As we celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary, let me share some personal finance tips that might help you in your financial freedom journey. Not only that, this might also give you ‘views‘ on how you’re going to handle your finances when you tie the knot with your significant other.
While this might be applicable for some, we know it’s not for everyone. Here are the 12 money lessons from the first 12 months of marriage.
12 Important money lessons
1. Transparency is the key
Being trasparent brings trust. And trust is one of the foundation of successful and happy marriage. When you talk about finances with your significant other, make sure everything is transparent as it can be.
Transparency means everything is shared. Income, expenses and other money related things. Even access to accounts and ATM pin codes. This works for us, I hope this also works for you.
2. Set financial goals together
If you read our previous article entitled how we handle our finances as newly wed couple you can see that we both set financial goals together.
When you got married, your goals should be mutual. It is important that both of you have set financial goals together.
Sit with your love one and discuss what are the things you want to happen and listen to his/her too. This way you can come up with “mutual” target and work on them together.
3. Work on your goals together
As you set your financial goals together, both of you should work on them together too. It should be included on your goals on how both of you can contribute to the success of your goals.
Working together on same goals brings harmony and togetherness in your marriage.
4. Submit your income to your wife
This might not be applicable for every husband, but for us, it works this way. My lovely wife handle all the finances. We both do the budget and everything is transparent. Again, you can read more on this article.
5. Agreed on the budget
Of course, when you set your family budget it is important that you both agreed on the numbers. What and where your income goes. That’s why it is extremely important that you have talked about in at first.
Budgeting can be done by any of the couple but as mentioned on the #1, transparency is the key!
6. Find ways to save
While working on your budget and working on your financial goals, both of you should also find ways to save. This will not only increase cashflow in your income but will also help you achieving your goals faster.
Most of the time, we always look for discounts and bargains when buying something to save some pesoses. Small savings every expenses seems little but when add up over time, it’s a big contribution.
See what’s work for you. You can also see these practical tips to save money in groceries.
7. Find ways to earn more
Aside from finding ways to save more, finding ways to earn more could also give big contribution to your budget. It can increase your cashflow too. Today, there’s a lot of way you can earn more while sitting at the comfort of your home.
Blogging can be one of those. You can check here how you can start a blog and make money on the side here.
Just make sure you still have quality time with your family. Time management is another key here.
8. Brainstorm for other options
Discussing and talking options are one the best way to come up with a great solutions. This applies in life and in marriage too. If you have something in mind, bring it up and discuss it with your love one.
It’s our hobby to talk about everything in bed before getting sleep. Money, goals, thoughts and everything under the sun.
This will not only clear your mind but will also tighten the trust and harmony in your marriage.
This works for us. This might work for you too!
9. Understand money mindset differences
You and your significant other are “two different persons“. In some way or another, you will have some different opinions and views about money and other things.
That’s normal and that’s part of being married. The key is to understand him/her in the way he/she understand things. No need to impose or insist. Just be understanding and see what’s work for you both.
There were times that me and my wife view things differently. In terms of money and others. But we managed to agreed on what will work and what’s best for us. As mentioned on #8, brainstorming is very important.
10. Spend some for leisure and entertainment
We all know that it’s not all about the money. You should always set aside something for leisure and entertainment. Especially bonding and spending quality time together.
Watching movie together occasionally and going out should be part of the budget. This will not strengthen your relationship but will also clear both of your mind from work stress and boredom.
I firmly believed that happy family and quality time with them should be the ultimate goal for all.
On our end, we spend some for leisure and entertainment too. We watch movies, eat out together and do other activities that can relieve stress from work.
In most cases, we just spend time together at home watching movies and eating. 😀
11. Be open for change of plan
When you got married, everything will not go according to plan. Nothing in life is predictable. Both of you should be open for change. And again, talking and discussing together is the key.
In our first year of marriage, there’s a lot of things happened. Up and downs. Lot of changes. We lost our first child. And we were devastated. It affects everything we plan before. Good thing we get them through. By the help of God, our family and by being strong together, we’re ok now.
Be open for change. Work together for change. As our marriage grows, so are we. I hope you do the same. You may also check these 6 reasons why you need to re-evaluate your financial goals.
12. All decisions should be mutual
As mentioned, all of the planning and decisions should be mutual. Be transparent as shared in #1.
When you got married, you and your significant other are working as “one“. All your plans, goals, thoughts and other things should be discussed, shared and agreed mutually.
This will bring trust and honesty and will strengthen the foundation of a happy married life.
This works for us and I know it’s working for most of the married couple too. It’s one of my personal belief that “mutual agreement/understanding” is one of the key in successful and happy marriage.
All of these are just a “small part” of lessons I/We learned from the first 12 months of marriage. There’s a lot. And we know there’s more to come along the way. We’re positive that we will get them through. We will make them through!
This is just our 1st anniversary and we know there’s more to come. Seeing unlimited and forever anniversaries! Yay!
These are the 12 money lessons from the first 12 months of marriage I can share for now. Some can be applicable for you and some may not. See what’s work for you and take action!
I hope you got some important lessons from this article. Happy 1st anniversary to us! Cheers!
This is a good post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about marriage.