4 Tips on How to Talk About Finances With Your Partner

Post marriage, one thing that comes into your mind is how to talk to your partner about money for the first time without sounding too much money-minded.

This can be a daunting task for newly-married couples, but it is important for you to talk about finances with your partner. Try to have a healthy one-on-one conversation, after all, one of the most important decisions you’ll make with your spouse centers around finances.

There is no shame in making things clear before your marriage. This will save you from a lot of pain and disappointments in the future.

Ideally, you would decide to head into the marriage if and how you will combine your finances, what your monthly budget looks like, and how you’ll set aside money for both personal savings and retirement savings.

Money can make or break a marriage, and it’s commonly cited as the number one reason marriages fail.

Communication around finances is a vital ingredient to a happy marriage.

So, why is talking about money so hard? Why do couples hesitate even to approach that topic during conversations? Why they keep searching for ideas on, ‘how to talk about money with your spouse,’ or, ‘how do I talk to my husband about money problems?’ from the internet.

There’s no one size fits all approach to financial planning and people have their own expectations and spending habits. Hence, it’s important to understand your spouse’s relationship with money and freely talk about finances with your partner.

Such conversations will help you to see if you are on the exact same page (rare!), need to compromise in some areas or need to speak to a financial planner or counselor to get into a financial routine you both feel comfortable in.

Tips for talking with your partner about finances

While talking about money with your partner may seem intimidating, making plans for your financial future doesn’t have to be a scary conversation.

You can actually make it fun by using it as an opportunity to learn more about your partner and start planning your future together. This financial question conversation starter can ease you and your spouse into the money talk.

1. Start by asking questions

You can start the conversation by asking random questions about his financial history. Start with questions will help you delve into your spouse’s financial past So begin with questions like –

1. What is your credit score?
2. What are your lifestyle choices?
3. What’s an ideal emergency fund amount?
4. What are your future plans?
5. What do you want retirement to look like?

You have to understand that you need to talk about finances with your partner, so try not to sound too intimidating. Else, the exercise will end up on a wrong note.

2. Volunteer your own feelings

Are you finding it a humongous task to talk about finances with your partner?

Well! You can start by sharing some of your own experiences about a financial issue to encourage him to open up and share his own experiences in return.

Discuss how your parents handled money-matters, how you dealt with finances in your previous relationships, your hopes about money, future plans, and so on.

3. Mutually fix the time to talk about finances

When you plan to talk about finances with your partner, make sure that both of you are not preoccupied with other matters. Such discussions require peace of mind. But, do not wait until a major financial crisis arises to broach the subject.

Instead, you both can mutually decide on a particular date and time for having a decent conversation about family finances.

4. Consult a third party

If you are unable to talk about finances with your partner yourself, you can always seek help from your parents, friends, or consult a counselor/therapist.

Consulting a therapist or a marriage counselor for such matters always helps.

Financial expectations gives your marriage a chance to succeed

There will likely be disagreements and compromise along the way, but managing financial expectations early will give your marriage the greatest chance to succeed.

These printables will help you set financial goals with your spouse like building your credit, budget your first year of marriage, and decide what life plans are most important to set money aside for.

Finally, remember that the most important part of planning your financial future is choosing a route that works best for you and your spouse.

If you haven’t already had the money talk or still considering ways by which you can talk about finances with your partner, it’s time to start planning your financial future today!

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Karlyn McKell

Jeff Smith is the Vice President of SEO at Self Lender, an organization that helps thousands of people begin their financial journey with a credit builder account. He also serves as Editor of the Self Lender blog. Jeff has more than 14 years of experience in marketing and product-management teams in... Read more high-growth companies, and was previously a newspaper editor. Read less