Just got married? Here are 5 ways to help you manage money effectively with your spouse
More often than not, it is money that defines and determines the course of relationships. This is very true for young married couples. Hence, they must get their priorities right, set their common goals and have clear demarcation lines of who takes care of what.
For a newly married couple, the first thing to do is to give structure to their monetary interaction. Behind the roses, cards and gifts, there is the larger reality of paying your bills, setting common goals, working towards these goals; and yet retaining individual ambitions. The key is getting your finances right and clear communication of roles.
Why have we used the term; married couple financial plan? That is when the real planning starts. It is now about common goals, common resource pool and jointly nurturing your individual ambitions too. A couple has short term goals like buying a car and other assets. They also have medium term goals like a home and foreign holidays. The tough goals are the longer term goals like retirement, child’s education etc. The first step for the couple is to sit down with the financial advisor and document this plan.
Even before you act on the journey towards your goals, there are two key building blocks. Firstly, create an emergency fund to cover 5-6 months of expenses for exigencies. The next building block is insurance. If both are earning members, life policy to cover both is must. More importantly, a liberal health plan family floater of at least ₹15-20 lakhs is essential. Going ahead, the couple must ensure all assets are insured for value and all liabilities are covered for principal by a term plan.
This is the last step. Here you peg SIPs to goals, depending on the risk and tenure of each goal. Long term goals can be
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