Budgeting Teamwork - Gerken Financial Coaching

To keep your marriage brimming, With love in the loving cup, Whenever you?re wrong, admit it; Whenever you?re right, shut up.?~?Ogden Nash ~

Money fights in marriages come about when the couple is not working toward a common goal. The money comes in and is spent by both parties without consulting the other. There is a lack of communication over money.? Fighting is not communicating. When we fight, we get emotional and do not listen to the other person. Money fights are greatly reduced or eliminated when a couple has a common goal and a plan to achieve that goal.

Budgeting towards your goals

A budget that is agreed?upon by both spouses acts as a road map to achieving your shared goals. Many times a goal must be?achieved in steps. Breaking your goal down into achievable, measurable, written steps will help you to both visually see the road map that you agreed upon. Here is an example of breaking a goal into budget?steps. Let?s say that you want to save for your child?s college. We consider that to be block number 5 in our building blocks of financial success.

First create a budget

1. Save a $1,000 emergency fund, so you can stop going into debt.
2. Using the Debt snowball, pay off your debt
3. Build up your emergency fund to 3-6 month worth of expenses. This will prevent you from ever going back into debt.
4. and 5. Start saving and investing?15% for retirement and pile up extra cash for college in an ESA or good 529 college fund

The foundation of theses steps is a budget. Without a budget, you will not know how or where to spend and save.

Creating a budget together

One of you is probably more detail oriented than the other. That person should prepare the initial zero based?budget. The other partner should put in pre-budget information such as any unusual upcoming expenses for the month such as school activities, gifts or an upcoming repair. Once the budget is prepared schedule 20 minutes to sit down and review the budget. The partner who did not make the budget should review and change at least one number. This is so they can have input into the process. Once you have both agreed?to the numbers for the month. It is locked. If an unexpected? bill comes up or you run out of money in a category, you will need to come back together and discuss the change before?the purchase is made. Remember that the budget has to balance and come out to zero at the bottom.

A budget based on teamwork will get you pointed in the right direction to achieve your financial goals in a timely manner. You can get into debt unintentionally, but you must have a plan to get out.

Tim and Kathryn Gerken are Financial Coaches in Newcastle, WA. They serve the greater Seattle area through coaching, workshops and speaking.

Source: http://www.gerkenfinancialcoaching.com/2013/02/budgeting-teamwork/

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