One of the failings of my first marriage was our approach (or rather lack thereof) to managing money. I admit freely that I did not have a mature understanding of budgeting, and my ex, although he was much older than I, had learned to manage money by using his bank account until the money was gone, and then using the bank's money.
So, when my husband and I joined our two households, we were both very conscious of former relationships that hadn't worked out in part because of financial difficulties. As we were exploring the idea of joining our two households, as a first step, I bought my husband the book "Smart Couples Finish Rich" by David Bach. In the years after leaving my ex, I'd read a number of books about financial mangement including a number of books by David Bach, who has a very common sense approach to managing money. I wanted to start my relationship with my new partner on a very strong foundation, and ensure that we were both working together with a common approach to financial management.
Many marriages fail because of inequities in income, failure to set and strive for common financial goals, lack of awareness of where the money goes, unequal division of financial chores. Both of us had to some extent experienced those issues with former partners - and were determined not to enter our new relationship with the same old baggage. Using some of the ideas David Bach suggests, we determined five simple ways to achieve that goal.
