Relationships

Recently in our Relationships and Finances series, we discussed Learning About Finance Together. This post touched on how you and your spouse can develop a great financial relationship based on self-education and learning together. However, we only touched on what you can do personally if you have not yet developed your financial muscles, not on how to encourage your spouse to become financially fit.

Continuing our Relationship and Finance series, we come to “The Plan.” We have built the basics, and now, with knowledge in our pockets, let’s look at ways to build a financial plan.

Design Your Blueprints

As you build your joint financial future with your spouse, you will be relying on all of the building blocks you have already laid through your work in the series, beginning with talking about your ideal future.

Continuing our series about relationships and finance, it is important to talk about your big financial goals, so let’s look at some pointers.

Agree On The Basics

As you begin your discussion, lay out some big-picture groundwork that you and your spouse can agree on. Figure out where you want to be in 10 years. Ask yourselves what big-ticket items are you want to save for. Look closely at your budget to break some bad spending habits.

Last week we talked about opening the finance lines of communication to cut back on unnecessary items. As you went through your budget with your spouse, there were certainly some areas that were not integral to living well, and you probably cut out the extras.

Continuing on our journey through relationships and finance, we come to discussing spending habits and the willingness to cut back on unnecessary items. This can be one of the trickier subjects to discuss because you both work hard for your money, and you both deserve to treat yourselves.

Earlier in our Relationships and Finance series, we touched on “How to Help Your Spouse See You as a Financial Equal.” In the post, we discussed education, discussion, timely communication and planning as ways to open your financial plan to a joint venture. We laid out the basics and promised to come back to each idea more in depth, and today, we are going to take a look at education as a means to developing a better financial relationship with your spouse.

As we continue our series on relationships and finance, we come to a pretty serious question: What do you do if you and your spouse are fighting about finances? I’m not talking about arguing; I’m talking about all-out yelling, crying and talks of divorce. How can you and your spouse come to a peaceful resolution, marriage intact?

See a Marriage Counselor

”Jack Sprat could eat no fat, His wife could eat no lean,
But just between the two of them, They licked the platter clean.”

“There once was a girl from Nantucket…” Just kidding–we won’t go any further into that limerick. But I do have a point to the Jack Sprat poem: Sometime opposites attract. One man could have fat-related indigestion while his wife is an Atkins fanatic. Another man could be a Packers fan while his wife is a die-hard Bears fan. A third man could save every penny while his wife is a spendthrift. Whatever the case, sometimes the most unlikely pair can be the strongest.

To continue our series on Relationships and Money, let's get down to brass tacks: how to talk about money in the first place. It's a point of contention for many couples, and the subject has caused countless broken marriages. Let's find out how to step gingerly on the minefield of money...

Why is Money Difficult to Talk About?

As many of you know, I was raised by a poor single mother. What I have not yet mentioned is that my mother was in college during some of my most formative years, and she took an interest in feminism while I was still playing with dolls.