M + M = Lets Talk About It......

Money and Marriage.....you have to have the talk.

It’s weird that this article was posted on my Internet Explorer homepage this morning because we were just discussing this topic last night.

In many relationships the word can be very scary.

We were discussing the role money plays in our lives and relationships. When you take two people that were raised two totally different ways and each work the same amount of hours and make two totally different salaries…it can either make or break a relationship.

Like this article says, “Money is the number one reason for fights in a marriage.” The article goes on to state that few couples actually take the time to talk about money before the fights begin.

This blows my mind! How in the world do people join their lives together and never discuss how they handle their own finances and what they expect to do in the future with the money they bring in? How do they not see each other’s spending habits?

I am nowhere near walking down the aisle, but you better bet that before I say "I do", I will have a pretty good idea about the ambitions of my fiancé and where he sees his salary being paid off in the future. Is he really serious about working 20 more years, retiring, and buying a massive house on Figure Eight Island? Or, is this just a small fantasy he dreams about but isn’t heartbroken if it doesn’t come true? Is he a gambler with his money and does he enjoy playing around in the stock markets? My opinion…unless we have the extra money to throw around and unless he knows EXACTLY what he is doing in the markets…lets choose a safer option to invest our funds in.

I know for me, I would like to start putting money aside for my kid’s college as soon as I have children. That way, we have twelve years to set little amounts aside that we will not even miss each year and, before we know it, our kids are going to school for “free.” We didn’t have to bust our butts every year to come up with this expense. Then, with the decision of my husband, if our kids are smart or athletic and don’t need college funding, we spend this money on us for an anniversary trip or a new car! I don’t know; at least have some sort of plan!

When it comes to money in a relationship and a marriage two words stick out for me: compromise and selflessness. Money is not there to get you FURTHER in life, it’s there to SUSTAIN us in life. I hope and pray that all my friends and their spouses have had this discussion because I am sure it is one of the hardest things to “merge” in a marriage.

Check out the article here: 10 Tips To Avoid Credit Card Debt Disaster in Marriage