Marriage means the beginning of a new life, a new journey with that one person you love the most. So, it is in our hands to make the marriage a successful one. Love isn’t enough to make a marriage survive through difficult times. Communication, adjustment, mutual respect, and sharing of responsibilities are some important factors to have a happy and healthy relationship with your spouse. Today we will talk about another significant aspect of married life: management of money.
How crucial is money management in a marriage?
Money does not play a dominating role in our life. Many marriages become toxic as one partner does not contribute at all or overspends. Even worse, people lie and spend their salary extravagantly, forcing the other person to run the house single-handedly. In order to prevent such tragedies, there are several steps that you can take.
- Start talking
The best time to begin talking about salaries, spending, and savings is before marriage. But, if you haven’t discussed it yet, tell each other how you wish to handle all expenses and fulfill goals together. If you expect your wife to consult you before buying something expensive and you want to do the same, tell her about your thoughts to avoid fights in future.
- Pen down goals
Based on your joint income, write down your short-term and long-term targets. For instance, when do you plan to retire? How much money do you two intend to save in the next five years. When do you plan to buy your first car? A monthly budget also needs to be there and transparent discussion on who pays the rent and electricity bills, who purchases the groceries, who clears the home loan, etc.
- Joint bank accounts
Opening a joint account is also a great way to strengthen your connection. It will be a good experience to save together and reach milestones together. Maintaining individual accounts is equally wise. A healthy marriage is one in which nobody feels suffocated. So, some independence is a must so that both of you feel comfortable.
- Have a budget
You must figure out how much money you wish to spend from both of your families to run the family smoothly each month. After designing a budget, keep track of all expenses you make throughout the month to find out how much you deviate.
- Say ‘no’ to debt
Debt is a damaging thing and you should never get into debt. Taking loan from the bank to make any major purchase will be a loss as you’ll have to pay high interests. So, creating an emergency fund is mandatory to help you in times of crisis or big investments.
- Save for old age
This tip is for both single people and for couples. Start saving some portion of your income for retirement right from your twenties.
Conclusion:
Money management can be fun if you do it together as a couple. It is actually a rewarding way of bonding with your life partner. Take the above-mentioned steps to ensure a lifetime of security and transparency in money-related matters.
