Tips To Save With Your Partner

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

This year I celebrate 12 years of marriage, and this makes me reflect as a couple, what are our strengths, weaknesses and opportunities in relation to finances. While a high percentage of couples separate, the primary reason many studies say is because of a lack of financial communication. It's funny how some couples try to manage their finances without communicating and in the same way that they did 10 or 15 years ago. Life for me has changed for at least 10 years. My priorities are different, our needs are different and even the roles have been reversed.

In my case I am the saver, since I was 5 years old, my young parents deduced that to instill savings in the house they would teach me with practice. My husband is the spender, when I met him he spent on material things what I spent on an air ticket, however our fundamental values were very similar. Little by little and with a lot of study I realized that he showed his love buying things for the house - that sometimes they were out of our budget and I often stopped doing things together to save for our future. In the end we reached a compromise. I think that there is no perfect formula to manage finances together, but I do believe that there are 3 practices that can help improve financial communication (1) evaluating each other's strengths and weaknesses (2) each having a fund of freedom and (3) renewing your commitment to an annual contract.

Assessing each other's strengths and weaknesses

It has been proven that when couples share their strengths and weaknesses against money, the barriers to the need to justify actions are lowered. Once identified, the roles and responsibilities of each are defined and expectations are created. For example, in the case of Carlos and Laura, the person in charge of updating the budget is Laura and Carlos makes the monthly payments. In addition Carlos likes to go out with friends every week and Laura establishes according to the goals the budget that Carlos can have for the outings. This way they will be able to save for their home and reach their goal of 20% in 12 months.

Each having a fund of freedom

Many couples are still married for financial reasons, separating is not an option due to lack of financial support. I know women who have been married for many years with children and so far have no savings account in their name. Businesswomen, executives and housewives who only have accounts together for household expenses. Instead of thinking that an individual account is like turning it around, think that it is the opposite. If you are together having separate savings accounts enough to live alone and choose to live together, that is indeed love. The liberty fund should have about 3 to 6 months of individual expenses.

Renewing your commitment to an annual contract

The singles who ask me what marriage is like, I tell them that it is like keeping a little plant, it must be daily, take care of it, feed it, cut its leaves and love it from the morning on. It is not an easy act, because you can do a super job a week and overnight you forgot and the little plant can start to turn yellow. And that is what happens with the lack of financial communication. The contract must include what each person is willing to do, contribute and share. It must include clear goals and roles. This contract must be signed by both and reviewed quarterly. You can find a copy of this contract in my book “Happy Couples, accounts in order”

Remember that the happy pocket can lead you to have full hearts. The key is to figure out what the happy pocket means, is it abundance, peace, health, growth, accumulation or another definition? Invest today in nurturing that financial communication as a couple and decipher it together!