The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.
Important questions about money to discuss before your wedding
'14.05.2021'
Source: Sravni.ru
By signing a marriage certificate, you also assume financial obligations. It is important to find time and energy to ask a number of important questions to a partner before creating a family, advises Michael Evans, founder of Chicago-based consulting company The Cogent Advisor. The main ones lead Sravni.ru.
Work
- How much does your partner earn?
- What additional types of incentives are there at his work (insurance, benefits)?
- How long does he plan to stay in his current position? What are his plans for the future?
- At what age does he want to retire?
- Does he expect you to work full time, on an incomplete schedule, or do you refuse to work at all?
Cash flow, savings, bill payment
- What amount is he willing to allocate monthly for family expenses - today and in the future?
- What is the amount of plans to send to savings and investments?
- How much money, in his opinion, should be kept in the form of a “airbag”?
- Which of you will pay what bills?
- Are you ready to have joint accounts after the wedding, current or savings?
- Would you like to have separate accounts to pay current expenses? If so, how much will they be?
Arrears
- How much and for what loans should your partner? Details: lender, debt balance, monthly payment, loan term, rate.
- How much debt, in his opinion, is acceptable to have?
- What is his credit history?
- If you marry or get married with debts, is your partner ready to take part in their repayment?
- Does he, in turn, think that you should help him return debts?
- Does he plan to save or open new credit cards?
- How does the presence of credit cards with you?
- Do you plan to have joint loans (for example, a mortgage)? If so, how do you arrange payments for them?
Family
- Do you want to have children? If so, how much and when?
- Is your partner willing to sacrifice work to help in raising a child? Which of you can go on maternity leave and for how long?
- What do you think about education for children?
- Are you going to pay for the education of the child?
Achieving perfect results
It must be understood that there are no right or wrong answers to all these questions, emphasizes Evans. But it is important that:
- they met your interests and did not lead to ruin;
- both partners participated in the financial life of the family by investing money, time and effort, even if one of them is the main breadwinner;
- both partners were aware of the financial condition of the family, had access to bills, insurance and wills;
- you regularly discussed financial matters, conducted joint planning.
