Tricks To Managing Your Finances Before You Move-in With your Spouse

Living with another person can be a great experience but it’s important to know that there are some topics worth discussing before making this important decision to move in together.

More than love and affection, it is about safeguarding the things that are important to both and knowing that life is unpredictable and sometimes things don’t work out the way we want.

After a couple decides to move in together, it can happen that they are so excited about the prospect of sharing a house together that they forget to discuss the important and upcoming challenges they’ll be facing.

Living together means that you will have to decide who’s the one moving, or if it’s better for you both to move to a new house. How are you going to distribute house tasks so the house runs smoothly every day?

After you start making all of these considerations, then comes the money factor. Arguing over money is the easiest and fastest way to ruin what’s supposed to be a beautiful chapter in a couple’s life.

When couples don’t plan important things like moving in together and they do it only thinking with their hearts, they risk the stability of the relationship and they will experience a lot of stress which can ultimately lead to an impending break-up.

That’s why is so important to discuss these important matters once the initial excitement is over. Make sure that you don’t ruin a good relationship just because you failed to discuss and organise things beyond the emotion of moving in together.

Talk about money and house rules

Communication is the best tool couples have to make things work,  and money issues should be a priority to discuss after a couple agrees to live together. Couples need to sit down and express their position and priorities in regards to money. You need to know your partner’s saving and spending habits and of course, his/her financial goals in life.

Once this is done, you need to discuss the in-depth aspects of moving in together. Decide how much money each person can afford in order to pay for rent and house expenses.

If each income is essentially equal, then it is recommended to split expenses 50-50. If one person brings in more money than the other, you could discuss splitting expenses differently and 70-30 or 80/20 could be a good idea.

Make sure you always keep an open, friendly communication channel, so if anyone experiences any changes in their income, you discuss it on time.

Couples need to be comfortable with the responsibility each one carries and to not feel like they are giving more than the other person. Communication is very important, in case someone is unhappy or frustrated with the financial role they have.

Housing

If you’re planning on moving both to a new place, make sure that your name and your partner’s name are both on the lease. Try to get a short-term lease at first – six months is a good option – so you can have time to see how things work during the first few months and have an easy way out if things don’t work as you expected.

Keep both finances separated

Even though you both contribute to rent, food and house expenses as a team, personal finances should be conducted individually just like you would do with a roommate. This means to avoid joint credit cards or combining investments or other bank products, at least during the first years.

If after a while you see things working and positively evolving or if there’s a baby on the way, then a joint account can be a good idea. The important thing is that no matter what happens you always keep control over your income and the way you handle it.

Boost your earnings

Moving in together entails more expenses, more sacrifice and less spending, so if you can do anything that boosts your income, go for it.

You and your significant other can both check if you are entitled to file a claim against a bank due to mis-sold PPI policies.

As you may know, PPI policies were sold to bank customers for a long time. Sadly, at some point during the nineties, banks started to mis-sell those policies to customers who didn’t need them or couldn’t afford them. Right now banks have returned over £33 billion to customers and there are still many unclaimed PPI cases waiting.

You and your partner can quickly check if you are entitled to claim PPI money back. This tax-free money can be seen as something to help you get started with this new chapter in life.

Simply click here and find out, remember that the government has said that August 29th 2019 is the last day to file a claim over this.

Moving in together may be the best decision you’ve ever made, just make sure that you have a clear communication channel with your spouse so you can make the best out of this new experience.