Getting Married

Getting married means big changes in many areas of your life. Through careful planning and communication, together you can ensure your long-term financial success as a family.

The first step in mapping out your new life is discussing your dreams. Then, decide which are most important.

• Do you have immediate debt, such as wedding expenses, school loans or car payments?
• Will you purchase a home?
• Do you have children or plan to? How will you finance their education?
• What are your goals for retirement? How much should you be saving?

Once you've defined your dreams together, you can focus on achieving them. To start, prepare a budget listing your income and expenses over a month, or a year. Then consider these money management issues:

• Separate or joint bank accounts? Maintaining a joint account can offer lower fees. However, keeping separate accounts can be easier for certain couples. Discuss your options in the context of your own relationship.
• Health insurance. If each of you has separate health insurance coverage, do a cost/benefit analysis for both plans. Then compare the rate for one family plan against the cost of two single plans.
• Auto and home insurance. Consider consolidating auto insurance policies to save money. If one of you has a poor driving record, make sure the change won't result in a higher premium. When you buy either home or auto insurance, choose the highest deductible you can afford. It's the easiest way to lower your premium.
• Life/disability insurance. To make sure either spouse could carry on financially after the injury or death of the other, consider purchasing insurance.
• Employer-sponsored retirement plans/IRAs. If both of you participate in these options, review each carefully to see which offers the best benefits. If your cash flow is limited, focus your retirement strategy by taking full advantage of employer matches and investment options.
• Sharing credit cards? With joint credit, you're both responsible for 100% of your debt. If one of you has poor credit, it can negatively impact the other's rating. Try making your spouse an authorized user of your card to avoid affecting anyone's individual credit scores.

Your needs and goals evolve over time. Through our ongoing financial planning relationship, we'll revisit your plan and make adjustments to your strategies and tactics, helping you to stay on track.