently.
- Deciding who pays for what
This should ideally be worked out before marriage so you are both sure you can manage the other persons financial expectations. However, if you are already married something you might want to discuss with your husband or wife is who will pay for what in everyday life.
- Common Debts
It is very common for individuals to bring debt in with them into a marriage. Whether it is from previous faults on payments, or college debts it doesn’t matter. It is important to let your spouse know about these debts before going into the marriage. You might even ask them for some help if they are more financially secure than yourself.
- The Spender and the Saver
The financial world is based on 2 separate types of people, those who love to spend and those who love to save. In many cases marriages end up with one of each of these types of people and in this case rules and boundaries should be made for each person. It is important to make proper terms when it comes to credit and settle on who how you will split the financial responsibilities.
- The Final Decision Maker
Just because one person has a higher income than the other does not meant they should make the final financial decision. This should always be discussed and decided between the two of you before a final decision is made.
- Family
Whether it’s your own children or extended family, one may wish to reach out and help those in need when it comes to money and the other might be a bit stricter. It is important to always discuss this topic with your partner before a final decision is made.
Once you have committed to spend the rest of your life with someone, you will have to make some adjustments in your lifestyle and most likely your spending habits. Once you and your spouse have come to an agreement on how to manage your finances, you will have one less obstacle down the road.