Executive and The Family
Money and Married Couples
Matt Gladden

I believe that money is one of the biggest issues between married couples today. A successful married couple shares finances and works together to be a financially successful couple. Many times when issues arise, it is because a couple is under the perception that the two spouses finances are still personal even when they become married. They keep seperate bank accounts and seperate credit cards, and one doesn't even know what bills or debt the other spouse may have.

Since debt is related to money, I believe if goes along with this particular subject. Problems come to light when one or the other spouse has a significant amount of debt and cant keep it hidden anymore. Many times the other spouse will be understanding and helpful, but if the perception has been to keep seperate finances then this is where money and debt lead to divorce very quickly. This is why I believe that a couples finances should be joined and in the open before two people are married. The two people should at the very least sit down and go through all debts and accounts and make a budget and plan to live by. It is also advisable for the two to attend a short money management class together. Many times these classes are given at a church or other local place and are relatively inexpensive. Another issue that is a root of money problems in marriage is the two different personality types of the couples. For instance, the man may be thrifty and conservative. He may want to budget everything to the dime and never spend anything that is unplanned. On paper, this seems to be a good way to be unless the other spouse has the exact opposite personality. The wife may be a spur of the moment type person and enjoy doing things with money when it feels right and at her disgression. A couple can have many problems that arise from this issue and never even realize it was about money in the first place.

It is common today for there to be a main or single earner in a

marriage. This seemingly would give more power to the one who earns

the most money. Power play often occur when situations like; he works

and she doesn't; or he's unemployed and she's working, or one spouse

earns more than the other, even still if one spouses family has more money than the others family. When these situations are present within a marriage, the money earner (main-bread winner) can often seem over bearing and want to dictate when and where and how all of the financial decisions are made. Although this seems like the "fair" way to do something outside of marriage, within the confines of marriage it is