It should come as no surprise that money problems and debt often lead to divorce. Fights about money can tear a couple apart, and I have seen many of them in my office to talk about bankruptcy.
However, there are some common mistakes among couples that experience financial stress in their marriages. Avoiding these five mistakes could save your marriage and keep you out of my office.
Top 5 Mistakes
- Not Talking About Money. Couples need to communicate when it comes to how they spend their money. Having the same financial goals can be critical! If one of you is a spender, and the other is a saver, you are working at cross purposes, and will never get anywhere.
- Being Secretive About Spending. This mistake makes the first one worse. You not only do not communicate with you spouse, you actively hide your spending from him or her. This is usually done to avoid a fight about money and allow the spending without consequence.
- Not Doing Your Financial Planning Together. Financial decisions in a marriage need to be made together. This is especially true of long term planning, like retirement. You should meet with a financial advisor together, so that decisions can be made jointly. These discussions can also uncover previously unrevealed conflicts in money attitudes or goals, thus allowing them to be addressed.
- Delegating Financial Success. This is a variation of the previous mistake, but just does it on a broader scale, as the delegation is on a day-to-day basis. You basically put your financial future in the hands of your spouse and eliminates any kind of financial independence. This also causes the problem above, where that spouse becomes disables, dies or divorces you.
- Having an Overly Romantic View of Marriage. As the old saying goes, “When hunger raps at the window, true love flies out the door.” You love each other, but you must acknowledge the real world, economic practicality of your marriage. Although it can happen to any couple, those that marry young can have an unrealistic few of marriage and think that all they need is love.
What If There Is Already a Financial Crisis?
If you are beyond the point where these five points may help you stay on an even financial keel, you may have to file bankruptcy in order to “hit the financial reset button,” and start following the points above from a fresh start. It may just save your marriage.
If you live in southern New Jersey and are considering filing bankruptcy, please feel free to call me at 856-432-4113 or contact me through this site for a free consultation in my Woodbury office to discuss your case.
If you have more questions about bankruptcy,then download my free book,Top Questions People Ask About Filing Bankruptcy in New Jersey.
If things have already gone too far, and you are looking for more information on how bankruptcy might help you with your divorce, then you should download my free book, Top Questions Divorcing Couples Ask About NJ Bankruptcy.
