Couple Finances: 8 Money Questions to Ask Your Partner

Indeed, money can't buy everything. Money cannot purchase the priceless value of happiness and true love. However, it can still come in between any happy relationship. 

Money is one of the most common causes of conflicts between couples. Those who discuss finances regularly are reportedly happier than couples who discuss finances infrequently. 

As money is a serious topic, it can be hard to bring it up with your other half, especially if you have contrasting values and backgrounds. Money conversations may not end up harmoniously and cause a rift in your once-happy relationship. 

So, below, we have provided a set of questions that can help you and your partner healthily talk about your finances.

8 Money Questions to Ask Your Partner

1. How do your parents handle finances?
   
   A person's beliefs can be the result of the interwoven virtues of their parents. These ethics and ideals are what one picks up and learns in the household. As one grows up, it can be hard to stray away from these ingrained values.
   
   Good money habits picked up from parents can contribute to the growth of one's financial relationship. However, bad money habits can cause more dents, especially since it is hard to outgrow.
   
   Communication is key to any relationship. Hence, understanding each other's financial histories allows you to develop empathy for one another. It also helps you to identify the experiences that honed your partner's monetary perspectives.
   
   
2. If you won the lottery today, what would you do with the money?
   
   After talking about the past, talk about the future. You and your partner's monetary plans entail how your money habits have manifested themselves today.
   
   However, as one may find it too early to have final financial decisions in an ever-changing world, monetary discussions about the future may be lackluster. Thus, put yourselves in a hypothetical situation with set premises.
   
   Would they be financially clever enough to invest the money won in the lottery in assets? Would they prioritize long-term wants rather than future needs? Your partner's answers can clarify their prime monetary concerns to you.
   
   
3. What drives your financial decisions?
   
   The future is not all about investments and banknotes. It is more about asking what drives a person's motivations towards their money. Aligned financial priorities always affect current fiscal decisions.
   
   Once you have identified the material goals and priorities, the next move is concentrating on the common ground. This step may be hard to complete, especially with contrasting budgetary values.
   
   However, if you've heard the stories behind your partner's financial priorities, changing your value structures could be a lot simpler. Knowing what your financial needs are will provide you with the comfort and motivation to make it happen.
   
   
4. Imagine your worst financial nightmare. What is it like?
   
   Just like how a couple may have varying financial goals, they may also have different monetary nightmares. One's dread might be being buried with debt, while others may be terrified of the concept of not living an extravagant life.
   
   This question may help you distinguish your differences in monetary tendencies. Discussion of contrasts is essential in ensuring that you meet on the same page. Through compromise and management, you can avoid conflicts.
   
   
5. What is your biggest financial regret?
   
   We all have financial regrets, such as impulse purchases. However, one could be ashamed of their failed monetary decisions. Thus, rather than blaming and judging, treat these confessions with curiosity and consideration.
   
   Talk about your past financial choices and what you have learned from them. This way, you can discuss how you can both change together to avoid the same mistakes.
   
   Read more: 5 Common Financial Mistakes Couples Make (and How to Fix Them)
   
   
6. What are our financial goals?
   
   After settling your differences, plan for your shared future. Discuss couple finances. Would you send them to an elite school? Would you live in a mansion?
   
   Understanding what you're aiming for allows you to have a common goal and work together to achieve it. No matter what your financial conditions may be, the future has the power to empower and encourage you to achieve your objectives.
   
   Furthermore, you cannot control worldly conditions, which may change your financial needs and priorities in the long run. Hence, keep your fiscal conversations going.
   
   In addition to money conversations, life insurance plans can also contribute to securing your future financial needs. A life insurance policy will serve as a safety net so that you can plan your finances accordingly. It can help you attain your financial goals.
   
   
7. In our relationship, what does contribution look like?
   
   Unless you and your partner work at the same company with the same job, there's a chance that one may be earning more than the other; thus, one may also have a bigger contribution.
   
   Believe in your partner and consider your money to be "ours," not "mine" or "theirs." Do not let power enter the picture. The goal shouldn't be to have equal contributions but to have a mutual understanding of one another's financial capacity to contribute to living expenses.
   
   As long as both halves know what happened with the money, there shouldn't be a problem. You and your partner should understand each other's part of the bargain.
   
   
8. What's one money habit that you admire about me?
   
   At this point, the air might have become stuffy and tense with all that adult talk. End the conversation in a positive and endearing tone. Recognize how your partner complements and balances you out.
   
   These compliments may also help you recognize your habits you may not have noticed. Asking for your partner's opinion helps you become more aware of your preferences. Through this, you may be able to correct mistakes and empathize with them.

Achieving Your Financial Goals Together

Healthy romantic and financial relationships go both ways. Both sides should compromise to establish a common ground. Frequent fiscal discussions can avoid money conflicts.

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