Ask These Questions to Understand Your Partner’s Financial Background
Many couples get together or even get married without knowing anything about their partner’s financial background. This can be a recipe for family (or financial) disaster. At the same time, it is difficult to openly talk about your financial situation when you are not even quite sure what that means. Here are some specific questions to ask when sharing your financial background with your partner.
We’ve given you the basics to keep in mind when starting a money conversation with your partner . But one area you want to scrutinize is how each of you have handled money in the past. After all, if one of your partners brings in excessive debt into your marriage, it can seriously affect your vacation budget. Or, if one of you has an incredibly low credit rating, it could interfere with your plans to buy a home together. Knowing what you are getting yourself into can help you plan accordingly.
To learn about each other’s past, a few specific topics need to be discussed. You should be open about things like:
- Credit points
- Salary and income
- Debt amounts
- Budgets and basic expenses
But apart from the material, it also helps to understand each other’s financial worldview, which is often based on our past. Bankrate suggests asking the following questions:
- How did your parents manage money? How do your brothers and sisters manage money and savings?
- Do friends and family apply for loans from you? If so, how do you answer? Do you ask family and friends for money?
- How did you start an independent financial life? When did you start paying your own bills? Have you ever had debt problems?
- How do you define “needs” and “wants”?
It’s hard to have this conversation if you’ve never had one before, but if the relationship gets serious, you’ll want to know about your partner’s financial past and present because it will almost certainly come up in the future.
Bankrate has another great tip on how to talk to your spouse about money, so check out their full post at the link below.
Money Pairs: Money Management With Your Partner | Bank rate