Navigating Finances as a Couple

It was fun to hear from a lot of you after my husband’s post last week. I enjoyed taking a backseat to read about what his experience has been.

When my husband and I first met, we handled money completely separately. And, of course, this is normal early on in a relationship. We each had our own home and our own expenses. But, once we moved in together and our relationship was serious, this separate handling became challenging. We struggled to equitably share expenses and our earnings were different, so even if we equitably shared costs, that might have left one person with very little to save, invest, or play. Sometime shortly after getting engaged, we started combining all our money and we created a plan for how to use it together. When we did that, our relationship changed drastically.

It's easier to be less mindful or intentional when it’s only your resource, but when your decisions affect another person, that changes things. When we combined our income, we built in accountability. We needed that joint plan in place so that we would work together towards our goals and wouldn’t squander our money, instead of just our own independent accounts.

My husband took on more of the burden here – I was the one with a lot of student loans. But truthfully, an overarching goal in our relationship is to work things out together and to make it to the end together (whatever that end is). So wasn’t my burden sort of also his? We saw it this way.

I love witnessing couples get on the same page with finances. It is SO powerful. I always ask my clients who are in a partnership and aren’t handling money together – where do you see yourself at retirement age? Is your partner retired with you?

If you’re in a partnership, you must talk about your finances with your partner. My husband and I don’t enjoy all the same hobbies, but we have been able to connect about our values and goals by talking about money and ensuring that we’re using it to get us to where we want to go. The way we handle money helps us achieve our goals personally and as a family, and we’re also able to build in the things we care about as individuals, including giving, hobbies, and fun.

For quite a while now we’ve talked about doing a couples money workshop. This August is our 5th wedding anniversary, and in honor of that, we thought it was a fitting time to do the workshop. When I say we, it’s because my husband is going to join in and co-teach it with me!

We’re going to talk about early childhood memories and beliefs around money; goal setting; gift giving; ensuring both people have room for hobbies/interests; fun money!; and combining income and creating a budget together. We’ll also cover estate planning to talk about all the things we need to ensure our families and assets are secure for the long term.

The workshop will be on Sunday, August 20 from 9am-12pm MST. This workshop is designed for couples. The cost of the workshop is $50 (we’ll cover the GRT!). This workshop is a must if you want to ensure you and your honey are on the same page about money and are equipped with a plan for your future. It will be also be an excellent icebreaker for how to have money conversations going forward.

We hope you’ll join us! Please click here to sign up!