What are the best Newlywed Financial Tips?

As newlyweds, you will soon find that one of you is the “saver” and the other one is the “spender.” One of you will want to save all the money that comes in and the other will find ways to spend that money. 

It is important that both of you make time to talk about 1) how you as a couple are spending money and 2) how you would like to spend money in the future. It’s so easy to spend your money and not realize where it’s going.

At the end of the month, you might find yourselves asking, “Where did all of our money go?” As the “spender” of our duo, I realized that I was spending like I did when I was single…eating out for lunch and dinner every day, getting Starbucks, and buying clothes whenever I felt like it. I quickly found that my spending habits did not help my husband feel like I was taking care of our money. In fact, I was doing the opposite. So, once we got to talk about where our money was going and how we could work together to save and spend our money wisely, we were cookin’.

 Here are a few conversation starters about money:

1)      Talk about how you spent money before you got married-what did you buy? When did you spend money the most? How much did you normally spend for Christmas presents for your family members, birthdays, etc.?

2)      Dream together about where you want to be financially in five, ten, twenty years. Then, talk about what steps you can take as a couple to reach those goals?

3)      Ask each other what lessons about money you want to pass on to your children? This question will give insight to how each of you views money.