February 3, 2012

Premarital Financial Counseling: Should a person whose not married provide Premarital Financial Counseling?

By admin in Money Before Marriage Lesson

This premarital financial counseling question came in behind the scenes and I couldn't wait to address it. Question is: "Should a person who is not married provide premarital financial counseling"? There's several factors that must be looked at: (1) Has the person been married before? If so and they are no longer married, what is the reason for their divorce. You need to ensure that the person you are seeking counsel from is not still dealing with the stress or damage of a marriage gone bad; especially if the marriage ended because of money. The counselor could very do more damage than good because they are biased based on their experience instead of remaining neutral and listening to who you are and advising you on what you should do. (2) If the person has never been married before, they may not know how to address establishing mutual and individual financial goals, how to decide who should manage the money and why, as well as how to handle debt that is brought into the marriage. They are very limited on being able to understand specific situations that occur within marriage; how to work as a team in order to solve them. (3) A person who is single could also be in a state of misery and seek to provide you information that is not even valid in order for you to be in the same state that you are. We've all heard the saying "Misery loves company". Be very careful when you are seeking any type of counseling. I am a strong advocate that you do your research. You can google anyone's name anymore and find out good or bad about them. When it comes to choosing a counselor, if they provide an initial counseling session at no charge, take it to see if they are a good fit for you. Do your homework so that you do not lose on your investment.

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