Couple’s investing: how to balance each other out

Good morning Dinks. Money, money, money.  Let’s talk about how you and your spouse discuss money. You and your spouse most likely talk about money management, you decide how much you want to spend each month and what type of lifestyle you want to have – this includes your investment strategies.

Some couple’s have joint bank accounts, but not a lot of people have joint investing accounts. So let me ask you a question Dinks – do you talk with your spouse about how you invest for retirement? Just like every day bank accounts and your monthly expenses, couples can choose to maintain separate investment accounts or you can choose to plan your investment strategy together.  In basic terms, the best way to balance out each out is to be complete opposites.

4 tips to learn how to invest as a couple:

1. Set your goals together.  Couple’s can have both individual goals as well as joint goals.  The key to being happy when saving as a couple is to keep yourself in mind too.  One of the reasons why people – not only couples – don’t stick with their goals is because they feel neglected.  We are more likely to stick with something until the end if we don’t feel it’s too much of a burden or too big of a sacrifice, so set your couple’s goals together and know what you are saving for.  It can be as simple as planning your next vacation or it can be as long term as planning your retirement together.  Either way it’s good to set your goals as a couple so that you both know what you are working towards.

2. Take some risk.  If you are a high risk investor talk about it with your spouse.  If you are planning for a couple’s retirement or saving for another joint goal, it’s important to coordinate your investment strategy.  If you are saving separately for joint goals it’s a good idea to discuss how you are investing because if you are both taking too much risk you could end up losing all your money and not achieving your goals. This is not good for your savings or for your relationship.

3. Talk about how much you can save.  Saving for your goals is a part of your monthly couple’s budget.  If you have set too many goals as a couple you may not be able to afford them all.  You may have to pick and choose which goals should take priority and which goals should be set on the back burner – for now.  If your goals are unrealistic for your budget you can cut some goals out or you can prolong your goals which gives you more time to save.

4. Make sure you are both comfortable.  Setting your goals as a couple, balancing out each other’s risk and setting your budget as a couple will help you achieve your goals. If you or your spouse are not comfortable with any of these things it’s a good idea to talk about it.  This ensures that you are saving towards goals that you really want and your investment style is complementing each other, not hurting each other.

Photo by epsos

Kristina Tahnyak

Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.