1. Understand Everyone’s Values
   We each have things that have influenced us in our lives. Whether it was how money was treated when we were growing up or our tendencies that evolved later in life. Everyone is different. It can be difficult to tell how we think about money and ultimately how we treat it just from our outward appearances and behaviors. One of the first things you can do is discuss it early with your significant other. Explore each of your values and priorities. There are tools out there to help you discover and discuss them. Think of it like The Newlywed Game and a chance to learn where you’re similar and different. If you can figure out how to manage differences early, you may be able to avoid major conflicts later.
2. Develop Joint Goals
   Early on, it can seem like everyone is on the same page. Maybe you both want to pay for a wedding, a honeymoon, and buy a home. However, you may find bigger differences on the smaller things. Do you want to buy or lease your next car? Do you want to drive your cars into the ground or get new ones regularly? Does someone want to “live for today” while the other wants to “save for tomorrow?” The goals that you both share are going to have the greatest chance of success. That doesn’t mean that you have to be of a single mind for every goal, but finding common ground and comprising can prevent inadvertently working against each other.
3. Make a Spending Strategy The key to financial balance is spending less than you make. It works equally well for couples as it does for individuals, but it’s tempting and easy to get over our skis. Sometimes, going from one to two incomes can be temptation to upsize the lifestyle. But as a team, you’ll really need to figure out where the money is going and what you can afford to spend. Often, a strategy of “yours, mine, ours,” where each person gets some of their own discretionary money and the rest is pooled to take care of regular bills, can help new couples. The amounts will vary between couples, so the key is to find a balance that works for you and is sustainable. You want to make sure that you’re able to take care of your family’s needs and wants, and still save for the future.
4. Protect Yourself From The Unexpected One of the often overlooked areas for new families and couples is protecting for the unexpected. Since you have other people who depend on you now, it’s important to have a plan in place. That starts with an emergency fund to cover unplanned expenses or the loss of income. It may also be the first time that you’ll need to look at traditional insurance products such as life insurance (especially if you have dependents) or disability insurance if you’re unable to work. You don’t want to let an unexpected event derail the future of the people who depend on you.
5. Do The Legal Stuff Prenuptial agreements are often considered unromantic, but for couples coming together with significantly different assets or other family considerations, a prenup can often provide clarity and certainty where there might otherwise be lingering questions.

Wills and trusts are another topic to discuss. If something unfortunate happens, are there clear instructions on what should happen with your estate? Are there (or will there be) children who need to be taken care of? Completing some of these documents can be done quickly and can have major benefits if the unforeseen happens.

This is just a sampling of the things that you might need to consider as you enter your new phase in life. Everybody’s situation will be different. But as you become part of a family unit, you’re going to shed some of the freedoms of the single life in order to take care of the people who are counting on you.

Raising money-smart kids can take many different forms. But first, you need to be able to talk about money with them in terms they not only “get,” but in ways that are fun and motivating as well.

Most adults hardly ever talk about money issues with their kids. If this is you, one step you can take to at least start the conversation may be giving your child cash to pay for something you’re doing with them. Or, maybe it’s giving him or her an allowance to start teaching basic money management. Whatever you do to start the conversation, it’s important to look for opportunities to continue it.

The best opportunity to get started comes when you, as the adult, face financial decisions. Use these moments to explain what happened, why it happened, and what the result was. These don’t have to be big successes or failures. In fact, small moments can be just as eductional without causing undue stress or worry in a child who may not understand all the implications. Maybe you saved more than you planned in a particular month. Share this success. Or maybe you needed to make a choice – say, selecting a cheaper vacation so you could put away more money toward a long-term goal. Explain this decision to your child. This will show the child that finances play a big role in life and aren’t always easy to navigate.

Once you’ve opened up the conversation about finances, you can start teaching more specific financial behaviors based on the child’s age and learning style: visual, auditory, read/write, hands-on. Here are some ideas of specific financial behaviors to teach for different ages to help get you started:

Ultimately, the more you customize how you teach and model financial behaviors to your child, the more progress he or she will make towards becoming financially independent in the future.

For more ideas on which financial behaviors/topics to teach at each age, check out: Money as You Grow (Source: President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability).

Also, please tune into our July webinar. You’ll see one of the parents on our MoneySteps Team explain how he is attempting to raise money-smart kids.