Seven money management tips for newlyweds
If you’re recently married or planning to get married soon, you may be thinking about your financial future and how to start planning. If so, why not check out our 7 money management tips for newlyweds:
- If you don’t already know about each other’s finances, it’s important to sit down and talk about how much debt each spouse has and how much income. This will help you determine a budget that each person can adhere to.
- Speaking of budgets, make sure to create one! Even if it’s just a spreadsheet for the time being, you should be able to track all income and expenses.
- Decide if you’re going to have joint accounts or separate accounts. This decision may have already been made, but if not, it’s time to talk about whether the money goes together or stays separate. Doing so will help you decide on who is going to be responsible for which expenses.
- Open a savings account. Even if you keep your money separate, you can always open a joint savings account and determine how much each person is going to contribute to it and how often. This will help you start saving for the future.
- Write down the financial goals of you and your spouse. Do you want to buy a house soon? Do you both like to travel and want to save for vacations? By writing down goals, you’ll have a better idea of what you need to do in order to reach those goals.
- Start saving for retirement - even if you and your spouse are young, saving for retirement now can give you a head start so that you’re prepared for your retirement years.
- Communicate about money often - set a date on the calendar at least once a month (or more often), to go over the budget; to discuss the progress of saving and to talk about any concerns that either of you may have.