Most couples celebrate Valentine’s Day with cards, flowers, candy and romantic dinners. They typically aren’t reviewing their finances over a candlelit dinner and glasses of wine.
Even if you don’t invite your budget to your Valentine’s Day celebration, this is still a great time to take a closer look at what role finances play in your relationship.
Couples and Finances: Your Money Personality Type
If you want a fun way to talk about your finances, try learning more about your money personality types. We all have different histories with money, which results in different styles of money management. I like Money Habitudes, which is a game-like assessment that teaches you about the six main types of money personality types.
Learning about your money style can be very helpful, especially for couples who tend to argue about money. It teaches you not only about your own money management style, but your partner’s as well. Once you understand why you and your partner spend, save and invest the way you do, you can come up with much more effective budgets and financial plans that play to both of your strengths.
You can learn more about the money personality types in my article, “Money Personality and Your Relationship.”
Plan a Money Date
Too many couples don’t talk about finances until there is something urgent or stressful that needs to be discussed. But that tends to be the worst time to have a money talk. If you never talk about money with your partner, it can feel awkward and uncomfortable to start.
But once you get used to discussing it regularly, it can help you strengthen your finances and your relationship.
One great way to start talking about money more as a couple is to set up regular money date nights each month (or week, or as often as you want.) The key here is to have it planned ahead of time, so you’re not waiting until there’s a problem to talk.
Make sure you have an agenda in mind with clear goals. For example, if you’ve been going over the household budget recently, this might be a good time to review spending together and look for areas you can cut back. Or maybe you have some goals you want to save for, like a vacation or a new house, and you want to put a plan in place to get there.
The important thing is that you don’t make your talks only about blame or what’s going wrong. Use that time as an opportunity to find solutions as a team, and get excited about what you can achieve in the future.
For more ideas, see my blog post, “How to Plan a Money Date Night (that you won’t dread!)”
Couples and Finances: Valentine’s Day Gifts and Date Ideas
Tired of giving your loved one the same gift year after year? Do you want to give something a bit more meaningful and enduring? You can find some of my ideas for the very best financial gifts you can give this Valentine’s Day here. For example, you can plan an experience together for sometime later this year, like a day trip, a weekend away, or a staycation. It doesn’t have to be a lavish vacation to be meaningful.
I also offer some ideas for more affordable date and gift ideas in my post, “Six Ways to Enjoy Valentine’s Day without Breaking the Bank.”
About Your Richest Life
At Your Richest Life, physician-focused financial planner Katie Brewer, CFP®, wants to help you build a successful financial future. For more information on the services offered, contact Katie today.
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