Love, Money and Preventing Financial Feuds – Fox 66 WSMH

A Money magazine survey finds 70 percent of married couples argue about money more than anything else. There are ways to prevent financial feuds.

“I pretty much handle everything, I’m a control freak,” said Gabriella Ramirez, who’s getting married later this year. She’s been with her fiancé for seven years, and they’ve found a system that works well for them.

Still, financial counselor Midea Porterfield, a financial counselor with GreenPath, Inc. Saginaw Township, said it’s a good idea to make sure both partners are aware of your household spending and saving.

For one, she said it makes long-term goals that much easier to achieve.

“If your goal is to buy a house within the next ten years, you need to be honest with your partner and say hey, I’m operating in the negative of my budget,” Porterfield said.

She said a lot of times, people are nervous to broach the subject if their finances aren’t in great shape, but it’s not something you can hide forever.

“If you are going to have a long term relationship with this person or intend on purchasing a house together, having vehicles together, having any kind of financing together, that’s going to come up eventually,” Porterfield said.

So, when’s a good time to have this conversation? Porterfield said the first date is probably too soon.

“Once you have identified you are in a real relationship, then that’s when you’d probably want to address it, you probably don’t want to say ok, first date, let’s talk about finances and credit score!” she said.

Talking about it before you tie the knot or commit to living together might not prevent financial fights all together, but it puts both partners on the same page.

“You still have fights about it but if you can find that compromise and agree, it’ll all work out,” said Jenny Lynch, who’s getting married next year.