Financial Tips for Newlyweds

The Teacher and I will have been married for 12 years on Sunday.  Since summer tends to be a big wedding season and since my anniversary is just around the corner, I’ve been a little nostalgic recently.  I’ve talked on the blog about my love story, things that I’d tell myself as a newlywed, but never much regarding newlywed couples and finances.

I started thinking back to those early newlywed years, where we lived in a dirt cheap apartment in a small college town in Virginia.  We were so busy living on love that we didn’t think too much about money.  We didn’t have very much of it, but there’s a lot that I probably could have done differently.  And while I try not to dwell too much on the past, I think there’s something to be said for learning from it and trying to help others.

Here is my financial advice for newlywed couples.

Talk openly about money from the start

I’d highly recommend that every engaged couple go through some sort of premarital counseling.  We did go through some counseling with our pastors, we didn’t cover much about finances.  It would have been helpful to start our married life being more intentional about money.

If you haven’t talked about it already during your dating years or during your engagement, then I’d recommend you start talking about money as soon as you get back from your honeymoon. 🙂

It is helpful to talk about your individual history with money.  Discuss how money was handled in your family growing up and your experience {or lack thereof} managing it since then.  Be honest about any financial baggage that you are bringing into marriage.  You certainly don’t need to have everything all figured out, but it’s a great idea to get things out in the open early.

 

Plan out the logistics

Living costs money and you can’t live in the clouds forever!  The bills must be paid and you need to figure out who will handle the day-to-day tasks of managing your money.  Will one of you take on the “bill payer” role or will you do it together?  Or will you trade off?

You need to discuss whether you will continue with individual accounts or whether you will combine your accounts.  I advocate for joint accounts once you are married.  I believe it promotes teamwork and an “our money” mentality, but that’s a personal decision.  Decide what will work best for you as a couple and make any changes to your accounts as needed.

If you are a religious person, you need to discuss tithing.  Will you give 10% and will that percentage be your gross or your net income?  If you aren’t religious, will you give monthly to charitable organizations?  If so, which ones?

Develop a habit of budgeting

I’m a huge advocate for budgeting.  Even if you are used to budgeting already, you still need to get on the same page with your spouse about budgeting as a couple.  Perhaps they’ve never even thought about a budget.  That could present some challenges that you’ll need to work through together.

If neither of you have budgeted before, then now is a great time to start.  Sometimes, the accountability that comes with a spouse is exactly what you need to get motivated to get your finances in order.

Even if you have very little money, plan together how you will spend it.  Be strategic and tell your money where it will go.  If you don’t, it is much more likely to disappear quickly and you won’t know where it went.

Schedule time for budget check-in meetings

You can set up the best budget in the world, but totally screw it up by not executing it.  Working your monthly budget is just as important as creating your budget.

I think that routine budget check-in meetings are a great way to keep you on course with your monthly budget and to keep you working together as a team.  As the month unfolds, you can problem solve together and communicate about what is or isn’t working well.  These meetings don’t have to take much time, but it’s a great way to stay connected with your spouse regarding your finances.

Set some financial goals

I am a goal setter and a list maker by nature, but this is not the case for everyone.  Sit down with your spouse and brainstorm some short term and long term financial goals.


Examples:

• Do you want to pay off debt {which I highly recommend} in the next few years?
• Should you work on lowering your monthly bills?
• Do you want to buy a home?
• Would you like to be able to stay at home with your children when they are young?
• Do you hope to retire at a certain age?

Dream big, but also set some realistic goals.  Know where you are headed so that you can come up with a plan to get there.  You can always change your goals as your priorities change.

Don’t feel pressure to buy a house or have babies

Home ownership is a huge deal.  So is having children.  Don’t put pressure on yourself or allow other people to pressure you into these big phases of life until you are ready.  {You will never be “ready” to have children, but you know what I’m getting at here.}