Marriage and Money

If you're married and have felt the stress of dealing with financial matters with your spouse, then you're pretty normal!  Money is a leading cause of stress in marriages because money is often used to express love and security.  So how can you deal with money matters while maintaining a strong relationship with your spouse?

GET IN SYNC:  Create a budget TOGETHER so that you both can agree on and understand how your family dollars are being spent.  Building a budget helps prioritize your life goals as a family.  Perhaps education is something that you both value, or maybe it's world travel, or maybe it's a bigger house.  By working through the budget process, spending and savings priorities for both spouses will be revealed and will create better understanding of the financial goals each of you are working towards.

SPEAK UP:  Perhaps you have an outstanding loan or debt and to avoid conflict, you haven't quite mentioned it to your spouse.  Being dishonest about your financial situation is a sure-fire way to lead to hurt feelings and suspicion in your relationship.  Your financial situation affects your spouse so you owe it to them to share you situation no matter how uncomfortable it may be.  On the flip side, if your spouse is overspending and being careless with finances, it may be time to have a talk to reel in their spending habits.

REMEMBER WHAT HAS TRUE VALUE:  Don't let money be the driver of your relationship.  Take time to be grateful for the things that bring you joy in your relationship - laughter, walks, talks, watching your children grow.  Show your spouse  that you love them by showering them with things that don't cost money like running an errand for them, cooking their favorite dinner, and just being kind.  It's true, the best things in life are free!  ​