Before Creating a Combined Budget
Combing budgets is a significant and powerful step to achieving financial goals as a household. However, it’s critical to think beyond the numbers. The foundation is trust, habits, and how each of you sees money. It’s common with at least one spouse having mistrust from prior relationships around money. It’s also common to have one spouse or both struggle with giving up individual financial independence. What matters most is being honest with yourself and each other about what merging money really means before you move forward.
Here’s a simple checklist to help you both think through it before you commit:
[ ] I know my income (what I bring in), expenses (what I spend on), debts (what I owe back), and assets (what I own that has value).
[ ] I have shared my full financial picture with my spouse; there are no hidden accounts or debts.
[ ] We agree on saving at least 10% of our combined income.
[ ] We have a plan to live on less than we earn, consistently.
[ ] We’ve talked about what financial security means to each of us.
[ ] We understand each other’s past money habits, good and bad, and choose full transparency going forward.
[ ] We’ve decided how to handle individual spending within a shared system, such as having a joint account that all income flows into and a separate account for each spouse for individual spending and goals.
[ ] We have a plan to pay off any existing consumer debts together (credit cards, personal loans, car loans, student loans, medical debts) and not take on new ones.
[ ] We’ve chosen to track our spending, regularly.
[ ] We both agree that our financial future is a shared responsibility. We’re choosing to put our names on all wealth-generating accounts, including savings accounts, mortgages and deeds, retirement accounts, and brokerage accounts.
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