Introduction

Marriage is a major life decision, and it's important to ensure that you are both on the same page regarding money. Before you marry, discussing your financial goals, values, and expectations is important. Asking questions about money before getting married can help you both learn more about each other's financial practices, attitudes, and beliefs. This article will outline questions you need to ask before getting married about money. Though this is not an exhaustive list, these questions can help start the conversation.

Types of Financial Questions to Ask Before Getting Married

1. What Are Our Financial Goals?

The first step in getting on the same page about money is to outline your financial goals. You and your partner should make each list of what you hope to accomplish financially in the short-term and long term. Once you have outlined your individual goals, discussing how they can be best achieved as a couple is important.

2. What Is Our Monthly Budget?

Once you understand each other's financial goals, it's time to discuss money management during the marriage. Every married couple should develop a monthly budget outlining all income sources, expenses, and monthly savings goals. Having a budget will help ensure that you can meet your short-term and long-term financial goals as a couple.

3. How Will We Handle Debt?

Debt is an important topic to discuss before getting married. Understanding each other's views on debt and how you plan to handle it as a couple is important. This includes questions like who will be responsible for paying off debt, how much we save each month to pay down debt, and whether we will try to minimize new debts.

4. What Are Our Spending Habits?

Spending habits are another key factor in money management during the marriage. Each person has different spending tendencies, and it's important for the two of you to discuss yourselves individually, as well as what expectations there are of one another during the marriage. Questions here should include questions like, do we want to track spending? Can either of us make impulse purchases? And how much do we plan to save each month?

5. What Are Our Insurance Needs?

It's important to understand your insurance needs before getting married. Having the right type and amount of insurance is essential to protect yourself and your partner if anything should happen. Questions here should include questions like who will be responsible for paying the premiums, what type of life, health, and disability insurance we need, and whether there are any additional types of coverage we may want.

6. How Will We Save for Retirement?

Retirement is another important financial topic to discuss before getting married. Having a retirement plan in place will help ensure that you both have financial security. It's important to discuss how much we want to save each month, what type of retirement accounts we want to open, and when we will start planning for retirement.

7. How Will We Split Expenses?

Understanding how you both plan to split expenses before getting married is important. This includes questions like who will be responsible for paying the bills, what percentage of income each person will contribute to expenses, and who will be responsible for budgeting and tracking spending.

8. What Are Our Estate Planning Needs?

Estate planning is often overlooked when it comes to questions about money before getting married. It's important to have a plan in place to protect your assets and provide for each other if something should happen. Questions here should include questions like who will be responsible for handling our estate planning, which should be listed as a beneficiary on accounts, and do we need to update any documents or create new ones.

You and your partner will be better prepared to make informed financial decisions during marriage by having conversations about these questions. Discussing money questions before getting married will also help ensure that you both understand each other's goals and expectations and how best to handle money management during the marriage.

Conclusion

Getting married is a major life decision, and you must have an honest conversation about money before tying the knot. Questions you need to ask before getting married about money are vital in ensuring that you and your partner are on the same page financially. The questions above help start the conversation and ensure that you both have the plan to manage money together. It's important to remember that more than having the right questions is needed; you must also be willing to listen and discuss them. You can feel confident in your financial future together with the right questions and open dialogue.