Was watching one of my favorite tv personalities Rachel Ray (I love how excited she gets about food, that girl loves to eat) on Friday. One of her guests was Carmen Wong Ulrich, author of Generation Debt and former special projects editor at Money magazine. They were talking about marriage and finances.
The low key by comparison Ulrich (who can be more chipper than Rachel Ray? She’s like a pintsized pocket of sunshine) piped up that marriage was a money partnership and like business partnerships, there should be regular meetings held. Lack of communication is a killer for finances, and marriages (and definitely for businesses).
The hubby and I have regular informal meetings about money (i.e. not suit or tie required). When we first got married and moved in together, the meetings were weekly, sometimes daily. But now, every two weeks, before we get our “allowances” (the cash that we spend as we wish), we talk about what we need financially for those two weeks. We also remind each other of any large upcoming purchases.
As we have a bit of a float, I only monitor our bank accounts weekly. Earlier on in our marriage when money was extremely tight, I would look at our bank accounts daily.
Every month, I send an email to the hubby with our updated investment portfolio and our return for the month. I let him know if we’re on track or if we’re under performing.
Quarterly, I prepare a complete statement of net worth (some of our retirement savings only report quarterly). Again, are we doing well? Could we be doing better?
After he receives these reports and has a chance to look them over, we discuss them. I find sending it to him in writing easier than trying to talk numbers. Plus he can use the emails for reference.
There is another benefit to treating our finances in this businesslike way. It helps take the emotions out of the equation, turning potential arguments into discussions.