#1 Financial Priority After Marriage
Posted on August 20, 2008 by Her and tagged goals, marriage, student_loan
Our wedding is coming up and today we had a long talk about the future of our financial priorities after marriage. While we have many financial goals, we feel it's best to focus on just one in order to make rapid progress. With the recent payment a relative made on Her's private student loan debt, paying that off has suddenly become feasible in the short term (as opposed to the 29 years left on the loan, we can now imagine paying it off in under TWO years). So that will be our very first financial goal as a married couple. What was your first financial goal as a twosome?
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Our first goal was to get 3 months of expenses in an emergency fund.
Our next goal is to pay off my high interest debt in the form of a car loan (about $1500 left).
Saving for a down payment is definitely #1 for us, although the husband's student loans are a close #2!
Becky@FamilyandFinances | Aug 21, 2008
My husband and I were both homeowners before we got married, so priority #1 for us was selling my house. Since then, we've been saving a large emergency fund and saving up for home improvements.
Chris | Aug 21, 2008
We paid off the highest of the wife's students loans (at 7.5% interest) and then saved for a year for a down payment on a house.
All other student loans are sub 3% interest and we will never prepay them.
After we bought a house, it was time to ramp up the emergency fund savings to take into account the increase in mortgage payments vs. our old rent amount.
Now, we save for travel and cars (and retirement).
This is a great point! My wife and I have been married for just under a year, and this was something we talked about and decided upon before we were even married. Our goals became to pay off her auto loan early (done - in two years, which was half the time of the original loan) and to then concentrate on her student loan debt (going well). This is definitely something that should be talked about and agreed by both parties!
Keep up the great writing and good luck on the rest of the wedding planning!
MVP | Aug 25, 2008
To combine finances, agree on a budget and pay off debt. Check, check and check (2.5 years later)!
Pamela | Aug 30, 2008
We were fortunate not to have any debt other than my husband's mortgage. Unfortunately, we had no savings. So the first order of business was to save 6 months living expenses (it was a recession).
My hubby had $500 in debt, so getting a house was a breeze.
My hubby is a good saver, I'm a good invester.
So I guess it worked out fine
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. It’s good to know that you and your soon-to-be spouse have already started making financial plans. I teach people to pay off their debts including all of their credit cards, loans, and mortgages in record time with little or no change to their household budgets. In the last 2 years our company has helped our clients pay off $155 million in debt. Using a webinar we can determine in less than an hour if you qualify for this service and it won’t cost you a dime to take a look.
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Shan | Aug 20, 2008
Shortly after we got married, my wife and I attacked our credit card debt in preparation of getting into a house.
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