Money Management and Marriage

As I said in the last post, I want to start breaking down the "One for the Money" pamphlet in more detail because it's such a great resource. After some initial introduction, the pamphlet opens with a story about a young couple who is planning on getting married. They're basically in good shape, but they haven't talked about money at all. He goes on to share some numbers (which I couldn't find anywhere) that something like 88% percent of divorces can be traced back to money quarrels.

Okay, I admit, that number seems high to me. Like really high. However, whether the number is accurate or not is irrelevant to the point. A significant number of divorces occur at least in part because of money problems. So what do we do about that? Elder Ashton gives a few good points. First, when choosing a spouse, "money management should take precedence over money productivity." I love that quote. Don't worry about how much your spouse will make, worry about how they'll manage what they get.

This idea is deeply connected to the Micawber principle. Micawber was a character in Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield. He articulates a foundational principle of money management, "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery." It's better to be poor and solvent than rich and in debt.

Finally, Elder Ashton's other suggestion is that the money management in the home should be "on a partnership basis." Even children should be involved on a "limited partnership basis." Don't stick your head in the sand and leave the financial work to your spouse. Division of labor is one thing. In our house, my wife pays most of the bills that aren't automated, but I still try to be aware of what is going on. The illustration of a yoke of oxen is apt in this situation. You need to have both partners pulling together in the same direction in order to get where you want to be.