How We’re Navigating Finances as a Newly Married Couple – Our Journey to Budgeting and Long-Term Goals

For anyone in a long-term relationship, about to get married, or already married, it’s common knowledge that you must have the dreaded conversation about finances at some point. The biggest question is always about joint accounts and whether you or your partner will go in this direction, as it’s a big decision. 

This Redditor posting in r/MiddleClassFinance offers a couple taking a “fresh look” at their finances, which they have primarily operated independently until now. However, they recently joined their finances and plan to stay mostly joint in the future. It’s great to see how they’re successfully managing everything, as this could be a lesson for other couples. 

Finances are well known to be a make-or-break decision for couples, especially early on in relationships. As a result, navigating this area smartly will be critical to building financial trust on both sides. 

Current Financials 

Looking at what the original poster provided, the couple currently lives in a high-cost-of-living area, without a car, as they don’t need one yet. Thankfully, they are both debt-free and both 29 years of age. They have combined their cash accounts, creating an estimated net worth of around $150,000 in cash and around $200,000 in combined retirement accounts. 

The wife is estimated to make around $134,500 this year with an $11,000 bonus, while her spouse is set to make $109,500 plus a $12,000 bonus. This gives them a combined budget of $270,300 when you add $3,300 for the husband’s pension contribution. 

Retirement Accounts

At first glance, this couple is doing a great job of managing everything, especially when you account for more than $75,000 being put away into tax-advantaged retirement accounts, including an employer 401(k), Roth IRA, HSA, and the pension. 

Household Budget

Another $52,000 combined is spent on expenses like groceries, pet care, utilities, insurance, and public transportation. Lastly, $51,000 is spent on combined family savings, expenses, and individual fun money of $12,000 ($6,000 each). Of course, this also means they are losing around $92,520 in taxes! 

Long Term Goals

Planning For Children 

With kids still 3-5 years away, it’s pretty clear that at 29, this couple has it mostly figured out, at least on paper, and they are in a mostly good (financial) place to bring children into the world. This isn’t always true at 29, so with the wife just receiving a promotion, it’s understandable they want to wait, but they should sleep comfortably knowing how financially prepared they are. 

Buying A Home

Even better news is that the couple hopes to buy their first home together and is looking to get pre-approved for a mortgage later this year. They want to know their buying power first, though they don’t intend to move immediately. 

They have a small apartment right now and love the location, but also know that buying a home means buying a car, so some expenses will go up. The original poster also acknowledges in the comments that purchasing a home would take them out of the city they are in now, so public transportation would be less available, solidifying the need for a car. 

Reddit Recommendations 

Unsurprisingly, some Redditors in the comments are concerned about the $12,000 “fun” money, which includes an additional $5,000 for vacation fun and another $5,000 for “fun” money. However, given how much this couple puts away in retirement savings, they have more than earned the right to have a little fun. 

Some commenters even say they are putting away too much in retirement at this age, so the couple is meeting with a financial advisor in the near future. They want to avoid feeling house poor, so they are hoping this meeting will either confirm that they are on the right financial track toward their goals or help adjust their spending to be on track. 

Another Redditor commends them for having around 9-12 months of emergency savings, which is right on the money for what you might want. This said, the couple is considering using some of their emergency savings toward a home down payment, which is risky, but if they have other savings available and can quickly build back up, it’s not the worst move in the world.

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