Marriage and Finances

If you're getting married you probably have a lot of questions on how your life will change in regards to finances. It can be tricky business merging to financial lives together. If you want to have a long, healthy, and happy life together you have to sort things out financially. The leading cause of divorce is money matters so if you do not have a clear understanding on how you both operate in regards to money, you're stacking the odds against you. Here are some quick tips you can use to make your marriage stand the test of time:

Are you compatible? Money is a sensitive subject and many couples avoid discussing the finances with each other. Finances are just one of the many issues that you need to talk about before getting married. You need to know what you're getting yourself into before you say "I do." Many officiates will offer pre-marital counseling and this is a good time to bring up the subject of money, especially if you suspect you might have problems with it down the road.

Think of the taxes. Your tax bill could be higher as a married couple than it is now. So considerably higher that you might want to plan your wedding around it. The only way to find out exactly how it will effect you is to break out a tax return, put in you and your partner's numbers and see how the IRS will treat you after you're married.

Make joint goals. If you both have differing ideas of what you should be doing with your money it's as if you're both tethered to each other but trying to run in different directions. You will not get very far until you synchronize your efforts. You will not know what the other person feels is important until you sit down and talk about your financial goals.

How will you handle finances? Some married couples pool their money together while others keep things mostly separated. Mixing money can have its good and its bad qualities. Talk with your partner about how you both think money should be handled once you're husband and wife.

Team up on employer benefits. If you 're both employed full time and are receiving benefits you'll want to compare them and see which one offers better coverage for you both. One of you will likely have better benefits than the other, and you'll want to switch your coverage to the better one.

Talk about insurance. If you both are dependent on each other's income then you'll want to insure each other in the even that something happens. If you can make do without the other's income then you probably do not need to worry about the added cost of getting insurance.

Keep your wills current. Updating your wills is an important thing to do and you should make one if you have not done so yet. With any major life change you'll want to keep your will current and also reconsider the beneficiaries you have listed.