Starting a brand new journey with the love of your life? Sounds exciting, but don’t proceed without setting clear expectations regarding finances. This might seem to be a taboo for most, but if you want a financially-stable future, this discussion is a must-have.

Let us guide you through the step-by-step on setting financial ground rules with your partner!

Be Honest and Fair

Both of you must have a clear and unified mindset when it comes to managing your finances. Share your vision with your partner openly and be honest on any future plans. Don’t forget, this should be a common goal, so at some point you’ll need to compromise here and there. Just make sure it is fair and agreed by both parties!

Set Financial Goals Together

If you’re living together, sharing the financial burden is unavoidable. Living under the same roof is a mutual investment that both of you need to make for your future. It’s not about your money or my money anymore. Remember the common goal? Lay down the plans and stick to them!

Have Clear Attainable Plans

a. Budgeting

Being clear on the income and expenses are important in building a transparent future together. Work together with your partner on a budget plan and revise it accordingly.

b. Have a joint account on top of personal saving accounts

Try getting a joint savings account. A joint savings account is where you put in money mutually and all shared expenses such as household expenses can be taken from. Contribution to the account needs to be agreed between you and your partner. A way to go with it will be a set proportion from your monthly income. If there’s more than a 20% gap between your income, you may also try setting a reasonable fixed amount for each other.

With the joint savings account in place, you and your partner may have your own savings account where personal expenses are separated. This also means that boundaries are clearly set, and you should respect your partner’s discretion on that!

Monitor Your Accounts

Don’t forget to review and monitor the growth of your savings account to see if any goals are achieved yet. From there, you can both sit down to make adjustments to your spendings and maybe even set new goals!

Complement and Support each other

No relationships are smooth sailing at all times. There will always be disagreements on financial strategy and budgeting plans. However, as long as you analyze the situation together and try to empathize with each other at all times, you’ll be able to tackle those issues as a couple.

Hope that these will not only help you in planning a financially-stable future with your partner, but also a happy marriage!