I’m going to start off this blog post with asking for a small favor — would you take a few moments and leave an honest review on Yelp or Google Maps about your experience with us? And obviously, if you have NOT yet used our services for preparing your taxes or helping with your books, it wouldn’t quite make sense yet to do this (!) … but you can probably agree that getting others’ words about a place can make a great difference. So, thank you in advance!
Yelp Review: http://bit.ly/Turner-BowmanonYelp
Google Review: http://bit.ly/Turner-BowmanonGoogle
Now, February is the “love month” (at least according to Hallmark), and for us this year (as almost every year), it’s the time when we don’t have as much time for our personal lives as we do in other months. (I like to think of May as my “Love Month”!).
Anyway, this month’s “festivities” aren’t the only experience I have with the language of love. You see, we meet with married couples almost every week throughout the entire year in the course of preparing tax returns and handling other such matters. It’s part of what we do. And, as we do so, we get sort of a crash course in marital communication.
Before you get worried — know that we don’t pass judgment on anybody’s marriage! Everyone has their own, unique relational dynamic. And every marriage works a little bit differently — it’s part of what makes it a wonderful institution.
All that said, however, I’ve noticed that *finances* can be a major sticking point in a good marriage.
But the great news is that there are simple steps you can take to help ensure you don’t ever fall into the trap of letting a good marriage be spoiled by money miscommunication.
And, of course, let me know if you have any pressing financial issues or questions, even during this busy time! We *love* serving YOU! Email me (simply click the button above), or call us at(718) 953-6455.
Turner-Bowman’s Five Commitments For Marriage And Money
“Without labor nothing prospers.” – Sophocles
One of the most pressing, painful and significant issues within a marriage can be the problem of finances. For some, this presents no significant hurdle whatsoever — often because the money is flowing, and there are no pressing concerns. However, this can be a bandaid over problems that eventually show themselves when the (inevitable) crisis strikes.
Most of these are in denial. The rest of them are looking for a quick fix. Even a financial planner can’t help unless the couple is willing to make a few simple commitments. You can always choose to find something to fight about. But if you are serious about removing the financial obstacles in your love life, you should commit to the following marriage and money management rules.
Whether you are in crisis or not, there should be at least five major commitments within a marriage on the proper handling of money. Abiding by these principles will only bring you and your spouse closer together, and will help you to signal to one another that you are committed to partnership in every area:
1) Do the hard work of ensuring that you are fully open about your finances. It’s a fact that I’ve seen that most arguments within a marriage aren’t about how to spend money in the future, but rather, about how the money was spent in the past. The surest way to avoid these sorts of issues is to provide one another with an open and honest accounting of how money has been spent … which will only breed confidence for how it will be spent in the future.
2) Pay yourselves first. This is a common staple of investment and savings advice, and it’s all the more essential to make a commitment towards this within a marriage partnership.
Take the time to come together on an appropriate savings + investment rate, and do it in a way that will be easy — i.e., automate it.
When you automate your savings (and your investments), you protect yourself against the concerns of the month that might sap your resolve. It’s far too easy to not write that check to an investment or savings account when Johnny needs a new bicycle, or Jane needs braces.
Automate your savings, and consider those amounts sacrosanct.
In certain cases, making the commitment towards savings may even need to be a priority over reducing debt. Dave Ramsey and others speak about the “debt snowball”, and it is wise advice. First, adjust your lifestyle so that you are spending less than what you make. In this way, you can avoid making the debt spiral worse.
This leads to my next piece of advice…
3) Agree upon how you will use credit. Credit cards can be very advantageous for many couples … but these advantages become serious disadvantages when they are not handled in a previously agreed-upon manner.
Silo your credit card spending into specific budget categories (like gas, groceries, etc.), and avoid using them for “impulse” categories such as eating out, or other such optional spending.
One of the problems couples face with the use of credit cards is that it enables the ability to not face their financial problems. It makes spending easy, and can lead couples who are facing financial difficulties into worse ruin.
Give each other the ability to “veto” the use of credit cards altogether, or for particular categories, and you will have done well in your financial communication and care for one another.
4) Agree upon a “slush spending” amount. Anything that represents a significant budget item is best agreed upon in advance — but that doesn’t mean that you must check in with each other over every purchase within a marriage.
Young couples can set this amount to a low number, and as they get more experience (and cashflow), move that number to a higher level. But it should be clear that any purchase above that level would require and trigger a mutually agreed-upon decision.
5) Finally, agree not to stick your heads in the sand! It’s probably wisest that finances shouldn’t be handled only by one spouse in the marriage. Sometimes problems arise within a marriage because one of the partners decided “not to care”. If that’s you — well, you’re probably not reading this — or if that’s your partner, do the hard work to come together in this area. If you aren’t taking the time or interest to be involved in the finances, you might be creating bigger, unnecessary problems down the road. Get some help, and start the process of discovery.
Look, I’m not a marriage counselor. But I DO know good communication when I see it. And that’s what I’m here to help you with.
But I gotta say that we’re probably better at the “taxes” thing than almost anything else ;).
See you soon.
Warmly,
Lillian Turner-Bowman
(718) 953-6455
Lillian’s Professional Services
