Preparing to transition your household from 2 to 3 can be made easier with these 8 simple tips.

For individuals seeking to get their financial life in order, getting a solid money management strategy may be the light at the end of the tunnel. But you’ll feel like you’re swimming against the current if you don’t take the right steps to get organized and learn how to properly handle your finances. Like everything, handling your cash takes time to learn and improve. It also takes dedication and a sound understanding of your financial position to master. These are the first steps in successful personal money management.

It is an exciting time in someone’s life to get engaged and married. However, preparing both a wedding and a life with someone else can also be stressful. By following these money-related tips, you can save yourself a lot of heartache and stress.

Investing your money, saving your money, proper investments and daily budgeting can be stressful. But any person can fulfil their money goals with proper personal financial planning and execution. It is very important to save money for a rainy day, rather than daily expenses.

Tip #1. Use Your Credit Card Only if You Can Pay It Off Each Month

Credit cards are not an underlying barrier to your finances. They are easy, after all, and many cards give cashback on your transactions.

You can, however, only charge money on your credit card if at the end of the month you can pay it off entirely.

You will not incur any interest rates if you pay off your credit card balance every month and it will be the same as paying cash.

However, if you don’t pay off your balance each month, the interest accumulated will escalate out of control quickly.

Tip #2. Make a List of Financial Goals

Talk about your goals for the future especially on your financial priorities. If you can work on them together, it would be much easier to accomplish your goals, and if you make sure you do not have goals that directly contradict each other’s, it will help alleviate friction.

Tip #3. Open a Joint Bank Account

That means merging accounts when you’re about to get married. Getting ahead of the game and setting up a joint bank account makes sense. This will make shared costs, such as lodging and groceries, much easier to share.

This method helps you to merge your savings and checking accounts with your partner to handle shared costs easily. You can move a fixed amount per month to the individual checking account of each person.

The sum transferred can be thought of like an allowance. This gives each person the liberty to spend some of their money without the input of their partner. With every partner having their funds, it’s easier to go out with friends or make small transactions without having to check with your spouse or risk wasting money on rent or groceries. Without your partner working out what the gift is ahead of time, it also makes it easier to purchase presents.

Tip #4. Buy Health Insurance to Avoid Facing Financial Troubles

One of the most challenging circumstances you can face is a healthcare emergency. You want to opt for the best possible care when your health or that of one of your family members is involved, which is a costly affair.

It would help you manage those contingencies by getting a health insurance plan in place. Indeed, without burning a hole in your pocket, it is one of the best approaches to deal with your health issues. You would now be able to save money that you would otherwise waste on paying for medical treatments, medications, etc. Bear in mind that now is the best time to take reasonable steps to avoid contingencies associated with health.

Tip #5. Have Regular Discussions About Your Finances

While it’s important to make sure you and your partner are compatible before you get married with financial expectations and goals, money should be a constant subject in your relationship. At regular intervals, including weekly, quarterly, or yearly, you can take time to sit down and look at your money together.

Using this time to think as a family about your financials. Are you on track to achieve your objectives? Will you need your budget to be updated? Do you have financial issues that you would like to raise with your partner?

It’s easy to fall into the habit of avoiding money discussions, but even if they can be difficult, they’re important. It will make it much easier to remain on the same page and financially on track if you have a daily schedule to sit down with your spouse to talk about finances.

Tip #6. Create and Track a Joint Budget

To make sure you know how much money you make and where all of your money goes, budgeting is crucial. It’s easy to splurge without realizing it if you don’t have a budget, leaving you at the end of the month with very little left.

Getting married is a perfect chance for the first time to build a budget together or to reexamine the current budgets. When you get married, your earnings and your expenses will be combined. Some expenses, such as food costs, will grow, while others will remain largely the same or reduce, such as the cost of your housing.

To develop and practice living on a shared budget, take a few months, then track your spending and adjust your budget to meet your spending needs. You’ll be prepared to handle your finances and make sure you can plan for the future if you have a reasonable budget when you get married.

Tip #7. Save 10 to 15% for retirement

I know it’s far off, but the sooner you start planning for retirement, the better off you’ll be in your golden years if you want to drink margaritas in Miami.

The first thing should be to set a savings target that tells you exactly how much you should set aside over some time to reach the retirement goals that will allow you to enjoy the kind of lifestyle you imagine.

Let’s say you’re 21 years old and you don’t have anything saved, but you’ve just been offered a $40,000 a year job. If you save 10% of your annual salary, you’ll have saved $2.5 million by the retirement age of 67! Hey! Cha-ching!

Tip #8. Stop Trying to Impress Other People

The average individual spends far too much money solely trying to preserve an image. Most of what we purchase, from fancy cars to brand-name clothes, has more to do with trying to impress others than it does with buying something we want and enjoy.

 

Have you been using these tips in your relationship yet? 

 

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