Guest Post: Financial Tips with Mrs Moneypenny

21st July 2015
As most of you know I tend to worry about future relationships, especially now I have a child’s needs to also think of, and one aspect of meeting a new partner is making sure you’re both on the same page when it comes to finances, and Ivan Molner describes this perfectly below!

Mrs Moneypenny Gives Great Money Advice
We’ve all been there – you find the man or woman of your dreams. You like all the same things, even your mum likes them, you’re sure that they’re the one. But once the excitement of your new relationship subsides, and things start to get real, you need to start considering the everyday practicalities of your relationship – and that includes the one subject that we all dread bringing up, money!
The fact is, however, this is a really important conversation to have. If you don’t start out with an open, honest and realistic approach to money, you’ll almost certainly run into problems further down the road…and no one wants that!
If you’re thinking about taking your relationship to the next level and making a financial commitment to one another, it can seem a little daunting. Luckily, there are plenty of people out there who are ready and willing to help. I found this money advice video from Mrs Moneypenny really helpful – here are some of her top tips…

What are your attitudes to money?
We all have different attitudes towards money. Whilst no-one approach is right or wrong, it’s important that, when entering into a serious relationship, you fully understand each other’s financial attitudes. Are you a scrimper or a saver? And what about your partner? Figuring this out right from the start can help you to predict and avoid any problems that might arise in the future.
Should you open a joint account?
This is a big decision and one that only you can make. If you do decide to open a joint account, remember that this will create a formal financial link between the two of you, which will mean that lenders may take both of your credit reports into account when assessing any credit application you make.
How much will you share?
We all know that, in a relationship, you should share everything with your partner. But, when it comes to bills and other payments, this isn’t always strictly true. It’s important that you sit down with each other and agree which financial responsibilities you are going to share between you. Should you share the TV subscription if only one of you watches the sports channels? (I know this causes the most arguments in my house!)
It may seem obvious what is shared and what isn’t but unless you sit down, go through every expense and make a final and joint decision, you might find yourself in the midst of a misunderstanding, or worse still, a row.
Saving for bigger purchases
If you’re saving for a substantial joint purchase, such as a house, a car, or maybe just a once-in-a-lifetime holiday, then make sure you work out how much you can each (realistically!) afford to save each month.
Are there areas you can cut back in to increase the amount you can save? Check out what your combined credit profile looks like, by getting your free credit report. This is super important, as once you’re making joint decisions on purchasing and borrowing, each other’s credit report will have an impact on your individual profiles.
Honesty is the best policy!
When you’re discussing your finances, both past and present, twisting the facts to make your situation sound better isn’t going to help anyone. The most important thing to remember is that honesty is the best policy. We’ve all got a past, and most of us have run up at least one credit card bill in our lifetime that we aren’t proud of!
A good way to address this is to sit down and go through each of your credit reports. This will allow you to address any issues one by one, and figure out any behaviours that you might need to change going forward.
So, there you go. Discussing financial matters doesn’t need to be the scary conversation that we all tend to fear it will be. It is, however a crucial conversation to have and one that will set your relationship in good stead for the future.

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2 Comments

  • Unknown

    30th July 2015 at 12:14 pm

    Such a critical conversation that needs to be had. Money can cause a lot of issues if not.

  • thesingleswan

    30th July 2015 at 8:07 pm

    Really useful post. Thank you. It is really hard having financial conversations so early on in a relationship – it kinda takes the gloss away a bit…necessary though.

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