Money in Marriage : Sole-Proprietorship or Partnership?

At 19 I was attending a community college and working a part time job at a shoe store.  I had been engaged for about two months.  My Nana, Papa and I went shopping for my wedding dress.  I found the dress I wanted in the very first store we went into.  Have you every seen, "Say Yes to the Dress" on tlc?  It takes some of those brides 100 dresses before they finally find the one they want.  I tried on about three dresses in that store and among the three was the one I ended up purchasing.  I put it on lay-o-way with the dress store and made payments on it til' I paid it off.  It took me about 6 months and the dress was mine!  This was my first grown up payment and purchase that I had ever made.  I was extremely proud of this dress because I had worked hard, paid for it myself and it was beautiful!  I had never seen a dress like this one before. 

At that time, I kept an extremely detailed hand written ledger of all my debits and deposits.  I only had to report to God and be a good steward of the finances He had given me.  One day, I noticed a discrepancy in my statement of purchases.  I took my hand written ledger to the bank and sat down with them to go over what was missing.  I knew that my numbers were not wrong.  I made sure I kept great record of everything.  I handed over my ledger to the lady in the bank and her reply was, "I have never in all my years of banking seen such a detailed itemization of purchases and deposits in a member's ledger."  I was shocked because I thought everyone did their finances like I did.  I mean isn't that why they send this ledger out to you along with your checks?  For recording all your debits and deposits?  Anyways, the whole discrepancy got worked out and in my favor because I kept great records.

When you get married, finances and merging checking accounts are one of the major learning curves and adjustments.  Some couples just don't even do it.  They keep their own account and income but share the same bed.  I, personally, don't understand the reasoning behind that but that's what some wish to do.  When I married my husband we merged ours.  Learning what the other spends their money on is important.  I think all engaged couples should be able to know what their future spouse spends their money on so they can learn if the life style of that person coincides with the others.  Everyone is raised differently.  Your future spouse might have been or not have been taught how to manage finances a certain way.  On the other hand you might have been taught a completely different way.  What might have been acceptable to spend a lot of money on in your future spouse's childhood home might have not been the same case for you.  Again, you are getting schooled in marriage here.  Finances are a large percentage of that exam.  Learn what your future spouse spends a majority of their finances on and make sure you both come into agreement on what your household standard will be. 

Tithing should be a very common transaction in your ledger.  If it's not in your future spouse's ledger then you might need to re-evaluate proceeding forward with marriage.  A divided house cannot stand.  You both have to be in agreement from the beginning.  God and finances are what make a marriage live or die.  Love for one another is what started the whole fairy tale of happiness but without agreement in your finances you will not be able to keep stress out of the checking account.  You both work hard and smart on making sure that the sufficient amount of finances are rolling in to provide for your household.  Staying in agreement on how those finances are spent will eliminate all confusion and lack of money in times of need. 

Keeping proper records will prevent an outside source from stealing your money.  No one should know more about your finances than yourself.  You should treat your personal finances like a small business. 

1. Know your numbers. 
2. Know your transactions. 
3. Know your connections. 
4. Know your profit and loss.  

A smart business owner keeps detailed records of all the above listed four.  You may say math is not your thing but when it comes to your personal hard earned money math becomes your best friend.  Make knowing your finances a priority.  Business partners never leave each other out of the decisions crucial to making the business successful.  A sole-proprietor goes at the business alone leaving all assets and belongings available for the taking if something goes wrong with the business.  Protect your assets by getting incorporated together with your partner, a.k.a your spouse.  Join together as a team allowing the investment to be shielded from outside sources.

The monthly income means nothing if there's no profit left over.  A business cannot stay a float without a profit.  Businesses go bankrupt due to increased loss month after month.  This bankruptcy can result in divorce for a married couple.  There are ways to prevent bankruptcy in marriage.  Ways to prevent this are:

1. Tithe
2. Stay in agreement
3. Always include the other
4. Know your business better than an outside source
5. Make purchases you can pay in full or payoff quickly
   

SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DO WHAT UNSUCCESSFUL PEOPLE WON'T DO.  Be those successful people and surround your life with other successful people.


#SHARE via FB or Twitter   (available on the mobile version of our blog)

Did this blog help you?  Comment below and let us know your thoughts but please remember to keep them clean and abide by the blog privacy policy.

Don't miss next month's blog! Subscribe below.