by Rella Ingram

Created on: March 11, 2009

The "I dos" have been said and you have made it home after the reception. Now what? The first and most important piece of business to attend to is family financial planning.

The number one thing that married couples fight about and get divorced over is finances. So, to start your lives out right, this needs your full and undivided attention. Financial decisions should really have been done before the walk down the aisle, but if you have waited until now, you should definitely not wait any longer.

First, turn off the TV, the radio, and the phones. This will not take long, but the rest of your lives depend on the decisions you will make in this family meeting. The credit you start out with as a young married couple tends to follow you throughout your lifetime. If it goes south it is difficult to repair. My suggestion is to start out going in the right direction.

Here are a few tips to get your finances off to a positive start:

1. Who will be responsible for physically making out the checks to pay the bills?

2. Do you set a budget for your family?

a. If yes, is it a strict budget or just keeping track of expenditures?

b. If no, how will money be divided after bills are paid?

3. What amount of money will be saved per week/month for emergencies?

4. What amount will be saved for retirement (401K, 403b, etc percentages)?

5. How many credit cards will the household have?

a. Who will hold the cards? (only one for each spouse recommended)

b. What will the cards be used for? (recommend for emergencies only)

6. Make appointment with insurance agent for auto, home, and life insurances.

7. Prepare a living will.

These are basic things that you can accomplish without the assistance of a professional. If you have these things worked out, write them down on paper so that it is clear who is responsible for what tasks. Write down where important financial documents are kept such as life insurance policies, etc and keep this in a safe place. Let someone you trust implicitly know where this document is kept so if there is a tragedy where one or both are killed, the person you have trusted can take care of business the way you want it taken care of.

Creating a family financial plan that covers you from day one to the last day you spend together is important. It gives you peace of mind to know that there isn't something that important hanging out there in limbo.

This plan is not set in stone and can and should be updated with every life change that affects your financial picture. You should look at it as if you were going somewhere and you didn't know the destination or have a map. Once this plan is put into place, you now have the destination along with a map to get you there. Of course, we sometimes take the scenic route and detour here and there, but you still know where the destination is and you can just recalibrate your map!

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