3 More Tips for Young Newlyweds About Personal Finance
If you’re just gotten married, we only have one thing to say: congratulations! You’re going on a great journey to a new life with someone that truly loves you.
OK, we have a few more things to say, but that’s no surprise at all. The world of personal finance is so vast that we really could talk for days about it and really never get tired. So in honor of newlyweds all over the world, we had a few more tips about getting your finances in order.
1. Stay Organized
Right from the start you are going to need to learn how to really organize your financial life. This means that bills have a place, and money has a place. You don’t want to have a house full of spare change, and you don’t want to have to figure out where the checkbook is kept. These are things that both of you need to agree on. If one person continuously cannot find what they’re looking for, it’s going to make them feel very frustrated and very tired from the start. Do you really want to live that way?
Finding a way to secure your financial life is very important. If you decide to use the Internet to your advantage, you will want to make sure that you have proper encryption over all of your information. The last thing that you want to have are hackers getting in and taking your information. That would really make life difficult, wouldn’t it?
When it comes to organization, the things you purchase do play a role in this. You will want to make sure that your home stays organized because if you don’t you’ll be losing money through not being able to find what you’re looking for. Also, there are many things that we buy that tend to go bad if they’re not properly stored.
Food immediately comes to mind. We spend a lot of money as a society on food, but we also throw away a lot of food. Make sure that you talk to your new spouse about the grocery shopping right from the beginning. If one of you has special dietary needs you’ll need to adjust accordingly, but even before that you will also want to ensure that you take good care of the food that you do buy. You’ll save money because you aren’t using the money to pick up food that will just spoil.
Since we’re on the subject of food, it needs to be said — you don’t have to go out everyday. Eating food outside of home tends to be pretty expensive, and who really has the money to waste on things like that? If you want to hit those top financial goals, you’ll need to be careful what you spend your money on.
2. Stay Open
Speaking of goals, do you really know what your spouse’s goals are? If you think you could use a little more explanation, don’t be afraid to ask. Of course, these are things that should have been discussed before the marriage took place, but you can’t turn back time!
Any goals that one person has, the other should embrace. If your spouse has always wanted to go back to school, then you will need to see what can be done about accommodating that goal. If you want to start a business, then you should be able to explain how important that dream is for you to your spouse. You both might need to actually write out a plan of how you’re going to make these goals come to life, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.
One thing that you definitely want to avoid is being too critical. If you don’t feel like your spouse’s goals are going to work out, you shouldn’t tear them apart right away. Ask more probing questions and see if there’s anything you can do to accommodate those goals. That will make your spouse really feel like the two of you are working as a team.
3. Stay Realistic
Goals are definitely a good thing, but are they realistic goals? In other words, are you really working towards building something that’s going to work out, or are you chasing a dream?
This is where you have to take a good hard look at the numbers. For example, the two of you might be in debt together. This is not a time to play the blame game or to have arguments that will only end up driving you apart. You will need to combine forces to tackle the issue because it belongs to both of you — welcome to the world of being married!
As long as both of you are realistic, the marriage will be off to a great start.
Are these tips going to cover everything you need if you really want to make sure that you have life set up properly? Of course not. Life is always changing, but following these principles can make things a lot easier for you in the long run. If you want to expand your family, start a business, or even just try to retire earlier than expected, you’ll need these tips to create the foundation you need to do that. You just have to make sure that you allow yourself plenty of time. Far too often people think that they’re going to create this amazing life overnight, but that’s not how life really works. You have to give yourself enough time to actually let life happen and make changes before you can declare something a success or a failure. There’s nothing wrong with having to start over, either — it’s all just part of the process!
