Making financial decisions on your own is hard. Making them as a couple is even more difficult! Below are some question starters to help you and your partner discuss how you’d like to work together financially. As always, please reach out to me if you have any questions! 

• What are your values? (i.e. independence, security, etc.) 

• Do your values overlap with your partner? In what ways? 

• In what ways do they not overlap? May that mean that you should keep some finances separate? 

• Are you comfortable sharing all of your spending habits with your partner? If not, are there certain types of spending that you don’t want to share? 

• Do you know how much debt you have? How much debt your partner has? 

• Do you know how much savings you have? How much savings your partner has? 

• Do you know your credit score? Your partner’s credit score? 

• Do you want to make big financial decisions together (i.e. buying property, going on a trip)? 

• What about small financial decisions? 

• What amount of money spent counts as a “big financial decision”? Do you and your partner agree? 

• Are you good at maintaining systems? What about your partner? (i.e.If you decide on a system for combining some of your finances, will you stick with it?)

• Do you think about your expenses as “our” expenses or “my”/”their” expenses? 

• Do you think about your income as “our” income or “my”/”their” income? 

• I KNOW you don’t want to think about this, but if you were to break up, what do you want to happen with your money? With your partner’s?

XOXO