Hey everyone!
My wife and I got married a couple years ago, and while we LOVED wedding planning, one thing caught us totally off guard… how much harder it was to get on the same page about money once we actually combined our lives.
No one really prepares you for that part.
Things like:
-
How do we split expenses fairly?
-
What counts as “shared” vs “personal”?
-
How do we combine incomes without feeling like we're losing independence?
-
How do we plan for goals together when we earn different amounts?
We definitely stumbled through a few awkward conversations at first. Honestly, it wasn't about the dollars it was about wanting to feel like things were fair, transparent, and a true team effort.
We eventually built a simple system for ourselves to keep things clear and avoid misunderstandings. It helped us so much that it actually inspired us to turn it into a little tool called JoyFi, which we created specifically for couples trying to figure out the “money side” of being engaged or newly married.
Sharing it in case it helps anyone else here: getjoyfi.com
(We built it because we truly needed it ourselves.)
If you're recently engaged, I really recommend carving out an hour to talk through financial expectations. Even just walking through income, shared expenses, and goals together made such a difference in our relationship.
Would love to hear how others here approached it or if you’re planning to tackle it soon. Happy to share anything we learned along the way!
- Alex -