Before You Marry, Consider Money

Posted on November 1, 2009 
Filed Under Focus on the Family, Marriage, Spiritual Life

A while back we enjoyed a conversation with “The Money Couple,” Scott and Bethany. They shared with candor and humor about the challenges that occur when husbands and wives have major differences in their individual approaches to money. Here’s where you can buy the CD of that discussion, or listen to it here.

I thought about that interview with the Palmers when I read this New York Times article, which cautioned engaged couples to consider money matters before tying the knot. The piece offers some good advice, although a number of the online comments reflected an unfortunate assumption that divorce is almost a given, and suggest preparing for “the inevitable.”

If you are looking for some good reading here’s a very fine book, offering a comprehensive treatment of a family’s finances. Good for anyone who struggles with balancing the checkbook – or prying the credit card from their spouse’s fingers. And financial expert Howard Dayton offers his perspectives on this subject in an appropriately titled book, Money and Marriage God’s Way.

Reflecting on my own situation, I am fortunate to have a wife who is pretty much like-minded about the money. We rarely have had arguments about finances. And that has freed us up to concentrate on our relationship, which is, of course, far more valuable than any savings account or item.

Hebrews 13:5 (NIV) says: “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” That may be the best counsel for an engaged couple. Love each other, not money, and you’ll avoid a lot of the most common problems plaguing marriages these days.

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