Nate Baim, MBA, CFP®
Couples Combining Finances
Video Transcript:
So, Becky, my wife and I, we are coming up on being married for about a year. It will be a year the end of July. And it's been very exciting because we've had to negotiate. Any relationship is a negotiation. And marriage is especially a negotiation and compromise. One of those things that couples really have to negotiate a lot around is spending money and how you use your money, and where are you saving, and how are you working toward achieving your shared goals.
So, a good example of that came up here recently, where we both felt it was a good time to buy a new bed. I know Becky was a lot more ready for that; sooner than I was. I was a little more reluctant. A lot of my reluctance comes from spending the money because I am very frugal, and how I grew up was to save money. A penny saved is a penny earned. And that's something that was drilled into my head at a very young age. And I still live with that everyday, and I carry it with me all the time. We did negotiate, and we settled on a bed. The bed is on its way. And I am sure both of us are going to be a lot more rested because of that.
But, it reminded that couples, especially this time year because folks are still going to get married. Unfortunately it may not be the ideal wedding given the circumstances, but I imagine there is going to be a lot of people out there this summer getting married. You're going to be asking yourselves the question, "How do we combine our finances?" I think a lot of people when to approach that question they start with what accounts do we need to move together and what accounts need to be joint. And how to do we navigate this account thing? How are going to spend together and how are going to save together. And really the hard work begins way before you even start to ask that question.