You don't need a pre-nuptial agreement before marriage, but you do need to talk about money. Whether you've already walked down the aisle or you're about to, tips for keeping wedded bliss when it comes to finances.
The best gift you can give to each other is your credit reports. Talk now or argue later. Talking about it now sets the pattern for cooperative money management for your new family unit.
Meet with a financial planner to:
- Clarify each other's money triggers.
- Find out where there's room for the fun stuff.
- Identify short, medium, and long-term goals.
- Clarify wedding spending - and maybe adjust.
Brides' Magazine says the average age for a woman getting married these days is 27 and for a man it's 29. Money problems are the number one cause of divorce, so before you say "I do," money maven Valerie Coleman Morris suggests when it comes to love and money, It's your money so take it personally ™. Talk about it now or you can fight about it later.
- The way people date these days is fascinating.
- Potential mates check each other out on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn.
- Research pertinent information.
- Hard to have a blind date these days.
- Depending on what you find online, usually enough information to form an opinion outside of the traditional first impression.
- Eliminate the mindset: "We are not going there!"
- Must get over this money hump.
- Ask smart questions since the answers will impact your collective future.
- Don't fall for the "we can fix it later" or "I just don't want to know now."
- Who will be our financial planner?
- What's your credit score?
- What are your spending habits?
- How much debt do you have?
- Do you believe in saving something from every paycheck?
- Do you have or want to have real estate holdings?
- Be open about finances.
- Consult each other before big expenditures.
- Regularly review family money priorities.
- Know where all financial documents/passwords are located.
- Set a date for a monthly financial literacy conversation.
About Valerie Coleman Morris:
Valerie Coleman Morris is a Bay Area native when it comes to television news. She began her career in the early 70s in San Francisco at KRON-TV as a reporter and then KGO-TV as a long time anchor.
She was part of the Van Amburg/Jerry Jensen/Pete Giddings news team that branded "happy talk" as a new news genre.
Valerie's the former Business Anchor for CNN domestic and international - her dozen daily reporters were seen every day by more than 290 million households, businesses and airport networks.
She still appears on CNN as a personal finance guest expert but now focuses her works as a financial journalist/educator with a unique point of view about money.
Her "mind over money matters" approach gives the thought process for a behavioral change: re-calculating your relationship with your personal money.
Valerie's mantra: "It's your money, so take it personally."
Valerie's blog site "Women and Money"
Posts domestically, internationally every Thursday
For more information, visit thethinpinkline.com
Valerie's daily podcast "Valuable Money Tips"
For professional women
For more information, visit www.napw.com
CBS Network Radio
"With the Family in Mind - Money Matters"
Three times a week syndicated radio column
