Managing Marriage & Money
When it comes to walking down the aisle with the person you love, you should be thinking about your happily-ever-after and not about bills and joint bank accounts. The best way to do this is to make sure you have open and honest communication between the two of you. Fighting about money could ruin a marriage.
According to research by SunTrust Bank, 35 percent of people who are experiencing stress in their relationship said that it was due to disagreements about money. It is easy to understand. When you get married, you’re in it together, and that means money is tied to the equation.
Managing your marriage to make sure that you don’t fight or argue about financial matters or cash flow, is the best way to banish that kind of friction from your lives together. A Pew Research Center study reveals that while 88 percent of people surveyed did say that love was the reason to get married, 28 percent cited financial stability. Being financially dependable and stable affects your level of survival, and that’s as basic a human need as you can get.
Some couples prefer to keep their finances separate.
According to a survey by TD Bank, 76 percent of couples keep at least one account together, so just under a quarter of couples keep their money to themselves.
Whatever you both decide to do, make sure you agree on it, and be open about your levels of savings or debt. Hiding credit card debt or purchases could lead to drastic arguments or easily spiral into a circle of lies. A CreditCards.com report shows that 26 percent of men have spent more than $500 without notifying their significant other. Interestingly enough, just 14 percent of women said the same.
When it comes to entering marriage with debt, it is more common than one might expect. [5] Utah State University reported that 69 percent of women and 74 percent of men enter marriage with some form of debt.
Make sure you manage your conversations about money and get as much truth about your finances on the table as possible. That way you’re able to thrive together in the future rather than hiding things from each other, which is a negative cycle that can be difficult to break. Managing your money together is a step towards a healthy and happy marriage.
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