Spouses and Finances

How to find common ground for financial successes

In many families, one spouse usually takes the primary responsibility for the family’s finances, doing everything from paying the bills to making investment decisions to reviewing insurance policies. If that spouse should die first, the other spouse may be completely thrown for a loop when trying to take over the household finances and debt issues. It is bad enough that person has to cope with losing their husband or wife, but on top of that they may not have complete understanding of the household debt situation and financial needs. There fore, if you take care of money matters in your marriage, one of your more important financial duties needs to be preparing your spouse fro handling the family’s finances. Some strategies to consider are listed below. We realize that many of you reading this article may already be saying – hey shouldn’t we all be doing our finances together while communicating all along with each other. Yes. But, this is not a perfect world any many households are bustling with small children that need full tie attention many times causing one parent to be preoccupied there. The other usually tackles on the finances. Or maybe one spouse works and the other does the finances. Whatever the case, if you cannot have both of you doing the finances together – try the following:

-         Always maintain details records of your financial planning and finances in general. Be organized about it too. If someone else who has no real grip on the finances at hand gets thrown in the mix – you want the transition to be as easy as it can be. Keep your record in one place and again, be organized about it. Keep only pertinent info around too. Too much excess can confuse a spouse who is new to the game.

-         Prepare written instructions. These instructions should cover everything from insurance policies to investments to company benefits to monthly bills, ensuring that nothing will be overlooked. Also list all of your assets, why you have them, and where important documents are kept regarding these assets and more. Update these instructions every 6-12 months or at once when ever a new asset is gained or new financial situation occurs.

-         Even though one of you is totally in on the details, you still want to try to communicate as much as you can with your spouse about the household’s current debt and financial status. How could communication ever be a bad thing when it comes to your hard earned money? Go over your written instructions on a regular basis, when you make changes or when you do your updates. If you communicate to your partner what your rationale may be for certain investments and other major financial decisions, they will be better capable of continuing on in your direction if they have to take over. They may even be able to give valuable feedback that could save the family even more money and create less debt. In the event of your untimely death, changes in investment policies may have to happen. Insurance policies may change or other financial matters may change. SO, encourage your spouse to be able to explore all of their options before making any decisions too.

-         Be sure to involve your spouse as much as possible in the family’s finances now. Your spouse can start by paying some monthly bills, balancing the checkbook if they haven’t in the past. As your spouse gets more confident, increase their duties if they can. Again, it is realized that in the modern household, if children are involved, it is hard to find extra time, but if you make time – some time – it will do a world of good.

-         Line up professionals fro your spouse. Even if your spouse assumes some financial duties, there may be areas that he or she will never feel completely comfortable doing on their own. Identify what those areas are and plan your help if it should be needed.

By considering the above tips, you really cannot lose in the end. The more you share with your non financial planning spouse today, the more money you can even start to save today. If your spouse gains any new information about your house hold debt, they may be less likely to spend frivolously too. After all, if you are not communication at all about budgets and household finances, you cannot really get upset if your unknowing spouse overspends either.

This planning help does not have to be done with the fear of death looming either. Now one likes to plan their death. But, it is a real important responsibility to do so if one spouse id the primary financial planner in the house. Again, death does not have to be the focal point here either, you can consider this a financial plan should you be temporarily disabled too. There are many circumstances where your spouse would have to take over the household finances other than your death. You could get e temporary out of town job contract; you could need an operation that would put you out of commission long enough so that your spouse would need to step in. Plan ahead, be organized and set your spouse up for success.

Worth noting: Organized and detailed financial plans are more likely to produce extra money saving situations than plans that are done with less vigor and detail. If you are paying planning, it means you are paying attention, which means you will notice problems faster should they arise.

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