8 Money Rules for Happy Couples
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If you're part of a couple, figuring out how to manage money together can be chAllenging. Often couples move together or they get married, and discussing finances is an afterthought. In my opinion, ongoing open communication about money is critical for the success of your relationship and your finances.

This podcast will review eight money rules that happy couples follow. While there is no one size fits all approach, i'm going to share how my husband, I have managed money together for decades. You'll learn some good tips for sharing a healthy financial life and avoiding common pitfalls.

As a couple welcome back podcast friends, I really appreciate you joining me for money girl episode eight eighty. I'm Laura Adams, an award winning author, finance spokesperson, speaker, founder of money stack, which is a sub stack newsletter and host of money girl with over forty three million downloads. If you're getting value here, please consider a five star rating or review.

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Okay, let's talk about eight rules to ensure you in your partner or spouse have as much financial success as a couple as possible. Rule number one, know your partner's financial history. Building and maintaining trust is essential, whether you're a brand new couple or you're considering taking your relationship to the next level.

And I think that should include knowing each other's financial histories like your income, debt and credit. Now the good news is that even if your partner has less than perfect credit, IT doesn't hurt yours. However, qualifying for a joint credit account will talk more about joint credit, but things like getting a mortgage or coral one together could be more chAllenging.

A great way to review your financial histories is to simply look at each other's credit reports. You can use a free sign like credit karma. That's an excEllent place to start, and your credit reports list every account you've opened in the past ten years, even those that you've paid off or closed.

Credit reports also show if you've paid accounts late or you've got legal issues like a bankrupcy lean or an account in collections, all of those would significantly hurt your credit scores. However, credit reports don't show information like your income, bank baLances or retirement accounts. Rule number two, only merge money once your relationship is long term.

In general, I recommend managing money as a couple. However, I only recommended if you're one hundred percent committed and you plan on staying together long term. That's because if you break up, unravelling your financial lives can be complicated, very complicated.

For example, if you have a joint bank account, both of you own IT and you can withdraw all the funds at any time. If you cosine loans and credit cards and your partner doesn't pay their fair share, the lender will hold you responsible. And i'll talk more about the risks of sharing debt in a moment.

The bottom line is that if you're uncertain how long your relationship last or you've got any concerns about merging money with someone else, please don't do IT. Rule number three, create financial goals together. If you decide to merge money as a couple, finding and agreeing on your financial goals as a team is essential.

For instance, what do you want to achieve over the next few years and the long term? You know, you may want a plan, vacation, buy a home, start a family or retire early. Many couples have different money personalities, like one being a really good saver who's always thinking about the future, and the other preferring to spend more, living more in the moment.

So it's vital to acknowledge your financial tendencies and figure out how to meet somewhere in the middle. So you're both happy in my relationship. I'd say i'm print probably a bit more of a savor my husbands probably a bit more of a spender.

But neither one of us are on those extremes. So are many personalities are not that different. So we're able to agree on goals and were able to, you know kind of change a path for the future that we're both really happy with.

But I will say, you know, that's not the case for every couple, and i'll talk more about we know what to do and things don't alive real. Number four, agree on a spending plan. Once you identify your money goals, consider how you'll pay for them and how you're going to handle expenses.

As a couple, my husband, I share everything, everything. So our income goes into one bank account, and then I pay all our bills from that account. However, some couples may want to separate their incomes and certain expenses.

In that case, splitting bills fifty fifty may seem like a good strategy, but IT may not work if a one person earns significantly less. In that case, you might divide household expenses by percentages to make things fair. For example, if your partner earns thirty five percent of the total household income and you make sixty five percent, you could pay sixty five percent of the household expenses.

However, if you go all in and merge your finances as a couple like I do, you won't have to worry about dividing expenses. I think paying bills from a joint account makes life a lot easier. However, as I mentioned, I only recommend doing that if you're in a one hundred percent committed relationship.

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Rule number five, understand the risks of sharing debt. When you cosign a credit account, like a credit card, auto loan or mortgage, you assume equal responsibility. So that means if one of you fails to pay a joint dead on time, you both legally responsible for the entire debt, not just half a bit.

A cosine account appears on both of your credit reports. So that means you can both build credit if your payments get made on time, but late payments will hurt both of your credit cores. So if you cosign a credit account, be very sure that payments never fall through the cracks. Over the years, i've noticed an increasing number of unmerry couples buying homes together. And while that certainly makes housing more affordable, IT could hurt your financial future if things don't go as planned.

For instance, what happens if you disagree on managing the property? Or if one person has a financial hardship and wants to sell out, what if your romantic relationship turns sour and you break up? These are the kinds of issues that you got to work out before you commit to buying real state as a couple.

You'll need to consider whether you have equal money or, uh, different proportions for a home down payment and whether you want to be responsible for a mortgage to get approved. Each more gage applicant must show ample income, job history and created scores. If one partner has low income or poor credit, the other could be the sole mortgage applicant.

Remember that you're not legally responsible for repayment unless your name is on a mortgage. Being named on a property deed indicates ownership, but that's not the same as having financial responsibility for a mortgage. If you buy a home and you're not married, you have a couple of legal options to choose from for ownership.

You've got tenants in common. This gives each person a share of the property like fifty, fifty or seventy five, twenty five. When one tenant in common dies, their share goes to their ears, not to the other owner or owners, and each owner can send or give away their interest in the property.

Now you've also got joint tenants with the right of survival. This data gives each person on the right on the property when the other owner dies, so their interest automatically passes to the survivor, not to their ears. Although married couples can own property as tenants in common or joint tenants, they have another option called teNancy by the entirety.

This allows spouses to own property as a single legal entity. IT protects each person because a creditor of one spouse can attach and sell the interest of the property that the other spouse owns, and when one spouse dies, their interest automatically passes to the surviving spouse, just like with joint tenant ownership. So you'll need to think carefully about the legal status, the legal ownership that you want when you buy real state with someone else.

Rule number six, no, the spouse L I R A rules, if you're married and file taxes jointly, boat spouses qualify for an I R A even if a one of you doesn't earn an income. This is an often underused benefit that many couples don't know about, so it's often called a spousal ira. It's not a different type of I R A just to rule that allows income from a working spouse to fund a non working spouses traditional or rough I R A for twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five.

If both spouses are under fifty with a household income of at least fourteen thousand, you can each contribute up to seven thousand to an I A. If you're over fifty, the maximum contribution increases to eight thousand eight. Rule number seven, communicate openly about money.

I mentioned this at the top of the show. Even if your financial goals as a couple are aligned, a key to long term success is communicating regularly. Unfortunately, I think many couples only talk about money after problems come up, and that's a definitely the wrong approach.

Instead, at a time each month or quarter to chat bunch your budget, your dad, your income and the plans for the future that will help you irr n out any wrinkles in your relationship. And ensure you're on track to achieve your financial goals. My advice is to be open minded about changing strategies and setting new guidelines if the way you manage money as a couple isn't working.

And number eight, get help from a financial professional when needed, even if managing money is a breeze for you, and your partner is often wise to get help from a financial pro like a financial adviser, retirement planner, tax account, a state planner or real state attorney, if a money is causing problems in your relationship that you just can't seem to work out on your own, get help, you know, don't suffer alone, speak with a therapist or a couples councillor who can help you find solutions, often getting an outside opinion, can somebody do really ask key questions? Is how you're gonna a get through some money problems and hardships in your relationship. Yes, professionals cost money.

However, i've always found that getting good advice usually pays off. That's all. For now. I'll talk to you soon. Until then, here's to living our rich or life money grow as a quick and dirty tips pocket. I want to thank our amazing team, Steve Ricky berg, audio engineers, the show brand engages as our director of podcast, holly hutchins says our digital Operation specialist Morgan Christian said is our advertising Operation specialist to be a tomlin is our marketing and publicity associate and a thai's hoops is our marketing contractor.

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