A Wedding Built on Debt
April 3, 2009
1 Comment
When it comes to managing expenses, you have to be able to understand both your current and future expenses – if you don’t understand what your future expenses will look like, how can you ever create a budget to meet them? If you dream of moving out of your mom’s basement, but have no idea how much living on your own costs, how will you afford it? You need to understand what your future costs will look like so you can start saving today.
One of the areas that people tend to overlook is dating – no, I don’t mean the actual act of dating, but what dating someone with debt looks like. There’s a good article over at MarketWatch which looks at just this – what happens when two people with debt decide to get married?
Being in love and in hock is no way to go through a marriage, because being in hock might just put the kibosh on the love, particularly in the early years. Debt, it turns out, is a leading cause of family strife during the first few years of marriage, according to Creighton University’s Center for Marriage and Family.That doesn’t mean debt will necessarily send you to divorce court, but it does mean the accumulation of debt can undermine your marriage and cause the type of discord that can dissolve a marriage.
The article is a little long but makes a good point when it says that couples need to discuss and agree on these two things:
- Debt philosophy – what is each person’s view on debt, and how do they handle debt?
- How debt will be used – when you will and will not use debt
Managing your own debt can be challenging enough, so you shouldn’t have to manage someone elses. Before you decide to make a serious committment to your partner, make sure that you both understand what debt is, and when you should and should not use it.
Have you bought your copy of Following The Goods? Buy it today!
Related posts:
- Debt Free Now What? The article below was published in Canadian MoneySaver magazine in...
- Saving for Education There was a good article in last week’s edition of...
- How Long Will it Take to Pay Off Your Credit Card Debt? One item which most young people aren’t aware of is...
- Your First Money Talk I recently wrote the article below for a money magazine....
Tags: 
One Response to “A Wedding Built on Debt”
Leave a Reply
Loading ...
Adam Goodman is the author of Following The Goods Financial Management for the Young and Ambitious. Throughout his life, Adam never took ownership of his financial knowledge and no one ever sat down with him to explain what it meant to plan for his financial future. Luckily, while at business school, Adam finally learned how to be smart about financial management and he is here to share what he has learned along his journey with you.
Adam's past experience includes owning and operating his own consulting firm, as well as working as a Consultant with Deloitte & Touche. Adam is currently in a sales and marketing role in the telecom industry.
I think this is a very important issue to talk about as a couple. It is one of the ten topics to talk about in the book “10 conversations you should have before marraige”