marriage

When you are newly hitched and learning how to combine your essential legal and financial information as well as your accounts, it can be confusing.

Many people live together before getting married and have begun the process of combining accounts and sharing responsibilities. However, some people wait to do this only after marriage, and others wait until they're married to live together. Whichever path you've chosen, it's still crucial to know a few tips to manage money together as newlyweds to determine where you should begin and how you can remain on the same page.

Discussing Money Motivations

As we begin to share money with our significant other, we soon find out what one person may rank as a priority regarding money and the other may not. As such, sitting down and discussing money motivations is important. Two people who cannot agree on how to handle money may cause serious issues. This should include:

  • How to deal with money following payday. Is a percentage put into savings? Is that the day to splurge on dinner, drinks, and more?
  • The frequency and size of payments made to debts. Some people like to pay minimums, whereas others pay in full or make double payments.
  • What do you each consider money well spent? Is it a new 70" 4K television? Is it an investment? Is it paying as much debt off as possible?
  • How do you go about consulting each other before making purchases over a certain amount?

Establishing Financial Goals

After you evaluate the motivations behind your money and how it should be spent, you'll need to spend time together hashing out financial goals. As newlyweds, there are certain things on your list that you're going to want to save for. How do you go about that? How much of each paycheck will you dedicate to a particular fund?

Some things in the future worth making a financial plan for include savings and paying down debts. This is the time to be honest about your current financial standing. If you're looking to buy a home, you'll want to assemble a first-time homeowner financial checklist to begin to develop topics of conversation. Some of the things to consider setting goals for are:

  • Student loans
  • Car loans
  • Future children
  • A house
  • Medical bills
  • Delinquencies on credit reports
  • Vacation and rainy-day funds
  • Emergency funds

Budgeting Together

The more honest and open you can be with each other about the money you have and now the debts you share, the better. Implementing plans for the best ways to have the things that you both desire while still taking care of existing demands is important. These can be uncomfortable things to talk about; however, these conversations are necessary.

Following these tips to manage money together as newlyweds will allow you to have a starting point for conversations that can be tough to start. The sooner you and your partner get on the same page with finances and the responsibilities that come with them, the easier the transition will be and the sooner you'll find success.

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Before you say, "I do," be sure you say you've looked far and wide for a wedding location you can afford. Your wedding will be one of the most important moments in your life, but you needn't go broke for it to be special.

Did you know that couples spend an average of $35,000+ on their wedding, as per the personal finance website, WalletHub? That's a lot of loot for a one-day affair, but Americans are willing to shell it out for their ceremonies and receptions, from photos to food to venue to of course, saying "yes" to the dress. But starting off your life together shouldn't put you in the hole when you've surely got bills to pay and plans for the future.

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Perhaps Americans ought to take a cue from the Europeans. According to Brides magazine, "Americans tend to spend six times as much money on their ceremony and reception as Europeans do." They'd rather save their hard-earned dough on more practical things like a house. Sensible? Sure. Romantic? It all depends on how you look at it.

Because we all know that money matters can create tension and stress. The last things a soon-to-be-married couple need during a time that is supposed to be full of joy and excitement. Brides notes, "42% of women and 32% of men feel overwhelmed by the wedding planning process, which, as you can imagine, puts a damper on the whole 'we're going to spend the rest of our lives together!' idea."

One way to cut down on costs as well as the accompanying stress? Find an affordable wedding location. WalletHub recently released a report – 2018's Best Places to Get Married - where their team of experts, "compared more than 180 of the biggest U.S. cities across 23 key indicators of cost-effectiveness, convenience and enjoyment."

These key indicators of "wedding-friendliness" include lowest (and highest) average wedding cost, number of wedding chapels and churches per capita, number of event planners per capita, number of bridal shops per capita, number of flower shops per capita, number of event spaces per capita, cities with the most attractions, foodie-friendliness, popularity as a travel destination, where you'll find the best (and worst) weather, hotel availability, etc.

Using their unique methodology after compiling their findings, the 182 U.S. cities were ranked from best to worst. The top five cities: Orlando, FL; Las Vegas, NV; Atlanta, GA; Los Angeles, CA; and Miami, FL all fared well in the various areas WalletHub considered. On the other hand, Bridgeport, CT; Warwick, RI; South Burlington, VT; Worcester, MA; and Juneau, AK ranked at the bottom of the barrel for their failure to meet WalletHub's standards of wedding-friendliness.

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Let's get to some specifics. The top-ranking city, Orlando, is full of flower shops. Flowers are a must-have at nearly every wedding. The fresh and fragrant decorations can be pricy, but with so many shops in the area it's all about supply and demand, bringing costs down while still providing floral flair for a beautiful setting.

City number 3, Los Angeles, has plenty of bridal shops all over the city, allowing brides-to-be to price shop and still find a gorgeous gown that dazzles. Although New York City (ranked #9) has the most bridal shops of all cities compared, other factors brought L.A. to a higher spot on WalletHub's list, like NYC's super-high average cost for weddings.

As for the lower-ranking cities, Juneau and Warwick's bad weather caused their spots to plummet, and Bridgeport's high average wedding cost made it an undesirable place for those seeking to spend less. The city with the lowest average wedding cost of all is El Paso, TX, which ranked #29 overall. Texans may "do it bigger" but in El Paso, they manage to count their pennies.

To see WalletHub's full 182-city ranking as well as additional findings, see their full report.

Along with the city itself, the venue in which you choose to tie the knot can be a money-saver too. Nerd Wallet compiled a list of affordable wedding venue ideas for those who want to get hitched without breaking the bank. They offer less-expensive solutions than the average $2,197 spent on a ceremony site and $16,107 on a reception venue, as per The Knot's Real Weddings Study.

Some of Nerd Wallet's suggestions for weddings are libraries and museums, restaurants, boats, and theaters. They also offer advice including choosing an off-peak time (or day of the week) to hold the wedding, having the ceremony and reception at the same location, and trimming the guest list. See more of their money-saving tips.

"For richer or for poorer" shouldn't start out with you in debt. Spend wisely from the get-go and kick off your marriage with money in your pocket.

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There are many people who make New Year's resolutions to work on their marriage. Perhaps they will strive for better communication, liven up the romance, or give their partner more attention and patience. Then there are those who can't even wait for the ball to drop before dropping their spouse. Why start the year off miserable when you can hit up Tinder and eHarmony with some fresh faces for winter?

That's exactly what some New Yorkers are doing.Rushing to divorcebefore New Year's Day. While January is typically the month which sees the highest divorce numbers nationwide (due to lousy Christmas presents, perhaps), New Yorkers are always on the move, and hope to finalize their splits in December, all to pocket the income tax savings they'll reap… making up for those aforementioned lumps of coal.

As per divorce lawyer Susan Moss of the firm Chemtob Moss Forman & Talbert, as reported in The New York Post, "If you're divorced as of 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31st, you can file as single for the entire year." This could relieve already contentious couples from a large portion of the money matters which are often a major factor as to why couples call it quits in the first place.

The New York Post also notes, as per accountant David Barral, "Higher-income married couples get hit with what's called the 'marriage penalty' because they're in a higher tax bracket due to combined income." A couple planning to split anyhow would save tens of thousands of dollars by going their separate ways before the clock strikes 12 in the wee hours of New Year's morning.

There is hope, as per Time, "The U.S. divorce rate dropped for the third year in a row, reaching its lowest point in nearly 40 years." So even if New Yorkers are divorcing to save from tax headaches, at least we can say more marriages are lasting. For another year at least.

Are you in New York State and have decided your "for better or for worse" is worse than worse and need some info about planning for a divorce in NYS? Check out Her Justice for the basics of getting a divorce, from filing, to costs, to legal necessities, and more.

For the rest of you, give your wife or hubby a kiss and remember why you decided to get married in the first place.