Financial Security: A Valentine’s Gift

The much-awaited Valentines’ week is finally here! How about, apart from showering one another with gifts both partners take a vow of securing each other financially this year?

Did this statement make you raise an eyebrow?

Pretty natural... with so many beautiful gifts at disposal in every gift stores why is it necessary to think of financial security as a gift? And how does it even express love?

Shweta Jain, Founder, Investography, said, “It is important to discuss money as a couple, else it becomes one of those ‘elephant in the room’ topics that you cannot talk about. I have seen couples where one of them isnt aware of the others' debt and it is just painful, because they live in this delusion that the other person is saving for their future. It could be a quite scary future!”

Here are a few reasons as to why it is important to discuss finance and ensure security to each other:

Define common goals

Be it personal or financial, it is important to sit down and have a detailed discussion when in a relationship. Through an honest and open discussion regarding financial goals can help to address financial troubles by working jointly.

Jain added, “Financial goals should be discussed regularly and routinely because it is what they want their future to be- be it multiple holidays or building a home, financial goals are nothing but what they want out of life and what kind of life they want to live together and build together.”

Absolute disclosure

The factor that plays a vital role in the smooth functioning of a relationship is CLARITY. Similar to the previous point one should have absolute clarity regarding assets and liabilities in order to utilise resources at hand to its optimum.

Jain stated, “Money personalities are real, if one tends to spend too much or not at all, the other needs to accept or sometimes even nudge them to change a little so that they work as a team. Communication without critique first helps and then when the other realises their own priorities through discussions, its a win-win situation for both.

Prepare a budget

Whether both the partners are working or not, they must arrive at a comfortable budget point while planning long-term. It is important to make an effort to save a certain percent of the salary, and the remainder should be utilised to pay off debts. Next, it is necessary for the partners to arrive at a unanimous decision regarding investment plans.

Emergency corpus

It is only natural to have a separate account for oneself from where you get to splurge or spend on yourself... and why not!? After all it is your hard earned money! But it is also important to have a joint account as an emergency corpus where both can keep aside a particular amount every month. Experts say that it is necessary that the corpus should have enough to suffice for a span of 3 to 6 months. This will help the couple to ease their tensions and stress in a crisis situation.

Investment decisions

A relationship comprises of two individuals. So, decisions like whether to buy a car or go backpacking across Europe should be taken together. The point is when decisions are taken together it not only ensures clarity between the two, but also help the couple to step up their investment game by a notch. “Take it one step at a time, start discussing short term, fun goals like vacation and how much will you spend, where will that money come from etc. Then, slowly move towards the big ones, children's education, home, retirement that sort of stuff,” suggested Jain.

The last words

It’s 2019! Today, it does not matter who brings back home a fatter pay check, what matters is that a mutual respect is prevalent. Be it regarding the color of the curtains to be put up in their living room or whether to invest in mutual funds over equities, the decisions should be taken together respecting both perspectives. Making smart money together will then help the couple to build a corpus of funds, eventually providing for the luxuries both have dreamt of.