Financial Planning for Newlyweds
Studies show that couples are waiting longer than ever to get married with the average ages being 28 (for women) and 30 (for men). What that means is that the modern engaged couple is bringing more to the table than when their parents got hitched. During the first 6-8 years post college glory days, individuals are more likely to establish a career (and higher paying jobs), accumulate assets (401ks and real estate), and develop independent spending habits.
After the big day, it still seems easy to live the high life with two incomes and no kids. House bills are usually split one way or another, Venmo split for dinner and drinks, and using credit card points for the next trip to Costa Rica is no big deal. From my experience, couples usually don’t need to have “the money talk” until kids, a house, or a bump in the road (like job loss) happens.
However, I’ve found that couples who are more proactive with “the money talk” have an easier time navigating the financial waters that come with adulting. Let’s face it, talking through these things during the honeymoon phase have a higher probability of success than if you were to try and have this conversation while sleep deprived from a teething baby.
It can also be helpful to have a financial planner facilitate this conversation for you. Every person has a unique relationship with money and the level of importance that comes with it. Chances are high that you and your spouse / future spouse have different viewpoints on some aspect of your personal finances. It can sometimes help to have an objective third party to resolve any differences or provide insight on what has worked for other couples that are in your same situation.
Even if you and your spouse are on the same page financially, it can sometimes be difficult to find clear advice on personal finance topics not directly related to investing, such as how much you should save for a home down payment, is it better to invest or pay down debt, or how much insurance you really need.
Traditional financial advisors either work on commission selling products that you may not need or they have asset minimums of $250k or more before they will sit down to meet with you. This leaves you with Google and TikTok, which is full of free advice but sometimes hard to sift through the videos of Dave Ramsey or the insurance broker talking about infinite banking.
During my journey of starting All-Pro Advisors, I found that there was a need for this type of advice to be offered, so we created Financial Planning Packages for Newlyweds. Unlike our other service offerings, this planning engagement is limited to helping a couple merge their finances and discuss how to best manage:
Household income and expenses
Student loan debt
Debt management (credit cards, auto loans, mortgages)
Short term goal planning (wedding, houses, cars)
Family financial planning (cost of kids, child care)
Our goal is to get these couples off on the right foot and to a place where we can help them manage more complex wealth planning topics covered in our Comprehensive Financial Planning service such as:
Short and Long Term Goal Planning
Coordinated Retirement Planning
Investment Management
Tax Planning
Estate Planning
If you feel that this type of service could be of value to you or someone you might know, feel free to contact us or schedule an introductory meeting to learn more.
