How to Manage Money after Marriage? Tips for the Newly Married Couples
Have you ever thought about the changes, which you will witness after getting married?
It is quite natural for you to stuck in the middle of planning for your big day by booking honeymoon suites or arranging a grand celebration. But, planning for your financial future with your spouse is also very essential.
Isn’t it?
Marriage changes the life in many ways – bringing a lot of joy, but at the same time additional responsibilities and financial worries.
While it largely based on the standard of living that one maintains, but we all need money in our life. So, the wisdom lies in planning your future ahead.
Some couples are more prone to stick with their own ways of managing money, which might end up in a big mess and financial break down. So, here are some easy money management tips for the newly married couples for building a secured future.
Let’s start it here……..
Have an Open Conversation with your Better Half
As soon as you are married or even before your marriage, think about having an open conversation with your spouse regarding your financial stands.
You can also start talking about your goals and financial assets to plan together. Chalk out a strategy about how you are going to handle your money.
Try to build a better understanding of your current financial condition as a couple. Be open about your bank accounts and debts, which you are carrying.
Set Your Goals:
Once you have a clear conception of your financial condition, think about discussing your long-term goals related to money. The discussion may include, your plans for retirement or the amount of money you would like to earn till that time.
Think about sticking to a monthly budget for keeping the track of your regular expenditures.
Regardless of whether you are maintaining a joint or separate account, try to maintain a budget. Setting goals together might also include, having a solid plan for the days of your retirement.
Have an Emergency Fund:
Every household should think about having an emergency fund. Although the amount of money in that fund depends upon the financial conditions like income and expenditures.
If you are under the debt, think about starting with a small emergency fund. Having an emergency fund might also help you to deal with those unexpected costs that are not included in your budget.
But, only use that fund for managing the critical situations. Protect your household and your better half from the impending costs of the future by using this technique.
Conduct Weekly Money Meetings:
This is one of the most preferred money management tips among the young couples for keeping a track of the regular expenditures. In these meetings, you can discuss about the spending, which you have made in the past few weeks.
These meetings might actually be helpful for you to stay on the track of your budget. Discuss how you will handle all the expenditures of a month and how you will handle the upcoming bills.
Another benefit of arranging these meetings is that, they can strengthen the communication and trust in a conjugal life too.
Think about working as a team and give value to the decisions of your spouse. Once you learn the art of respecting your better half’s thinking, you would automatically put your joint needs ahead of your individual needs.
Minimize Taxes:
After getting married, you need to revise the amount of taxes you are paying and try to find some effective ways for minimizing the amount of your taxes.
This technique can actually help you to maximize the savings for your retirement. Different plans like- Health Saving Accounts, Workplace Saving Plans, etc can get you out of the mess of paying an extra tax.
Share Your Responsibilities:
Money management in conjugal life is not only about discussing a certain matter and then one of the two would proceed on with his or her own decision. On the other hand, it involves the equal participation of both individuals for reaching towards a goal together.
For example, both should share their responsibilities like paying the bills or clearing the debts or saving the cost on house hold expenditures.
If the responsibilities are not divided between the two, things can easily get wrong can easily go bankrupt, if every single expenditure of the house has to be handled by him or her.
In order to build a bright future together, make sure you have a clear picture of your present financial condition. So, think about taking the charge of managing a portion of your monthly expenditure for running your household successfully.
Final Words:
Saving money should be there on your agenda at the time of planning for the future, only effective when planned together. Be open and honest to coming up with a solid plan to deal with your income, expenditure, budget and investing.
How do you manage your finance as couple? Does your spouse take active participation for your financial planning? Do you have any suggestion? Feel free to share with me here.
Tina Roth is a finance blogger and freelance writer who writes about frugal living, personal finance, money management, and innovative money saving ideas. You can find her on Twitter @ProFinanceBlog.
Category: Family Finances
