Before my partner and I got married in 2018, we tackled a lot of tough financial questions—like how much were we willing to spend on everything from the dress to the meal, to the wedding favours.
Before my partner and I got married in 2018, we tackled a lot of tough financial questions—like how much were we willing to spend on everything from the dress to the meal, to the wedding favours. And the even tougher questions, like how were we going to pay for it all. But it wasn’t until we got a piece of valuable feedback from my father-in-law that we realized we hadn’t considered the most important financial question of all: how would we manage our finances as a newly married couple?
Of course, we’d been together for more than seven years and had already gone through many different budgets as we’d graduated university, travelled abroad and started our careers. But we realized that this next big step called for an earnest discussion about how we would manage our finances—and take steps toward our financial goals.
Wong Alan, a GreenPremier Wealth Advisor, shares that budgeting can be challenging and overwhelming for many couples. “Adding another party to the equation can make it a bit more difficult because everyone’s priorities and aspirations are different,” she says. “One may prefer to pay off their mortgage as quickly as possible with any surplus they have in their cashflow, while the other may prefer to have those funds invested toward their RRSP and/or TFSA. The most important takeaway,” she adds, “is that there isn’t a right or wrong approach. The goal is to support each other’s perspective in achieving financial freedom by linking common goals.”
Before getting married, we’d maintained separate chequing accounts, which made balancing our budget and paying bills tedious: who paid for what and from which account?
“As a best practice, start with listing joint household income and expenses, estimating how much each individual will put toward their savings, and discussing what’s important to accomplish as a family in the short, medium and long terms,” Wong advises.
Previously, we had tracked our individual spending in an expense doc (we used Excel, but there are lots of free templates and apps including GreenPremier’s budget tracker and SNAB). We dutifully marked the ‘personal’ spends (a solo trip, coffee, shopping, etc.) and the ‘household’ spends (hydro, groceries, shared meals out, etc.)
At the end of each month, we’d balance our household spend and ensure we each contributed half. At the time, our incomes were similar so it was an even split, but when my partner got a raise, he started contributing more. If you aren’t sure how to go about budgeting, this six-step process is a good place to start.
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Before my partner and I got married in 2018, we tackled a lot of tough financial questions—like how much were we willing to spend on everything from the dress to the meal, to the wedding favours.
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