How to Financially Date your Partner to Achieve Mutual Goals

When’s the last time you thought about financially dating your partner? It’s not the sexiest topic to talk about when dating, but it’s one of the most important. Financial communication with your partner is the key to a happy and healthy relationship. 

Talking about money and handling it can be difficult in relationships, so setting up dates specifically to discuss the topics and create plans for the future is important. 

Here’s everything you must know about financial dates.

What are Financial Dates?

Financial dates are simply time you set aside to talk to your partner about money.

When you have dates dedicated to money conversations you won’t get sidetracked or feel like you can put off the conversation.

Instead, you’ll be intentional about talking to your partner about the important financial topics you must discuss.

They don’t have to be lengthy, but your dates should allow enough time to discuss all the necessary topics.

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You can set up specific dates for things like creating or updating a budget, saving for short and long-term goals, or just checking in with your financial status.

Types of Financial Dates

There’s no right or wrong way to have financial dates, but setting a regular frequency can help. 

In the beginning it’s a good idea to set weekly or bi-weekly dates.

This ensures you are both on the same page and can make sound financial decisions together.

The earlier you start this habit, the easier it is to implement.

Once you get the hang of things and think you can put more time between your dates, you can switch to monthly, quarterly, or even yearly dates. 

What works for you may not work for another couple, though.

The key is to understand your level of openness and willingness to talk about money. 

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The harder it is for you and your partner to talk about money, the more important frequent meetings become.

What Should a Financial Date Look Like?

Now that you know what financial dates are, you may wonder what they look like. 

But, because every couple has different financial needs and situations, every financial date will look different.

Overall, you should cover:

• Budget: Talk about your budget for couples, how much you spend each month, and where you may need to cut back.
  Creating a joint budget can be difficult, so make sure to be honest with each other about spending and be willing to listen to one another about the budget and how it should (or shouldn’t) change.
• Savings goals: Discuss savings goals and the progress made.
  Your savings goals should be included in your budget, but you should track their progress separately, especially if you have separate and mutual goals.
• Wins and losses: Always discuss what’s gone well since your last meeting regarding your finances, and what could be better.
  This is a time to be honest, talk to one another, and get opinions on how to achieve financial wellness.

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Your financial dates might be brainstorming sessions where you narrow down the goals you want to achieve as a couple.
It may be a time to revamp your budget or just talk about your wins and where you could do better.

Setting Ground Rules

It’s important to set ground rules when you set up financial dates.

This gets your dates started off on the right foot, and helps you move forward.

Set rules about what you will and will not discuss on the dates.

Also set timeframes, how you’ll discuss the topics, and how you’ll problem solve if there are disagreements.

Creating Mutual Goals

Throughout your financial planning, you must create goals.

Even though you are a couple, you should have personal (individual) and mutual goals.

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To figure this out, each partner should come to the meeting with a list of personal goals.

You can then compare it, focus on the mutual goals and determine which of the personal goals you’ll try to achieve, and when.

Make sure each of your goals are SMART or:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time sensitive