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One of the challenges you face in marriage is the management of your finances as a couple. The financial decisions that you make have a lasting impact on your future together. Careful planning of your finances can ensure that together, you achieve financial independence. Fiancés & Finances™ is designed to facilitate an open and honest discussion between engaged and married couples about money. The workshop is designed to help couples gain an understanding of each other's history and values when it comes to money. The 3 hour workshop will focus on helping you clarify your values, goals and teach you about how to start your financial life together. It is highly interactive and requires that you attend with your fiance' or spouse. Fiances&Finances™ is about helping you start your marriage on the right path. (BROCHURE) 
NBC 5 News Appearance (click to watch - 3 min, 56 sec.)
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UPCOMING ™ WORKSHOP EVENTS SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2011 - 9:00 AM TO 11:00 AM $59/Couple REGISTRATION FULL Cancellation Policy: Cancellations must be received 48 hours prior to the course to receive a full refund less a $10.00 processing fee. No refund is available for cancellations 48 hours or less before the course start. If the event is cancelled by us you will receive a full refund.
PRIVATE CONSULTATION Schedule Your Private Consultation to discuss your specific financial concerns. The cost of this 1 hour meeting is $99. Call us at 312-697-1600 for available times.
We're looking for great examples or how you and your fiance or spouse discuss financial issues. Tell us what you are and aren't discussing; your success and failures; questions you have; your observations about how wives/husbands handle financial issues; serious conversations you've had as well as funny stories. The best stories may be selected to be published in an upcoming book. Email My Story DISCLOSURE: By emailing us you are giving us the rights to use your story for the purpose of publication, presentation and other use we deem appropriate. You hereby waive any claim, rights or royalties. If your submission is used, names and other identifying information will be changed.
Financial Information for Couples:
Getting Started
Debt & Liabilities
Buying A Home
Major Purchase
Insurance
Tax
Children
Re-Marriage
Frequently Asked Questions Should I open a joint checking account with my spouse? Am I liable for my spouse debt? I'm marrying someone with bad credit, How will this affect me? Should we integrate our health insurance benefits? What kind of insurance will cover my engagement ring If we file separate tax returns, can we both itemize? How will marriage affect my social security benefits? Should I sign a prenuptial agreement to protect my assets when I remarry?
Should I open a joint checking account with my spouse?
The answer depends on several factors. Among them are how you and your spouse feel money should be handled, your respective spending and saving habits, and whether there are any reasons to keep your money separate. Many couples find that the best solution is to have a joint account in addition to each keeping an individual account.
When used wisely and monitored carefully, a checking account can be an excellent way to keep track of your expenses. This is easiest to do when the account is held in one person's name only, although that may leave the other person without ready access to funds. When two people have access to the same account, keeping track becomes more difficult and requires more communication between the parties involved. Therefore, it is very important to keep a master account register up to date, recording all deposits, checks, and withdrawals. You don't want your spouse to bounce a check because you wrote one or made a withdrawal and didn't record it. Banks and check-printing companies offer duplicate checks--each comes with a carbon copy--that you may find helpful when sharing an account.
For various reasons, many couples prefer to have a joint checking account. Since most banks now charge monthly service fees, the fewer accounts you have, the smaller your fee expense. Moreover, you and your spouse may feel that you want to pool your money, particularly that spent on shared expenses--housing, utilities, groceries, and perhaps the car(s). Doing so not only gives you more of a sense of "being in this together" but also makes keeping a record of these expenses much simpler.
However, you may still prefer to have access to some money you can call your own, and for which you are not accountable to your spouse. In some cases, this may be simply a cash allowance for which you may not need a separate checking account. In other cases, particularly if you are both working, you may continue to handle some of your expenses separately. For example, you each may be responsible for your own car payments and insurance, or for your own credit card payments. If this is your situation, you may want to have a joint account for what you together consider the common (usually household) expenses, and separate accounts for handling your individual responsibilities.
If either of you wants to establish credit individually, you may decide to maintain separate checking accounts at least until you have done so. Separate checking accounts can be used as a lever to help you obtain credit. If either of you has poor credit, you may wish to keep your funds separate to circumvent attachment of joint funds to pay one spouse's bad debt. If your money is pooled in a joint account, the entire amount is legally available to either of you. A creditor is then justified in attaching those funds to pay a debt that only one of you may have incurred. If your marriage is foundering or if you have severe disagreements about how to manage money, you may want to maintain separate accounts. With joint accounts, either party can "clean out" the other simply by withdrawing all the funds in the account.
The general rule is that spouses are not responsible for each other's debts, but there are exceptions. Many states will hold both spouses responsible for a debt incurred by one spouse if the debt constituted a family expense (e.g., child care or groceries). In addition, community property states will hold one spouse responsible for the other's debts because both spouses have equal rights to each other's income. Also, you are both responsible for any debt that you have in both names (e.g., mortgage, home equity loan, credit card).
You are not responsible for your future spouse's bad credit or debt, unless you choose to take it on by getting a loan together to pay off the debt. However, your future spouse's credit problems can prevent you from getting credit as a couple after you're married. Even if you've had spotless credit, you may be turned down for credit cards or loans that you apply for together if your spouse has had serious problems.
You're smart to face this issue now rather than wait until after you're married to discuss it. Attitudes toward spending money, along with credit and debt problems, often lead to arguments that can strain a marriage. Order copies of both of your credit reports from one or more major credit reporting bureaus. Then, sit down and honestly discuss your past and future finances. Find out why your future spouse got into trouble with credit.
Next, if there is still outstanding debt, consider going through credit counseling together. Credit counseling may help your future spouse clean up his or her credit record and get back on track financially. One nonprofit organization, Consumer Credit Counseling Services (CCCS), sponsors money management seminars that can help you plan your financial life together. CCCS can also help you negotiate with creditors and can set up a budget you both can follow to pay off outstanding debt. Look in your telephone directory for the number of a local office. Be aware, however, that CCCS is paid for by lenders. Once it starts negotiating for you, your creditors will withdraw any lines of credit you have, including overdraft protection.
Finally, seriously consider keeping your credit separate, at least until your spouse's credit record improves. You don't have to combine your credit when you marry. For instance, apply for credit by yourself instead of applying for joint credit after you're married. You can have separate "associate" cards issued for your spouse to use. Even if your spouse has bad credit, your credit rating will remain unaffected. However, keeping separate credit can be complicated. For one thing, your spouse may resent that you control all of the credit in the household. It's also possible that you'll have a harder time qualifying for loans (e.g., a mortgage) alone than if your spouse's income could also be counted.
When you and your spouse are making this decision, it may be useful for you to focus on three key areas: (1) the out-of-pocket cost of each plan, (2) the levels of service and coverage offered, and (3) the coverage offered to any dependent children, if applicable.
Employers will sometimes pay some or all of their employees' health insurance premiums. If this is true in your case, there may be no reason to consider a change in your health insurance plans. If you pay the premiums yourself, however, compare the costs. Check into whether family coverage through one of the plans is less expensive than two single policies. If you have no children, two single policies are typically less expensive than one policy with family coverage. Many large group plans offer two-person coverage (an employee plus spouse, partner, or child) for less than the price of a family plan. However, insurance carriers will not allow you to bill two companies for the same medical service.
Other important cost factors to consider are out-of-pocket deductibles and co-payments. Even if the premium you pay at your company is lower than that paid by your spouse, you may discover that your deductibles and co-payments for health problems and routine doctor's visits are substantially higher. Despite the higher premiums, you may decide that it is better to join a family plan through your spouse's employer because of its lower deductibles and co-payments.
Be aware that the services and coverage that one plan provides, including the choice of doctors and hospitals, could outweigh the lower costs of the other. You might decide that your family is better off to pay higher premiums, deductibles, or co-payments while receiving specific services (such as rehabilitation, psychiatric therapy, or free eye exams) that the other plan does not offer.
If you have homeowners or renters insurance, you already have some coverage for your ring. A typical homeowners or renters policy will offer protection (up to a specified dollar amount) for jewelry and other forms of personal property. If the value of your ring exceeds these coverage limits, you can purchase a floater that will provide you with additional coverage for your diamond ring, based on its appraised value.
You can also purchase an insurance policy specifically designed to protect jewelry and other valuables. It's likely that a certified jeweler would have to appraise your ring for the insurance company. If you're interested in such a stand-alone policy, ask your insurance agent for more information.
When spouses file separately, both must use the same method of claiming deductions. That is, either both parties must itemize, or both parties must take the standard deduction. If you choose to itemize, it's important to know how to divide your deductions.
If your filing status is married filing separately, you typically report on your income tax return only your own income, expenses, credits, and deductions. Therefore, if you paid for a doctor's appointment out of your separate checking account, you would claim that deduction on your return. Any medical expenses paid out of a joint checking account in which you and your spouse have the same interest are considered to have been paid equally by each of you, unless you can show otherwise. Different rules may apply in community property states.
You should also be aware that the amount of your total itemized deductions will be limited or phased out if your adjusted gross income exceeds a certain level: $83,400 if you file separately in 2009, $166,800 for all others.
Note: For 2010, the limitation on itemized deductions for higher-income individuals is repealed by the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.
Often, married couples have a lower overall tax liability if they choose to file jointly. This is not always the case, however. If you are unsure which filing method results in the lowest tax liability, you should determine your tax liability both ways before filing your return.
For more information, see IRS Publication 17 or consult a tax professional.
If you're receiving benefits based on your own work record, your benefits will continue. If you're receiving spousal benefits based on your former spouse's work record, those benefits will generally end upon your getting remarried, but you may be able to receive benefits based on your new spouse's work record, or on your own.
If you're a widow(er) under age 60, or you're disabled but under 50, remarriage ends any benefits based on the record of your deceased spouse. However, if you remarry after age 60 (or after 50 and are disabled), those benefits remain intact, unless you choose to receive the spousal allowance through your new spouse. If your second marriage ends as a result of death, divorce, or annulment in less than 10 years, you will again be eligible to collect benefits on your first spouse's record. Benefits paid to a disabled widow(er) are unaffected by remarriage.
Note, too, that if you were the working spouse during your first marriage, your remarriage does not change the Social Security benefits paid to either your new spouse or ex-spouse. Because the rules surrounding payment of benefits are complicated, and depend on your particular situation, contact the Social Security Administration at (800) 772-1213 for more information. www.socialsecurity.gov/
Even if you never thought about signing a prenuptial agreement the first time you married, it's wise to consider it now, because marriage is often more complicated the second (or third or fourth) time around. You may have more assets now, or you may own a business or have children to protect. And because you've been through it before, you may be worried about the financial consequences of divorce or widowhood.
A prenuptial agreement can ease your mind by spelling out what assets and liabilities each partner is bringing into the marriage, and by determining how money or property brought into the marriage or acquired during the marriage will be divided if the marriage ends either in death or divorce.
A prenuptial agreement addresses some or all of these points:
- Assets and liabilities: What assets are you each bringing into the marriage? How much are they worth, and who owns them? Which ones will become marital property, and which ones will continue to be owned individually? Will gifts and inheritances be shared or separate? What liabilities do you have (e.g., back taxes or other debt)?
- Divorce: If you divorce, how will you divide assets brought into the marriage or acquired during the marriage? Will either spouse receive a lump-sum cash settlement or alimony?
- Estate planning: What will go to your children from previous marriages? What will go to children you have together?
- Special contributions of partners: If one spouse contributes to the marriage in a special way (e.g., limiting his or her career for the benefit of children or the other spouse), will that spouse be provided for? What if one spouse brings more liabilities to the marriage than the other?
Because it's difficult to write an ironclad prenuptial agreement, don't try doing it yourself. Instead, you and your future spouse should hire separate attorneys to help you negotiate an agreement that will protect your financial interests without causing mistrust between the two of you. *Herr Capital Management, LLC does not offer legal advice. Home Page (clicking will reset session) PRIVATE CONSULTATIONS Schedule your private consultation to discuss you specific financial concerns. The cost of this meeting is $99. Call us at 312-697-1600 for available times.
Cancellation Policy: Cancellations must be received 48 hours prior to the course to receive a full refund less a $10.00 processing fee. No refund is available for cancellations 48 hours or less before the course start. If the event is cancelled by us you will receive a full refund.
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