Marriage is the start of a journey together not only as man and wife but a shared life in the form of joint expenses and joint financial decisions.
Money can be an extremely sensitive topic so how do you decide who should pay the bills and marriage expenses without starting World War 3 even before the wedding? Read on for some tips on how you can ease into married life finances! 
Discuss Financial Expectations
We live in an equal world but sometimes when it concerns money, women still prefer for the man to be paying the bills. After all, the man’s historical role is to provide for his family. If you believe that to be so, be sure to discuss this expectation with your spouse as he may have been expecting you to contribute partially to the wedding or household expenses if you are also working.
Should You Have A Joint Bank Account?
A joint account is one where both parties can contribute and draw from. Having a joint account requires a high level of trust between husband and wife to ensure the money is not wrongly used by one party without the other’s knowledge. While marriages should always be built on trust, don’t fel obliged to have a joint account until you are both comfortable with the idea. Alternatively, maintain separate accounts but have a small joint account just for household expenses.
Don’t Control Finances
It is important to remember that you were both separate individuals with different spending habits before you got married. She may be used to buying designer handbags or going for weekend spas when she was single or he may have enjoyed going for golf games or spending on little gadgets. Whatever the indulgence, try not to immediately control your spouse’s spending habits if it is not similar to yours. Instead, talk about it and align your common financial goals but still maintain a percentage of your salary as separate “indulgence accounts” so each of you may spend without having the guilt factor!
So, do share.
Ladies, do you expect men to pay for everything or will you contribute if you are a working woman?
Men, will you expect your wife to contribute to some of the household expenses or will you be a man to shoulder all financial expenses? Men, will you mind if your wife wants to buy a branded handbag?
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Huh! which man would expect the lady to pay for the wedding expenses.
June 23rd, 2009 at 3:16 pm
If the wives buy the branded handbags with their own money, perhaps the hubbies will be alright. But maybe because of that cash capacity to afford such luxuries, he may expect her to pay some bills too!
June 24th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Pretty good post. I just found your blog and wanted to say
that I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog posts. In any case
I’ll be subscribing to your blog and I hope you write again soon!
June 25th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Thanks for these. My siblings are all either married or engaged, so I think they’d be able to use your advice for married couples.
June 26th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Hi Fran – Well, some couples do opt to share the expenses. It all comes down to what they both want and agree upon.
June 30th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Hi Imee – Glad to hear you found them useful
August 31st, 2009 at 4:07 pm
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