Your money problems don’t just affect you. When you’re in a relationship, they can affect your partner too.
Take a look at these common money problems and how you can resolve them:
Problem 1: You Don’t Have any Savings
Spending every single penny that you earn is a risky move, and it could put a lot of unnecessary pressure on your relationship. When you’re living from paycheck to paycheck, you’re leaving yourself vulnerable to the smallest hiccup. If you get paid a day late or get hit with an emergency expense, it could be a disaster.
Your partner could feel forced to pick up the slack for you. They might not mind doing this on one occasion. But if you make a habit of asking them to bail you out, they could feel like you’re taking advantage of them.
What can you do? If you deal with an emergency expense and you don’t have any savings available, you could go to CreditFresh and apply for a personal line of credit. This could help cover the costs of the urgent expense and give you a more reasonable timeline for repayment. And, since a line of credit is a form of revolving credit, you could reuse the account in the future.
After addressing the emergency, you should make it your mission to save more so that this doesn’t happen again in the future. Here are some steps that you can take to build up your monthly savings:
● Follow a budget to track your expenses
● Use coupons and discount codes when shopping
● Use shopping lists to avoid impulse purchases
● Call utility providers to ask for better deals
● Cancel unused/unwanted subscriptions, memberships and accounts
Saving up will help you as your relationship progresses. It can help you save up to get a new living-space together, get a pet, start a family, plan a wedding and more.
Problem 2: You’re Keeping Your Debt a Secret
Hiding your major debt problems from your partner is called financial infidelity — many people believe that it’s as serious as a romantic affair. It’s a betrayal that forces your partner to lose their trust in you. These are some common forms of financial infidelity:
● Hiding large debts
● Lying about shopping sprees
● Lying about income
● Lying about paying shared bills
● Opening secret bank accounts
You don’t have to admit that you have a lot of student loans or credit card debt on your first date. But, as your relationship gets serious, you should come clean about the financial burden that you’re dealing with. Your debts can impact your partner’s life.
It can be hard to open up about this. It may be necessary to sign up for couple’s counseling to deal with the repercussions of financial infidelity in a healthy way.
Problem 3: You Don’t Want to Share
Financial independence is important, even when you’re part of a couple. But there is a line between independence and selfishness. Refusing to share can create a rift in your relationship.
One example of this is refusing to get a joint checking account. If you’re in a long-term relationship and living together, this financial step makes sense to do together. You’re sharing living expenses (rent/mortgage, utilities, insurance, etc.), so it’s reasonable that you share your income as well. It will make it much easier to organize your monthly payments.
You should still maintain checking accounts and credit cards in your name. These can be for personal uses beyond your household responsibilities, like clothing, entertainment or hobbies.
As a couple, you share everything together — this includes your money problems. This is why you need to address your money problems before they damage your love life.
