February 5, 2012

Premarital Financial Planning: Should it happen before the wedding?

By admin in Money Before Marriage Lesson

When I was talking with Erika and Robin on Cocktails N Convo they asked me about premarital financial planning and what I thought. I shared with them how I advise couples to establish their individual budgets prior to the wedding budget. The benefit to doing financial planning prior to the wedding budget is three fold: (1) Both the bride and groom are able to see what existing financial obligations each one of them have that may affect their wedding planning budget. (2) The engaged couple will know realistically what they can plan for a wedding budget before they even ask their parents. (3) Knowing what their household budget is may even give them the opportunity to delay or postpone the wedding if necessary and pay off some of their financial obligations. Have a premarital financial plan allows a couple to alleviate unnecessary stress and strain when it comes to money and preparing for a wedding. The wedding is supposed to be a fun time that is the beginning of a lifelong commitment to each other. When done properly, engaged couples can have the wedding of their dreams (not mom or dad, or what the media says) do it in a way that they both can agree on and not have the first few years of their marriage be strapped with financial obligations that are tied to the wedding.

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