5 Tips for Couples to Manage Their Finances

Posted: December 26, 2020/Under: Money Management/By: Jolan Baloch

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5 Tips for Couples to Manage Their Finances

5 Tips for Couples to Manage Their Joint Financials

Financial issues often lead to frustrations when they are not organized well enough. When it comes to couples, it is even more important to have strict and tight administration, as it can slowly but steadily build up unwanted tension even in the best relationship. In this article, we gathered a few tips and tools that make our lives easier.

Tip #1 – Be open about it

Both members of the couple will join the relationship with some kind of history. One may have had an adventurous life, while the other may have had an eventful financial past. If you are open about your economic background from the beginning (Not the best speech topic for a first date though!) and let your loved one know about your sources of income, your debts and liabilities, then there won’t be any skeletons in the closet. Whatever the situation is, from this point on, you do not need to bear the burden alone!

Tip #2 – Have solo and common goals

Setting goals is the first step to achieving them, and this could not be truer for financial goals, as money management requires strategic, step-by-step action. Both of you probably already have solo goals coming from your pre-relationship era, which can be buying a house, investing, or buying an expensive product or service.

There are two types of financial goals:

saving money to buy something
investing money to earn wealth

It is wise to set up common goals with your partner to know what you are working for. Common goals also forge the team together. Why is it different then? Because you need to make compromises and you need to act together.

Tip #3 – Share expenses

Money is among the top 3 topics the couple fight over, so if you keep it honest and well-organized, you have already one less thing to worry about. It varies how couples approach their expenses: some people keep it completely separated and there are others, who pay everything together, and in a small minority of relationships one of the partners covers all the expenses.

The best approach is to take your financial power into account and share expenses according to that. Maybe 50-50% sharing will work the best, but there might be situations when one of you gets a large payment increase or loses the job, so it might be wise to rethink the allocation rate of expenses.

Tip #4 – Keep your accounts separate

The easiest way to track your income correctly is to keep them on separate accounts and pay your bills from a joint one. Most couples approach their finances this way to avoid unnecessary confrontations.

Tip #5 – Apps for couples’ money management

In 2020, there are already quite few solutions to administrate and manage finances jointly. A few examples:

Revolut: An easy-to-setup, virtual bank account that comes with one (or more) cards. A great choice for couples’ common bank account.
Honeydue: A one-stop-shop for all accounts the two partners have. Tracks loans, expenses, payments, and income.
Twine: Save together and invest together. A clever tool for joint investing.
Google Sheets: A free-to-use yet basic approach is to use Google Sheets to track your income and expenses. Sheets and data charts can be designed manually, and all the files can be edited together. A safe and easy way to manage joint finances.

Balogh, Jolan
Jolan is an MBA student at the University of Miskolc in Hungary. She enjoys music and writing articles for websites.