Search
Related Links



    

Informative Articles

Commercial Collections: Business Finance Booster Shot
If commercial collections is not part of your B2B business plan, you're losing money. Get your cash flowing again with these commercial collections secrets. Commercial collections: fixture of the new B2B culture If you're in the...

Personal Finance 101
The subject of personal finance is very broad, but as a beginning, I would like to discuss what I consider the foundation of personal finance: security. Security Security to me means that I am prepared for the "hit by a bus" scenario. I have...

Personal finance - have consumers had a belly full of personal debt?
For months, we were trigger-swipe happy, putting our groceries, clothes, holidays and service charges on our credit cards. We wanted mortgages, we took out loans, we watched Property Ladder and What Not To Wear. Whether you were born middle class,...

Refinance To Save Your Hard Earned Pounds
Have you heard of refinance? What it isn't new for you. But, it was newer to me. In fact mortgages too were newer to me. I had considered it my fate to be stuck to the high interest mortgage. It was refinance (commonly known as remortgage) that...

The World is Not Enough - Calling for a More Ethical Approach to Personal Finance
At a time when the entire world’s attention is focused on the problems of world debt, with the Live 8 concerts, the G8 summit in Scotland, the Make Poverty History Campaign (MPH) and the various anti-poverty marches, it seems that everyone wants...

 
Family Finance

One of the hardest things that young couples report during their first year of marriage is getting to grips with joint finances. While most are willing to share what they have with their partner, they are not sure on the best way to bring this sharing into effect so that they can share with their new partner, but at the same time maintain financial security and a degree of independence. Some couples resolve this by resorting to separate finances and others find a way to keep things together, but it is generally reported as one of the biggest strains on newly married couples.

As well as this, there is also the problem that many people find it difficult to budget and control their finances. It is one thing to fail to keep track of expenditures when you are single, but when you are married you have more to answer to than just yourself. This is especially true once you have children. If one partner fails to keep control of their spending while the other is forced to worry about finances, it can create an enormous strain on the relationship.

Family Budget

One of the best answers to this dilemma is to create a family budget. This should outline what is allowed for the various expenses, which is to be responsible for what expenses and how much each partner can spend on discretionary expenses. While this may seem like a drastic response that takes away all the responsibility and financial independence from both partners, all it is really


doing is getting both parties to sit down together beforehand and work out how much they can afford to spend on what, and then sticking to this. It is about being in control of your expenses rather than letting them have control over you.

Other ways of taking care of difficulties between married couples is to divide out the family expenses depending on how much each partner earns. This way both will feel responsible for the security of the family and will feel like they are an important contributor to the family finances.

Financial Matters

While each partner should have a degree of financial freedom, and also privacy, finances should be discussed openly and with without shame. Past debts or mistakes that one party has made should be put in the past and should be forgotten. At the same time, if one partner shows that they are unable stick to the budgets they have agreed, their financial freedom will have to be taken from them and they should be given a tight leash in financial matters.

About the author:

Joseph Kenny is the webmaster of the UK credit card comparison site http://www.creditcards121.co m/, where you can find a selection of credit card articles. He also writes for the comparison site www.cardguide.co.uk which offers some bes