A successful or long lasting married life depends on a number of factors among which money is one. The life of both bride and groom takes a new turn after marriage and they need to handle things in a new way including the finances. The changes of life are more prominent in the case of the bride as in most of the cases the wife has to join the husband’s family. Maintaining financial independence after marriage may sound complex at times. Generally, in marriages couples share almost everything such as responsibilities, family finance and so on. While being in a relationship like marriage, maintaining your financial independence one needs to have some serious consideration.
To start with, both the partners must acknowledge the fact that household finance is no longer solo responsibility of the husband. Being a modern woman, one has to take part in important financial decisions. If the woman is working then making a contribution in family finance is expected. The freedom of any kind comes at a cost. If you want to be financially free, you must learn how to handle your responsibilities towards the family. Taking a holistic view of monetary health will help a woman to set financially free. Even if the wife is not an earning member of the family, she can help to manage the finances of the husband.
However, taking part in family finance also includes money talks between the partners. Both partners should occasionally discuss family finances. The discussions may include financial goals, the investment instruments, monthly budget, planning a trip and so on. A discussion and reviewing the decisions taken in past will set a clear picture of family finances. When you are aware of the financial condition of your family, you can make better individual financial decisions which will bring a sense of financial freedom to you.
Though having a joint bank account, sharing the responsibilities, helping each other in paying utility bills etc. are recommended in married life, maintaining a separate account by the women is also required. A separate account will give her a sense of financial freedom as she will be able to control her personal savings or investments. Maintaining a personal bank account will enable her to spend some amount of money without any consultation with her husband. This practice of keeping some amount separate in her bank account will give her loan eligibility, credit card eligibility too. A personal saving can be used as an emergency fund or building up retirement corpus and so on.
Needless to mention that marriages bring change in our social and financial life but it never means that the financial freedom of the woman is going to be lost. Whether the woman is a working woman or not, financial freedom is the right of every married woman. To become financially free, women have to have social freedom. The women who contribute her opinions in the family finances has already taken a step towards the financial freedom in married life.
