By Naomi Langston
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles on Marriage and Money that we will be publishing.
For most of us, marriage means a new beginning with our best friend, and it comes with so many new changes, including your schedule, your family, and your finances. While every couple may decide to do things a bit differently, here are some tips on things you could do to start planning your finances with your newly married life together.
Create a combined checking account for everyday expenses.
While some couples choose to combine all their bank accounts for simplicity, others decide to keep them separate. CNBC recommends that couples at least open a joint checking account together, where they can keep shared bills and everyday expenses. That way, you and your spouse will both be able to help each other keep track of making sure things get paid and avoid the inconvenience of having to send each other constant Venmo or CashApp transactions. You can have a discussion on how much money each person is contributing to this account and how you would like to split shared bills.
Look into combining insurances.
For some insurance plans, you can save money for your family by adding them to your insurance plan(s) or having them add you. However, not in all cases will it be financially helpful. For example, you may choose to stay on separate plans if each of your workplaces offers benefits that are cheaper for each of you to be on your single plans than to make a family plan. If you have children, creating a family plan could make sense. Look into the specifics of your plan(s), talk to your benefits representative, and see whether switching to a family plan makes sense for you and your spouse.
Set each other up as beneficiaries on your retirement accounts and life insurance plans.
Southern Bank says, “Once you’ve officially tied the knot, you may want to consider making your new spouse the beneficiary on your life insurance policy, 401(k) plan, and any other financial assets you may have.” This will proactively help so that in case anything happens to you, your spouse will receive these savings if you wish. If you have any other assets or savings, be sure to designate your new spouse.
Set new priorities together and continue communicating.
Can you guess the number one piece of advice my husband and I received when we were engaged? You probably can—communication. While that applies to most areas of life, finances are no exception.
Most likely, you and your spouse have some similar passions and values, which you can discuss and turn into some concrete financial goals. For example, if you both dream of having children, it could be worth examining how much money you may like to begin setting aside for that, even if it’s several years down the line. If traveling together is a priority for you both, you can discuss how many trips you want to take in the next five years and how much you can set aside every month to make it happen. If you don’t know where to start, Forbes gives some great questions to prompt your discussion: “Do you want to become debt-free? Go back to school? Open a business? Travel the world? Move across the country? Be financially independent early? Be a rockstar?”
If you and your new spouse have some financial goals that are different from each other, consider setting up specific budget categories for each of you, called a “slush fund”, as Forbes describes it as “…a budget where you each get to spend or save anyway you want, no questions asked. This approach helps many couples with the transition and maintains that sense of spending freedom that might be important to you.” Of course, you’ll want to be sitting down to discuss your priorities and goals regularly to make sure you’re working towards them, according to the Southern Bank.
Discover how you each relate to money.
One way that you can learn about how each other works in regards to finances is by taking a financial personality quiz, like this one from Sorted. Carefully read your own and your spouse’s results and see if you relate to them, then talk about how they might help each other, be similar, or be in conflict with each other, and what things could help. Have fun getting started with your new spouse and keep checking in with each other to see what is working and what you could improve.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Naomi lives in Pittsburgh, PA but her roots are from a little Christmas tree farm in upstate New York. She works in marketing for Greater Europe Mission, an international nonprofit organization. She’s always finding ways to make room in her budget for traveling and reads over 100 books each year.
