What's in your spouse's wallet?

According to an article on CNNMoney.com, a growing body of research shows that married couples are astonishingly clueless about many aspects of their financial life together. In a recent poll, four out of five respondents revealed that they hide purchases from the one they love. A marraige is not just about love, it's about partnership and all that involves.



Your spouse's money secrets: They ask couples point blank just how much they know about each other's money. See the video here.

The solution -- talk to each other. The topics the article suggests you discuss are:
1) All sources of income -- not just base salary.
2) Savings and investments -- do you know exactly what the other has?
3) Any debts or obligations -- this is a big one in long term financial planning.

Read the full article here and get talking!

How much do you know about your fiance's finances? I'd encourage you to have the "money talk" before you get married. If you're already married, how much do you know about each other's fiances?

Savings and budgeting

Miss Toucan posted earlier today about a savings "account" they use -- a change jar for all their loose change! Mr. Onion and I do this as well. I had a gallon jar filled with change before we moved in together and cashed it in for extra moving expenses and it was about $400!



Our first vacation together led us to Burlington, VT, where we ended up getting married. On that trip we took a tour of the Magic Hat Brewery and we went home with a growler of what they had on tap that weekend. We kept the bottle and now put our change in it as we're saving up for our first home. They actually wrote "new apartment fund" on it at Magic Hat and we didn't notice until we got home!



And speaking of saving, last night we spent a better part of the evening dealing with finances -- budgets, health coverage, life insurance etc. As I mentioned in a previous post, we are looking for our first apartment to own. We knew what we could afford for a down payment but weren't sure about what we could afford on a monthly basis. We made an excel sheet with the following categories:

Monthly Income:
Mr. Onion's paycheck
Mrs. Onion's paycheck

Monthly Expenses:
Housing
Transportation
Insurance
Food
Personal Care
Entertainment
Loans
Taxes
Savings/Investments
Gifts and Donations

It was a fantastic exercise. Now only did it help us see we need to lower our upper price range of our apartment search to lower our monthly carrying costs, but it gave us a chance to talk about saving goals over the next 5, 10, 20 years. We decided to budget a certain amount each month from both our pay checks to be sure we can contribute the maximum to our Roth IRA each year (I have one already, Mr. Onion will be opening one shortly).

Now that we have everything in one place we can carefully track our spending and live comfortably within our means instead of being surprised by unexpected expenses we can't afford. If you'd like detailed subcategories from our budget let me know and I'd be happy to share.

What steps did you and your FH/DH take toward your financial goals? Are you thinking about the future? The most important thing I can say is be totally honest about your fiances -- your debt (loans, credit cards etc) and your spending habits so you can make the budget reflect reality. Honesty is one of the most important qualities in a marriage, and while you might have a different approach to finances, be sure to share everything so you can work together towards those goals.