Money Talk Matters

Posts Tagged ‘paying bills’

Money Talk Before Marriage isn’t necessary if..

1) You have decided to keep your financial secrets hidden and you can handle the consequences once the truth comes to light.

2) You want your upcoming marriage to potentially be a divorce statistic by not discussing one of the top (if not the top) cause for divorce.

3) You are so in love, your fiance has told you that he or she is not paying their bills prior to your being married and you feel secure in knowing this will change once you are married.

4) You have swapped credit reports.

5) You are aware your future spouse has other children and is not paying child support. then once you say “I Do”, the ex-wives will sue you both.

6) Your future spouse is not working and has no intention of getting a job; thereby placing you in the position of bringing in all the income, paying the bills and planning for the future.

7) When one spouse has more debt than the other and the one with no debt will be expected to pay all the bills.

You’ve talked with your girlfriends about financial issues and they have re-assured you everything will be okay despite the fact they don’t know your future spouse and what his thoughts are.

9) You prefer to learn your money lesssons On-the-job in marriage and comfortable with making mistakes.

* If you need premarital financial counseling, register at www.moneytalkmatters.com and Dr. Wagner will contact you.

Copyright ©2010 – Dr. Taffy Wagner – Permission granted to use and reproduce with proper citation.

I was not going to point this one out however, as much as I tried not to post it, it kept coming up. Remember the Jilted Bride that was Awarded $150,000. Take a look.

According to the post I read, “he testified he had taken her on several trips and paid $30,000 of her debt while they were engaged. Then he found out she had even more debt so he called it off! In my opinion sounds like he dodged a life of financial frustration if she had that amount of debt and more.

When you get into the habit of paying off a future spouse’s debt even prior to getting married, this can open the door for them to create more if they are shoppers and feel as if they have been given a new lease on life. Why? Because they may believe you have a soft spot and think they can create debt and run to you to clean it up.

Whatever debt you create prior to your marriage and engagement is your responsibility to clean up. Not your future spouse! It is not written in stone anywhere they they must pay off your bills even once you are married. Your credit is individual. Brides and grooms both need to beware and pay attention to the financial obligations that exist prior to getting married.

What does it mean to save? Does it mean that you put money away one time a year? Do you put money into a bank once a month every month? Do you put away a certain percentage every time you get paid? What does saving mean and what does it mean to you?

Saving is not meaning in this aspect to rescue a person. Savings means funds put by as a reserve for whatever reason. Regardless of your financial situation, one of the goals you should have is to have a savings account with a certain amount of money in it.

What does saving mean to you? For me savings mean having that reserve for emergencies, having a fund that can sit there and not touch but grow repeatedly as I continue to put money in the account. I think one aspect of saving that would make it easy for people is to have an automatic deduction coming out of your checking account that goes into a savings account. Why? Because then you will not miss that money.

Let’s say for example, you had one bill that you had to pay off and then you would not have any other bills. Why not take the money you were paying on the bill and put it directly into your savings! Since you were used to taking that money and paying on a bill, why not turn around and pay yourself. Ahhhh! What a concept. Don’t take that money back into your wallet that you spend. Why not build up your savings even more by putting that money aside in addition to what you were already doing.

If you do an automatic deduction every time you get paid, then you have already made your decision. This can be different for each person because you have to look at various factors: employment – are you working for someone else or do you work for yourself; do you have a lot of bills and have not figured out what you can do without in order to save; or have you established a certain time within your financial plan for 2010  that you will begin saving? Whichever answer it is, all I want to say is BEGIN.

Go to America Saves and sign up. They are a resource that also acts as an accountability person that encourages you with various email messages. Begin your savings plan today!