When we are single, it’s a good care time. We care about ourselves, spend a lot of time with ourselves, and are passionate about our careers. Being in a relationship, we have to care not only about ourselves — also about our partner. Apart from caring about our other halves, we should consider our relationships with our finances. Let’s read how to budget in different stages in a relationship.
Dating
If you’re dating, you still have a lot of care time. You still plan your budget and don’t think about your partner. But you go to cafes, cinemas with your partner, or just buy ice cream or another sweet for each other. In this case, you should decide how much money you’ll spend on your partner.
Don’t Spend All Your Money for Your Partner
While budgeting for a month, put a sufficient sum to expenses for your partner. Don’t spend all your money on your partner because you shouldn’t lose yourself if dating another person. Or if you have the rest of the money, you shouldn’t spend it on your other half. The best solution to control your money is to use an income and expense tracker.
Don’t Show Your Bank Accounts
Don’t show your bank accounts on the first dates. Avoid showing your e-wallets. Care about the privacy of your data, because you don’t know your partner fully. As you know, you’ll learn who your partner is only when you get life troubles.
Speak About Finance Carefully
The topic of finance is taboo for many people. But you need to know your partner’s view on finances because if you have different views from your partner, you can’t build strong relationships. For example, your other half is ready to put a deal of money on sweets every day, yet you think that a human should be restrained in buying sweets. In this case, it’s difficult to build a strong relationship.
It’s possible to draw a parallel with another aspect in a relationship. For example, you’re ready to spend days and weeks on your work because you live by your work. But your partner doesn’t think that a person should live by his or her work and gets upset if you spend your time at work. In this case, you don’t match each other. Therefore, you can stay only partners. It isn’t a good idea to go to the next stage of a relationship — become engaged.
Engaged
Engagement is an intermediate stage. You’re close enough to each other but still haven’t learned each other to tie the knot. At this stage of a relationship, you learn about your other half all that you need to live with him or her in the future.
Be Open About Your Financial Situation
If you’re going to get married, you should be open about your financial situation. Your partner should know how much you earn, whether you have debt, and you should know about his or her financial situation, too. This is because in the future you’ll have joint financial goals and you’ll have to plan whose operations on the premise of each other’s incomes and expenses.
Split the Budget
You should split your budget. It means that you pay for one thing, your partner pays for other things. For example, you can pay for food, and your other half can pay for housing.
In some cases, a couple decides that one partner will provide for it. We can take the example of Conor McGregor and his wife. She was providing for him for a few years while he was training and coming up with a career. After achieving success, Conor McGregor can provide for his family, too.
Married
It was an exciting day when you got married. Hooray! You’re sure of each other. You’re honest with each other.
At this stage, you can keep a split budget or create a joint one. Do as you want.
Think About Your Joint Financial Goals
If you’re married, you may want to purchase property or a car. Or you want to invest a big amount of money in something. Therefore, you can set joint financial goals. It means that you’ll save money for this goal. You should decide for yourselves how much money you’ll save for your goals. For example, you’ll either save all the rest money or only $1000 each month.
Be Ready to Emergencies
Have a financial cushion. We don’t know what can happen in our lives. For example, one partner of a couple can lose his or her job, and a couple will lose one source of income. In that case, it’s good if you have money to live for a short time. If you have a job with stable pay, for example you have your own monetized website where you publish feedback about writing services, e. g. the ExtraEssay or All Assignment Help review, you should have money for three months.
If you or your partner or you both have a job full of risks, e. g. trading, you should have money for living for a year without any income.
The Bottom Line
The budget can be overwhelming at the start of your serious relationship. But you should plan it because it’s one of the essential parts of healthy and happy relationships. Being in a couple, you’ll find more ways to plan your joint budget. Or you can keep a split budget. It all depends on your preferences.
