Pre-Marital Money Questions

Before we got married almost two years now, we had a vague idea of our finances and the direction we would take once we were married. Thankfully for us, we were required to take Financial Peace University Series by Dave Ramsey as part of our pre-marital financial counseling. These series really put a lot of financial facts in perspective for us. In particular, we were able to recognize, and understand the immense amount of debt that we were bringing into our union. But we also got a new vision- to get out of debt, and we believe that it was one of the best wedding gifts that we received. However, when i speak to recently married couples, majority of them say that all they talked about money during pre-marital counseling, was, having a joint account.  I have compiled some questions for married couples and couples planning to get married that they can use to start a conversation about money.

Print a copy and answer separately, then discuss your answers together.

1. What is your general money philosophy? _________________________________________________________
2. How often did you talk about money growing up? _________________________________________________________
3. Are you a saver or spender? _________________________________________________________
4. How much debt do you have?( credit cards, student loans, hospital bills, car notes, mortgage, borrowed from friends & family miscellaneous debts) _________________________________________________________
5. What are your thoughts on credit cards?_________________________________________________________
6. Do you know your credit scores?_________________________________________________________
7. What are the assets that you own if any?_________________________________________________________
8. Do you have a budget? _________________________________________________________
9. How do you track spending? _________________________________________________________
10. Do you tithe 10% of your income? _________________________________________________________
11. Do you give to any charity? _________________________________________________________
12. When we get married should we have a joint bank account or separate accounts or both? _________________________________________________________
13. Who will be responsible for making sure that our bills are paid on time? _________________________________________________________
14. How often do you go for vacation?_________________________________________________________
15. What are your longterm  financial goals? _________________________________________________________
16. What are your thoughts for purchasing a home? _________________________________________________________
17. Do you want to have children? _________________________________________________________
18. If we decide we do, how many children do you want to have? _________________________________________________________
19. Will one of us stay home after we have children? _________________________________________________________
20. What is your view of starting a business _________________________________________________________
21. Have you been a cosigner for any one?_________________________________________________________
22. What are your thoughts for cosigning?_________________________________________________________
23. What is your understanding of stewardship?_________________________________________________________
24. What are your thoughts about life insurance?_________________________________________________________

Share other money items that you discussed or want to discuss.
Related Readings

• Money Talk with Your Spouse
• Financial Planning Can Revitalize Relationships
• Premarital Financial Counseling: Questions To Ask