Getting your financial plan in order takes away a great deal of stress in a relationship, so it’s advisable to do it before entering into a marriage. Listed below are 10 more tips to assist in keeping your finances as a couple in perfect order:
1. Keep separate current accounts and credit cards. Don’t accept responsibility for someone else’s overspending.
2. Early into the relationship, find out how much debt you will have together. This must be handled with complete honesty, or this could lead to financial complications further on in the marriage.
3. Both parties should consider having a retirement fund. One salary is not usually enough to support two people when it comes to retirement and having resources built up could assist in the event of separation.
4. If you are both earning a salary it should be agreed upfront who is going to pay for what. This can be a sensitive topic, so it would be advisable to split everything from retirement savings to expenses on a proportional basis.
5. Money that comes in as a windfall or bonus should be divided into the respective savings plans or put towards debt repayment, such as your bond.
6. Consider having both parties’ names on the bond registration papers.
7. It would be advisable for each of the parties to receive a bit of ‘pocket money’. It doesn’t have to be a lot and the amount doesn’t even have to be fixed - but even a couple of hundred rand a month will give each of you a little freedom.
8. If there are differences between the two parties when it comes to spending and one is more conservative than the other, try to reach a common ground. If one partner manages the family finances, the other should assist and get involved so that he/she gets an idea of how much it costs to run the household.
9. If the one partner is reluctant to divulge information, the other should try to be assertive as he/she has a right to know. If he/she still withdraws the information, then the other party should consider contacting his/her broker to get the information. A person’s reluctance to discuss the situation may mean that he/she has not done a very good job at managing the finances and a way of confronting the situation would be to talk about the situation and explain that it’s not an attempt to make him/her feel inadequate, but to assist in getting things on track. Both parties need to be open and transparent when it comes to the family’s finances.
10. If reaching an agreement proves to still be a challenge, it may help to get an unbiased second opinion. This can be achieved by finding a certified financial planner and asking him/her to help define the goals and laying out a strategy to meet them. He/she can also poi
