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Marriage and Money: When Opposites Attract
The MMI Online Articles are designed to inform, assist, educate and alert consumers.
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Congratulations! You have found your perfect partner. You are ready to embrace all of each other’s outstanding qualities and unconditionally accept any less-than-ideal traits. However, before you walk down the aisle and commit to spending the rest of your lives together, you need to discuss how you will be spending your money as husband and wife.
Since we all know that money is one of the main reasons married couples fight, a little honest communication could keep your relationship from becoming a statistic.
- Communicate about your current situation. Tell your spouse about any debt or credit problems that you may bring to the relationship.
- Discuss financial goals. Write out your individual short-term, mid-term and long-term financial goals. Then, share the goals with your partner and discuss their similarities and differences. Remember that if you and your partner are headed in different directions, neither one of you will get there.
- Plan to share financial responsibility. Both partners in a relationship must be aware of the overall financial situation. Plan monthly meetings to discuss your finances. Make all significant financial decisions together.
- Understand your individual rights and responsibilities. State laws vary quite a bit regarding ownership of income and responsibility for debt. Learning about your individual privileges and liabilities will only help the relationship and could provide future financial security in a time of need.
Finally, the most important money move you might make for your relationship is to embrace your differences. Understand that you cannot change feelings created by a lifetime of experience; instead, try to cultivate the positive aspects of each of your styles. There is no one “right” way to handle your finances and a marriage of your money styles may be the perfect solution.
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