The Wall Street Journal’s Jeff Opdyke suggests four questions couples should ask one another before getting married, “since they provide insight and information on how money will flow through (the) marriage.”
His thinking is that “…couples don’t fight over love. They fight over money. They fight because one person didn’t balance the checkbook or made a bone-headed investment without consulting the other. They fight because one partner exerts dictatorial control over the money, or because one has secretly amassed thousands of dollars in debt on a credit card, imperiling the couple’s finances. Whether the issues are big or small, money will prove a powerful force impacting your marriage … What couples don’t always grasp is that money is rarely the real culprit. It’s the lack of communication, often stemming from a lack of knowledge about each other’s personal financial quirks and beliefs.”
His four questions are:
1. What Are Your Assets and Liabilities?
2. What Is Your Money History?
3. How Should We Divide Financial Duties?
4. Do We Combine Accounts or Operate Individually?
Here http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126609755215845867.html?mod=WSJ_hp_editorsPicks is a link to the entire Wall Street Journal article.
