You are probably not surprised to read that the divorce rate in the United States has been 50% for the past 25 years. However, you might not realize that premarital counseling reduces that number by 30%. And since money issues are one of the top reasons for divorce, every couple considering marriage should get some solid financial premarital counseling. Don’t tie the knot without financial counseling!
Our pastor requires premarital counseling for every couple he marries. Because he has asked me to help with the financial portion, I have developed a very simple quiz that I ask couples to take before we meet. My goal with this quiz is simply to get each of them to learn more about how their future spouse handles money. By the time they have done their “homework”, my part is really just a review.
Do you know ANYONE who is planning marriage? Are they getting good pre-marital counseling, which includes financial counseling? If not (or perhaps even if they are), send them to this post. This Three Step approach should help.
Step One: Take The Premarital Finance Quiz
Print out two copies of the following questions, then each of you answer them in writing. Do this in separate rooms or separate houses; just be sure to take your time and think through each answer.
- How would you prioritize the following choices: getting out of debt, paying off house, investing for retirement, establishing an emergency fund?
- Do you currently balance your check book?
- Upon marriage, which of you should balance your check book?
- Do you currently live on a written budget?
- How much money would it be OK to spend without discussing it with my spouse?
- Do you think, upon marriage, you two should have separate checking accounts or joint accounts?
- How would you feel about borrowing money from parents?
- How much debt do you currently have? What kind of debt?
- How much debt and what kind of debt would be OK in your marriage?
- Are you in favor of a pre-nuptial agreement? If you answered “Yes”, explain your answer.
- What is your credit score? Don’t know? Here’s a few tips to get your credit score for free online.
- Have you ever NOT paid your bills?
- Have you ever co-signed a loan? Had a loan co-signed?
- Upon marriage, what would your short term financial goals be?
- Upon marriage, what would your long term financial goals be?
- What is the stupidest thing you have ever done with money?
- What financial secrets does your fiancé not know about?
- Which of these three best describes you: tightwad, average or spendthrift?
- Which of these three best describes your fiancé: tightwad, average, or spendthrift?
Step Two: Communicate
You knew when you were taking the quiz that you would be discussing your answers with your fiancé. Right? So now set aside time (at least two hours) to discuss these answers together. Each of you need a pad and paper so you can make notes on areas that will need further discussion. Now is the time to be very upfront with your thoughts and expectations. For example, if your future spouse thinks it is OK to spend $1,000 without checking first, and if you don’t agree, say so. What surprises did you discover? In what ways are you compatible? Make sure you talk in depth about your short term and long term marital goals.
Step Three: Take Action
While you should not combine your finances before marriage, there are some things you could be doing. Consider the following your premarital homework:
- Clarify your short term and long term goals.
Put them in writing. These goals will be your financial compass once you get married.
- Start working on those goals.
If one marital goal is to get out of debt, then each of you should start a plan to get rid of your personal debt. If one of you has debt and the other doesn’t, DO NOT pay off your future spouse’s debt at this time. However, the one with no debt should start building up a savings account that will go toward that debt AFTER the two of you are married.
- Create budgets.
At this point, because your finances are separate, you each need your own budget. Creating those budgets and living on them is a great preparation for the time when both of you will be living on the same budget.
- Track your budgets.
You will both learn much as you see which of you does a better job of actually living on the budget you created.
- Create a joint budget.
When you are close to the big day, go ahead and work up a hypothetical joint budget. Ask yourselves how soon you can meet your short term goals by using this budget. Talk about sacrifices you can make to reach those goals sooner. You want to be ready to hit the ground running, so having a plan now will be huge.
- Plan and agree to have a debt free wedding and honeymoon.
This is your chance to work together with a common goal. You don’t want your first financial decision to put you in a hole, so work together now to start the habit of reaching your goals.
I wish you a long, happy and debt free marriage.
Did you have premarital counseling? Did the counseling include financial counseling? If yes, how did it help? If not, how would it have helped? What other questions do you think should be added to this quiz?
photo credit: timsamoff
Great little test. I just sent a link to my niece who happens to be getting married this very weekend. I told her to hurry and take the test. She was not amused. But I’m not worried because she is a throwback – a 25 year old CPA who is exceptionally responsible with money who is marrying an even more frugal real estate investment manager.
Thank you. It is so easy to think that someone shares our ideas until the rude awakening that they don’t. I wish the states would pass out such a questionaire before giving a license. Two questions that are not covered in your questionaire are about tithing and giving and the second is about inheritance issues if it is a second marriage. Especially in community property states all these things need to be addressed before hand as they can lead to major disagreements.
Carol,
Exactly. Too many couples plunge into marriage assuming they are on the same page. But, like you said, they are setting themselves up for a rude awakening. Great questions about tithing/giving and inheritance issues if it is a second marriage. Don’t know why I didn’t think of them, but I am glad you did.
Excellent Joe, thanks for putting this together. I look forward to trying this out with my girlfriend. I will let you know how it goes 🙂
Ace,
Seriously…let me know how it goes. One item Carol suggested was giving, as in, “How much do you currently give/tithe? How much should we give once we are married?” I am awaiting your response.
Many people don’t understand tithing. they think that its just the business of the preacher to gain more money. but they are wrong. I can testify that tithing is the best way to become blessed.
@Katherine. How true. Tithing has nothing to do with a preacher “gaining more money” and everything to do with honoring God. When one honors
God with his money, he will indeed be blessed.
The best thing to do when planning to marry is to honor God first. I have a friend that invested his first salary to God for his marriage to be blessed and i can say that its a good idea.