One of the few times in our lives that two things combine to become one is when we get married. The preacher says that we become one, for richer, for poorer, for better or for worse. You won’t have a great relationship until you can communicate and agree about money. Larry Burkett, noted financial author, says, “Money is either the best or the worst area of communication in our marriages.”
Communication before Marriage
One of the most important things to do prior to marriage is to seek pre-martial counseling. Find a good counselor or pastor and sit down and find out about your future spouse. Building strong lines of communication before you get married is essential to a good marriage and a strong financial future.
Money fights are one of the leading causes of divorce in America today, so make sure that you can agree on your spending and savings goals before you tie the knot.
Combining Income
Do not combine your income before you getting married. Once you say “I do!”, then it is time to combine your finances. Starting out your marriage with a spending plan and a budget to reach your goals will get your marriage off to a strong start. Do you need to pay off debt, student loans or the wedding reception? Set a budget and stick with it. Doing so will also help you save for a home and your future.
Agree on Your Goals
In order to be able to focus your energy and your financial management to reach your goals, you first need to know where you are going and why you want to get there. Sit down together and dream about your financial future. Do you want to own a home, send your future kids to college or retire early and travel? All of these things are within reach if you set goals early, learn to save and have the power of compound interest and time on your side. To calculate your goals with compound interest click here.
Gerken Financial Coaching Can Help
We have a pre-marital coaching package that can help you and your fiancée get on the same page with your finances. We can help you to set goals, to create a plan for eliminating debt, and to save for your future purchases. Most of all we can walk you through the process of learning to talk about money.
Whether you seek help from a professional to learn to communicate effectively with money or you work on communication with your partner, in order to be pointed in the right direction you must be in agreement on where, how and why you are spending and saving money for your future.
Tim and Kathryn Gerken are Financial Coaches in Newcastle, WA. They serve their community through classes and speaking in the greater Seattle area. Their coaching services are uniquely tailored to each client.
Create Your Budget
The downturn in our economy over the last few years has amplified the personal finance situations of the people of this nation. It has divided us into two categories: the stable and the unstable. Some American households have upwards of 9 credit cards according to a 2010 
Many people have already filed their Federal Income Tax Return for 2011. Many more are in the process of filing. Are you getting a refund this year? If you are, you can track your refund 
Did you find that when you put your income on a budget and spent it on paper before the month began that you had more expenses than income?
For a week, the local weather forecasters were hyping what was threatening to be the worst snowstorm in the Seattle area in at least a decade if not longer. Names like “Snowmageddon” and “Snowpocalypse” were bandied about as the front of the storm approached in seeming slow motion. The forecasters were right and the storm developed pretty much as they predicted. Schools closed, the streets covered with snow. At one point there were more than 200,000 people without power. The governor declared a state of “emergency”.
As financial coaches, we see more people who are financially strained because of parental-guilt and trying to “keep up with the Joneses.” Financially speaking, those who try to maintain a lifestyle like their neighbors, while they are in debt, are shooting themselves in the foot making matters worse by persisting with these kinds of decisions. Trying to keep up socially, while getting out if debt is almost impossible. Making the choice to cut luxury spending and focus on your debt is the hardest part of the process.
Sometimes it is the little things that matter. On the inspirational side, we often hear things like, “A journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step,” or, “To eat an elephant you proceed one bite at a time.” From the cause and effect point of view, it is more often than not that small choices made day in and day out put you where you are today.
The coming of the New Year is the time when we evaluate the past year and plan for the future. We make promises to ourselves to change our habits in the coming year. By mid-February, we realize that change is painful, and the majority of New Year’s Resolutions fall by the wayside. It takes being sick and tired of being sick and tired about the things are going in order to change a habit. If the pain associated with changing is outweighed by the pain incurred by the status quo then change will not happen.
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