Most of all, keep probing until you and your partner are extremely clear on each of your financial visions, how the other one fits in, and both where your visions overlap and where they\u2019re at odds.<\/p>\n
2. Overspending on the Wedding<\/h2>\n
Last year, Business Insider reported the average cost of a wedding in the U.S. is a shocking $33,391.<\/p>\n
Might that money be better spent on a home, a rental property, or your retirement investments?<\/p>\n
Weddings are fun. Who doesn’t want to have a big party with friends and family? But a $33,391 party is not going to improve the day-to-day quality of your life. Quite the opposite if you go into debt for it.<\/p>\n
Buying a home or investment property or other passive-income-producing asset will improve your day-to-day quality of life.<\/p>\n
3. Failing to Create\u2014and Stick With \u2014a Budget<\/h2>\n
Budgeting isn\u2019t fun or sexy. On the contrary, it involves sacrifice, discipline, and deferred gratification.<\/p>\n
But while it\u2019s not fun, it is<\/em> a key ingredient for building real wealth.<\/p>\n If you spend every penny you make, you will never accumulate wealth of any kind, no matter how much you earn. Instead, wealth arises from funneling money into investments.<\/p>\n But it takes both parties to honor a budget. If one partner keeps spending every penny, it doesn\u2019t matter how frugal the other partner is.<\/p>\n Want a budget challenge? Try living on half your income. And if you\u2019re ready to get weird, try these unusual saving tips<\/a> to really supercharge your savings.<\/p>\n Related:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>6 Tips to Live on Half Your Income (& Invest the Rest!)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n You got a $10,000 raise\u2014woohoo! What do you do with it?<\/p>\n If you\u2019re like most people, you either move into a bigger home or buy a fancier car. And what happens to your wealth? Nothing. It doesn\u2019t rise a bit, because even though you\u2019re earning more, you\u2019re not saving and investing more.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve set a budget you can live with, freeze it. As you or your spouse get raises or earn more money from your investments, shunt that money right back into more investments. That way, your higher salary actually converts into higher wealth, not just the appearance of wealth.<\/p>\n Life isn\u2019t static. As they say, the only constant in life is change.<\/p>\n Kids come along, or you move to a different town or take new jobs; conditions on the ground change. You need to adapt, and the only way to do that is in concert with your partner.<\/p>\n Start by reviewing your net worth every month. You can track it automatically through a service like Mint<\/a>. By keeping your net worth in your financial focus, it stays real for you, even in the face of all the more tangible \u201cthings\u201d you\u2019d rather be spending money on.<\/p>\n Also track your monthly passive income. That\u2019s a key number to work toward growing every year.<\/p>\n Most of all, keep an ongoing dialogue about your financial vision and goals.<\/p>\n What happens when and if one of your parents becomes incapable of living on their own?<\/p>\n No one likes to think about that possibility. But it\u2019s very real, and if you ignore it, then you\u2019ll suddenly find yourself faced with needing an urgent answer when your dad falls and breaks his hip.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t assume your spouse would embrace the idea of your parent(s) moving in, and don\u2019t assume your spouse wouldn\u2019t invite their parents to move in, either. Talk it over now, before it becomes a household emergency.<\/p>\n Emergencies come in many flavors, none of them pleasant. And in the good times, you need to protect against the risk of sudden bad times.<\/p>\n First, review your insurance. Health insurance is the most critical; if your spouse were diagnosed with life-threatening cancer tomorrow, could you afford good care? If not, get a better insurance plan.<\/p>\n If one spouse generates most of the income, also look into buying life insurance. The last thing you want is to find yourself both emotionally and financially crushed when a spouse dies.<\/p>\n How\u2019s your emergency fund? Can it cover at least one or two months\u2019 expenses?<\/p>\n Lastly, look to your career security. What would happen if you lost your job tomorrow? Could you find a replacement job easily, or would replacing it prove challenging?<\/p>\n Put protections in place against financial emergencies while you can. By the time they rear up and bite you, it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n Your retirement contribution should be the first \u201cexpense\u201d to come out of every single paycheck. Find a way to automate it, whether it\u2019s a deduction through your company\u2019s 401(k), an automated recurring transfer to your IRA, or a savings automation app like Chime or Qapital.<\/p>\n Becoming financially free is the ultimate goal, the top of the ladder from middle-class to wealthy<\/a>. Or, at the very least, being able to live without clocking into a job every day needs to be your first priority.<\/p>\n It should be a priority over other types of savings, too, such as your children\u2019s college tuition. Your children would be better off paying for their college through tuition hacks<\/a>, scholarships, grants, and even student loans, rather than having to support you in your golden years because you didn\u2019t save enough to reach financial independence by the time you\u2019re no longer able to work.<\/p>\n That day comes faster than you think, by the way. A troubling study by the Urban Institute and Propublica found that 56 percent of workers over 50 have been pushed out of their jobs involuntarily, and another 9 percent have been forced to resign and retire early for personal reasons, such as health or caring for a loved one.<\/p>\n Your retirement must be your first priority.<\/p>\n4. Lifestyle Inflation<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n5. Not Having Financial Check-Ins Regularly<\/h2>\n
6. Failing to Agree on a Plan for Aging Relatives<\/h2>\n
7. Failing to Protect Against Financial Emergencies<\/h2>\n
8. Putting Retirement Savings Last Instead of First<\/h2>\n
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