As couples embark on life together, student loan debt often becomes an issue. This debt can wreak havoc with current money matters such as credit scores and discretionary spending habits as well as long-term goals such as purchasing a home and saving for retirement.
Student debt that one partner brings into a marriage typically remains their individual responsibility; however, loans incurred after marriage become joint obligations in states with community property laws (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada New Mexico Texas Wisconsin). A prenup may help provide clarity around this matter.
1. Creating a Joint Budget
When starting to budget together, a spreadsheet that includes your total estimated income can be helpful when starting to budget together. Whether that be one week, two weeks or one month – this number should serve as your benchmark and should never be exceeded in expenses.
Once you have an understanding of your combined income, it is time to discuss shared expenses and set financial goals together. These may include things such as mortgage or rent payments, utilities bills, insurance payments and recurring monthly expenses as well as groceries, date nights or occasional purchases such as clothing or entertainment.
Some couples decide to merge their finances entirely while others opt for keeping separate accounts but sharing some expenses. This decision depends on a range of factors including each partner’s income and debt levels and individual spending habits.
At this step, it’s essential that both partners can live within their means and meet personal goals. If expenses exceed what can be afforded by either of you, it could be an indicator that it’s time to reconsider priorities or find ways to decrease spending or boost income.
Once you have an understanding of your joint expenses, it can be useful to set up a separate column for individual expenses and financial goals. Once you know how much of your joint income remains after accounting for shared expenses and goals, saving towards items or experiences you want can begin immediately.
2. Talking About Debt
As soon as a couple begins seriously considering marriage, numerous conversations must take place – from discussing future goals such as having children to creating a long-term savings plan for retirement. Perhaps most critically is discussing debt. Although many couples attempt to keep debt secrets from one another, this often only leads to greater frustrations and arguments later down the road, possibly even leading to relationship rupture.
Make sure that both of you are on the same page when it comes to financial issues by discussing them early in your relationship. Doing this will enable you both to establish a budget that suits both of your priorities, while simultaneously helping identify areas for debt reduction. You could even set up regular money dates (we’ve heard them called money dates!). These meetings will keep track of progress while holding each other accountable.
When entering into a marriage with existing student loan debt, it’s essential that both partners work collaboratively to develop a payment plan that suits both of you. This may involve setting aside funds each month towards paying down high-interest debt as well as exploring whether income-driven repayment plans could offer lower monthly costs based on both partners’ individual income levels.
As it’s also essential to address, it’s crucial that couples understand that if any additional student loan debt was accrued after you tied the knot and reside in a community property state after marriage, both partners will become legally responsible for its payments should there be a divorce. A prenup may also provide valuable protection in such an event.
3. Establishing an Emergency Fund
Many graduates take out student loans after graduation, a decision some couples make together. Debt from student loans shouldn’t carry over into marriage; newlyweds should work proactively toward creating a plan to ensure financial health in their marriage.
Step one of student loan consolidation should involve understanding each person’s student loan balance, repayment plan and monthly payment. Couples should also discuss how consolidating or entering into an income-driven repayment plan will change both debt and payments; also discuss if filing taxes separately or jointly will affect payments; as well as discuss if their tax status might impact their ability to pay debts off.
Establish an emergency fund as a couple; having savings set aside can provide essential protection from unexpected expenses that might crop up, helping couples avoid tapping into credit cards or retirement savings accounts to cover them.
An effective way to begin saving for emergencies is setting small, attainable goals that will provide a sense of achievement and motivation to continue saving. Once your baseline savings goals have been established, set higher savings goals as soon as possible and work toward them together with regular check-in meetings (“money dates” could even help!
Some couples find it beneficial to draft a prenup or postnup that outlines responsibility for student loans incurred prior to marriage. In states that recognize community property laws, if funds used to reduce debt that existed prior to marriage have been recovered by either partner.
4. Creating a Prenup
Prenups have long had a stigma attached to them. Popular culture does little to improve matters either: numerous lyrics feature men taking away women’s money if they marry later; but as average marriage ages increase and more women focus on careers outside marriage, prenups have become more widely adopted as an invaluable way for couples to establish financial transparency within their relationship and identify what matters most to them; including financial goals, protections, or any stipulations which would come into effect should the relationship dissolve in an event of divorce.
Couples seeking to create a prenup may benefit from starting their prenuptial agreement by individually listing all assets they own – bank accounts, investments accounts, property and NFTs such as artwork. Once all this information has been recorded separately and reviewed together by both partners, senior wealth planner at RBC Wealth Management in Asia Octavia Liu suggests reviewing it together and discussing which items need not be divided in the event of divorce.
Once couples have established what matters to them most, they can move on to discussing debt and who will pay certain bills. No matter if they opt to keep finances separate, set a joint budget, or adopt some sort of hybrid approach, it is vital that clear boundaries and communication occur frequently between members of their relationship.
Finally, some couples opt to include a confidentiality clause in their prenups to prevent one partner from sharing embarrassing or disrespectful material about them on social media or publicly that could damage their image and compromise future brand building or business ventures. This may be especially crucial if they intend to build or launch one later on.
5. Negotiating Payments
Student loans don’t become part of their joint ownership when two people marry, unlike some forms of debt such as credit card bills or home mortgages; but should one partner accrue additional debt while married and defaults, creditors could pursue both spouses’ wages or assets–or even claim more than their fair share in tax refunds–to repay creditors for defaulted loans. This could cause tension within couples as it leaves one partner feeling they are paying more than their fair share for such debt repayment.
Before entering into any major commitments, new partners should discuss how they’ll approach debt together. Some couples may choose to merge finances while others might keep some debt separate depending on their financial goals and individual preferences. Furthermore, it’s essential that any existing debt be disclosed upfront so there won’t be any surprises down the road.
As newlyweds, it’s essential that both parties fully comprehend their student loan debt, including its total amount owed and any associated interest charges. If both individuals possess equal debt levels, consolidating it into a single payment may save on interest costs.
One important consideration when making loan payments is how each person’s income impacts monthly loan payments. Certain repayment plans, like Revised Pay as You Earn plans and federal income-driven repayment plans, take both individual and household income into account, while others like federal income-driven repayment plans only take into account annual income of the borrower. Ultimately, couples need to be honest when discussing how each income will impact payments individually; then work together on developing a strategy for paying down loans in ways that works for their unique situation.