In Sickness and Health until Money Do Us Apart

Articles List

April 04, 2008

When you find your true love, your Mr. or Mrs. Right, and you are in love, material life does not really occupy your mind. Especially when it comes to some financial issues. You just dream of you and your better half standing at the altar exchanging wedding vows, then bringing up children together and living happily ever after.

But if you entirely get absorbed with romance and melt in the object of your love, your love story can have far not a fairy-tale-like ending. You should not forget that we live in a material world and financial matters are very important in serious relationship.

Financial problems are among the top-ten reasons for divorce. That is why if you want to keep your relationship and live in harmony with your better half, you are to discuss money matters, and solve financial problems together.

Mutual trust in relationship is extremely important. Even when it comes to financial aspects. This does not mean, of course, that you have to give a detailed report about every dollar you spend to each other. But you should not practice keeping financial secrets from each other, and find a compromise on disputable money-related issues.

Planning a family is much more complicated than planning a budget just for one person. Here you need to take into account a lot of factors: your total revenue, your spending habits, your needs. What is the difference, you say? When planning out a budget for oneself you factor into the same things. It seems that all you need to do when working on a family budget is just multiply by 2 all those aspects.

The problem is that all people are different. Everybody has different habits, different income, different goals and views. And even if you were lucky to find a soul-mate in your beloved one, you think differently.

You both might have good credit scores. But you might prefer cash rebate credit cards, and your partner might go only with no annual fee or low APR credit cards. You, probably, consider rewards cards to be the most beneficial option for your lifestyle, and your girlfriend or boyfriend (or spouse) finds low rate card deals to be more profitable. But when you live together you need to concentrate on your family needs and financial priorities.

So, before submitting a new credit card application you should weigh all its pros and cons together.

If you turn to the Family Court's archives of matrimonial causes, you will find a lot of cases caused by hidden credit card debts. When you get married, you take the responsibility for your spouse, and you are supposed to share everything. That is why having some outside expenses, or even a separate credit card, or several for such spending, can end up in divorce.

But still, spouses do hide some of their expenses from each other. That is ok if they do not let the spendings go out of control. According to the surveys, women tend to conceal some of their clothes, cosmetics, and accessories expenses. Men hide the receipts from bars and clubs.

If you do not want to face a family breakdown because of financial problems and secrets, do not be afraid to talk and discuss money matters with your half. Do as you would be done by. Just be honest. And remember, honesty is the best policy. This might sound naive and childlike, but it is true.