10 Crucial Finance Topics to Discuss Before Marriage

No matter how much you love your partner, it can result in a problematic marriage if your goals do not align. Before getting married, people typically discuss things like if they want to have children, want a pet or the dream honeymoon destination. But the most important topic to discuss before marriage is finances which many people avoid.

Although it may be an awkward conversation, both partners could come with different financial approaches, creating problems later in married life. Having money talks before marriage makes it much easier to deal with things after marriage. So if you do not know where to start, here are some prompts to help you get started.

Below are some basic financial topics you should discuss before starting a life together as a married couple. 

1. How Do You Handle Money?

Observing your partner's spending will give you a basic idea of how they deal with their money. But it is important to have a proper conversation to get more insights about your partner's financial beliefs. 

Sometimes, these small things create a bigger problem in the later stage, so having small conversations about each other's money-handling manner will save you from that. If you are in the early stages of the relationship and want to build a future together, now is the time to know each other from such aspects.

2. What Are Your Life Goals?

Instead of directly diving into serious financial conversations, you should know each other's goals first. Every single person has different goals for which they save up some money and plan to reach them. But getting married means living side-by-side with your partner and sharing mutual dreams. 

Firstly, tell your fiancé about your dreams, and listen to them. Then talk in-depth about your mutual goals which you wish to fulfil together. Divide the goals into short-term and long-term categories based on how soon you can reach them. However, every couple doesn't share the same goals. In that case, you will have to work together on your shared goals and support each other in achieving individual goals.

3. What Kinds of Debts Do You Have?

It is one of the most important topics to discuss before marriage because it will be difficult to go forward if you do not know about each other's financial situation. You can only make a budget or start investing together if you know these basics. Many people, who avoid discussing these before marriage, get disappointed later to see their partners spending most of their income on EMIs. 

Bringing debt like student loans and credit cards into marriage is common in India. So if you are serious about sharing your life, you need to know how to work as a team to reach your goals and support each other without being judgemental.

4. What Are Your Credit Scores?

The credit score is a crucial factor when talking about loans. Having a low credit score will make it difficult to get loans approved. The credit score can stand between you and your dreams of buying a car or a house. If one of you has a lower credit score, work on increasing that score together. 

It may take some time, but patiently working on increasing the score will help. You can easily check your credit scores through online tools. The best practice is to monitor the score once in a while to track the progress. 

5. Should We Combine Our Finances After Getting Married?

No matter how independently you spend your money before marriage, starting a life together means merging money. You will have tough times in the future if you continue to think of your money as "mine" rather than "ours". Sharing some of your finances will give you both an essence of togetherness. 

But this kind of warmth of togetherness does not start suddenly after marriage. You should have a proper conversation on how you want to merge your finances because this is one of the most important topics to discuss before marriage.

6. How Will You Split Financial Responsibilities After Marriage?

As a bachelor, you pay your bill and manage additional expenses independently. But once you are married and decide to merge your finances with your partner, you must discuss who will pay for what. For instance, you cannot pay the electricity bill together. So you need to discuss how you want to split duties. 

You need to make a list of each one of your financial responsibilities which you wish to fulfil. For example, you may want to pay for the apartment rent, whereas your spouse decides to pay for the car loan EMI. Discussing this will help maintain a streamlined bill payment and save you from any further bitterness regarding who will pay for which. 

7. How Can We Maintain Personal Financial Independence After Merging Our Finances?

Even if you decide to merge your finances, having some financial freedom to spend on your expenses is essential. Everybody should have the flexibility to spend money on personal purchases. It can lead to unnecessary bitterness if you have to answer your partner for every rupee you spend. 

Discuss how you both want to deal with personal expenses. For convenience, you can set up a limit for joint spending so that you can fulfil your own goals without being answerable to your spouse.

8. How Will You Cooperate to Reach Our Goals?

Many common life goals, such as buying a house, purchasing a new car, and having children require huge amounts of money. As you both share dreams, you must decide how much you want to cooperate to achieve these. 

Without making a proper plan, these goals will become difficult to reach. What if your partner is not ready to make the sacrifices you decided to make? So, if you wonder what to discuss with your fiance before marriage, this is one you can start with.

9. How Will Our Budget Be?

After discussing how to work to reach your goals, it is time to set up a monthly budget. The common expenses such as rent, electricity, and credit card bills may vary, but setting up an average budget will help maintain a systematic flow. Work together to set up a budget based on your income and contributions, which will help you save and spend appropriately.

10. How Do You Want To Spend Your Life After Retirement?

Although retirement seems far away, saving some money from the early stage of life is necessary to spend your golden years without much hassle. The sooner you start saving for retirement, the fewer monthly instalments you need to pay. 

You must also discuss how you and your partner want to spend your retirement years. Talking about them now will help you to plan your future together as well as help ensure you both are on the same ground. 

Though many other things need to be talked about, finances are one of the most important topics to discuss before marriage. Do not hesitate to have financial conversations with your partner because discussing these before marriage is the best time. 

Doing this lets you know if you are on the same page. However, even if you are not, it is completely okay. Whether you want to create a joint account, both partners handling the finances, or just one, the key to smooth financial understanding is communication. If you are transparent with each other, you can prepare for the worst, understand how to handle it and work as a team.