Couples Financial Planning Worksheet is nothing but creating a proper budget. Proper budgeting with your spouse or partner is one of the mandatory things that you must do. It helps and also allows you to track the expenses and plan accordingly to direct your earned money in the proper direction.

As per a survey conducted by NFCC, it has been found that only 40% of US citizens create a budget. Financial literacy is an important thing in life; it can help to create a healthy relationship as well. Can you guess why? It’s because creating a budget mutually with your partner or spouse can introduce better understanding.

It can be a bit touchy at first to create a budget for couples but slowly you will enjoy it. A budget is nothing but a worksheet of how you will be going to make your money work whether for expenses or savings/investments. So, you must revisit the budget often and stay dedicated to it.

Let’s explore more about the couples financial planning worksheet through this guide!

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How to Manage Finances As A Couple?

The best way to manage finances is to create a budget. So, you must know how to create a budget which you may find confusing due to various approaches. However, there are five basic steps to creating a budget.

Step1: Combine all income sources

This is the first and foremost thing that you need to figure out. You need to combine all the income from various sources that include both of you. The income can be combined weekly, monthly, or as per your preferences.

Here, the income source doesn’t need to be only the salary from your job. It must be combined and calculated that may include income from some side business, freelancing, dividends, rental income, or more.

After you figure out all the income sources, you need to jot down the amounts that you expect to receive from each source. Calculate the total and note it down because it is the maximum limit to go for that desired period.

Step2: Household expenditures

You must also be aware of the approximate monthly expenses that you have. This can include several bills, electricity, medical or even as small as your mobile’s recharge. Please note that the expenses may increase or decrease, so just take an approximate amount. For instance, your medical expenses can increase in one month.

Calculating the expenses will help you to get an idea of the places where your money will be going.

Step3: Estimation of the expenses

Some of the monthly expenses can be recurring. But even if it is so, the amount may vary from one month to the next. For instance, electricity expenses may decrease during the winter months whereas they can significantly increase in the summer.

So, while creating a new budget and managing your finances, it’s important to think of all these factors and make an estimate on how much you want to spend. You can always take an average of the last six months or one-year expenses to make an estimate.

This can help you to get an idea of how much you can decrease your expenses to have some liquid cash in hand.

Step4: Tracking the expenses

It’s of utmost importance to track your expenses to maintain a healthy budget. For couples, there are many ways to track those expenses for a particular period. You can use the Google Drive shared spreadsheet or even some budgeting apps which track the expenses automatically.

Step5: Meeting with your partner

As mentioned earlier, a budget must be revisited often and updated continuously at least once a week or month. So, for that to happen smoothly within couples, you must schedule a standard meeting with your spouse or partner whether any changes are required or not.

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The Complete Financial Guide for Young Couples

It is a fact that for young couples, money can be tight. Both of you may have just started your career and 50% of the income is going towards just paying back the college loans. It may also happen that you are not getting any job due to the slow job market in a sluggish economy.

So, we would like to provide a few tips that can help to manage the finances for young couples.

Thinking like a couple:

Now that you are no longer single, you should start thinking like a couple as well. Just like income becomes shared, debts, and other expenses also become shared among both of you. Discuss all your finances with each other and plan accordingly to have a stable financial future.

Try to minimize your debts:

As a couple, you also share debts among yourselves. But debts can eat up a lot of your income, so it’s always advisable to get out of debts and not take any more new debts. Taking new debts can make your payments get bounced which will affect your credit score badly and can increase the interest rates in future loans too.

Make a retirement plan:

Everyone should manage a proper retirement plan so that you don’t need to face any sort of financial issues in the future. Try to invest as much as possible and it’s better to take the option of riskier investments more since you both are young. Choose stocks, bonds, or real estate investments to enjoy the magic of compound interest and attain financial independence after retirement.

These are some of the major tips that can be followed to manage the finances as a young couple. Some more can include planning for a new home and following a smart strategy of finance management before it’s broken already.

Also Read: 8 Best Finance Management Tips For Employees

Budgeting for Unmarried Couples

A lot of unmarried couples stay together in the US. Building a strong relationship between the two is as essential as maintaining a budget for a smoother lifestyle.

As an unmarried couple, you need to sit together and discuss the expenses and create a budget. You can always create two separate bank accounts instead of a joint one but you need to have a mutual understanding of that aspect.

The expenses must always be split based on the income of both. If both of you are earning almost the same income, then dividing your expenses in half is a better option. However, if one is earning more than the other, then it’s always better to split your expenses based on that percentage.

Even after the other expenses, various monthly bills are required to be paid. That too must be discussed among you two to decide each one’s share.

Also Read: How To Spend Money Wisely As A Teenager In 6 Simple Steps

How Do Couples Save Money Together ?

Though it can differ, we have tried to figure out the 5 best and smart ways to save money as a couple. Those are as follows:

• Have a discussion with your partner and take time to create a budget flowchart or worksheet.
• Once you have the budget, keep track of your expenses at regular intervals, may be weekly.
• Talk with your partner to calculate the net income from all income sources of both of you and keep aside a certain percentage of that for savings. As recommended by financial experts, 20% of your income must be kept aside but it entirely depends on your finances.
• Always try to have an emergency fund and reduce debts as early as possible. It’s easier to save money when you are debt-free.
• Maintain a day of the week to discuss only about your finances with your partner.

How Do Couples Split Expenses ?

We have interviewed several couples and found out that they generally follow two methods of splitting the expenses. Their main goal has been the same though. They follow such a method of splitting the expenses that is not making anyone feeling guilty to spend money or taking permission from the other person.

Some couples split the expenses 50/50 which means they contribute to half expenses each. However, this is more prevalent in those couples where both of them have almost the same income.

In case of the couples with different earnings, they contribute as per the percentage they earn. Some also told in the interview that they just deposit their net income in a joint account from where they manage the expenses.

These are some of the ways couples use to split the expenses.

Budget for Couples Living Together

For couples moving in together, it’s important to have a proper financial worksheet. For that, both of you must know certain rules.

• Take out some time and talk about your goals, desires, and expenses in detail. No matter how busy you are, it is mandatory to have a conversation on these things.
• You are going to live together from now on; it’s a right for both of you to know each other’s salary, bank account status, credit score, etc. This will make the financial status of both more transparent and that can help to buy or rent a home.
• It’s also important to make a plan and have the expenses split up correctly. This should be done in such a fashion that it doesn’t lead to money fights later and ruin your relationship overall.
• Cohabitation agreement is compulsory to make which is a written document to manage your responsibilities as a couple.
• Schedule a date and meeting to talk about your finances since money fights aren’t desirable in a healthy relationship.
• Plan for an exit strategy too since there are possibilities that relationships can end in the long run. This may feel awkward but it’s the bitter truth also.

What Is An Average Monthly Budget for A Couple?

To make you aware about the average monthly budget that a couple requires, we will present two real-life examples. 

The first American couple has just started living together and they have completed one year. They don’t have any children yet. One of them was in retail sales while the other was a chef. 

Income	Net Amount of income monthly
Person 1 (in-hand pay)	$2500
Person 2 (in-hand pay)	$1500
Total	$4000

Major expenses	Amount (monthly)
One-bedroom house rent	$400
Groceries/Dine out	$800
Educational Loans	$500
Transportation cost	$450
Debt for credit card	$330
Utilities	$200
Internet and cellphone	$100
Health Insurance Premium	$250
Total Expenses	$3030

So, they are left with only 600-700$ per month out of which 200-300$ goes for some other fun activities like shopping, movies, etc. Hence, they can save around 400$ monthly which is just 10% of what they earn.

Now, in the second example, we will be highlighting expenses of another married couple with one daughter, living in San Francisco. One of them is a college academic advisor while the other is a school teacher.

Income	Net Amount of income monthly
Person 1 (in-hand pay)	$5300
Person 2 (in-hand pay)	$3000
Total	$8300

Major expenses	Amount (monthly)
Two-bedroom house mortgage	$1600
Groceries/Dine out	$900
School fees and utilities	$100
Afterschool care	$800
Transportation cost	$450
Child college savings	$200
Retirement savings	$1000
Utilities	$200
Internet and cellphone	$100
Health Insurance Premium	$250
Discretionary	$2000
Donations	$400
Clothing/Diapers	$200
Other debt	$0 (paid off earlier)
Total Expenses	$8200

Thus, this couple is only left with $100 in the pocket after a month.

Marriage Financial Planning Worksheet For Couples

A financial planning worksheet is a great tool to help you figure out your finances and stick to a budget. This budgeting tool will help you track your income and expenses, and will also help you determine how much money you have available to spend on various things. There are a variety of budget worksheets available, and you should choose the one that best suits your needs and goals.

Couples financial planning worksheets are also a great way to manage money in a relationship. If you and your partner are married, you should make a worksheet together so that you can monitor your progress and identify any potential problems. It’s important to include all relevant income and bonuses. Even if your partner doesn’t work in finance, having a budget together will help you better understand each other’s financial situation.

Couples financial worksheet can also help you understand your spending habits. A detailed analysis of your financial situation can help you understand where you can spend your money wisely and how you can reduce your debt. If you’re not sure where to start, you can use a free online editor to make changes to your financial plan.

You can also make a basic financial planning worksheet with a data program or pen and paper. Personal financial planning is all about keeping track of your income and expenditures. Make sure to include all income and expenses in categories, and add your savings and investments as well. A good financial planning worksheet will also take into account your insurance coverage.

Personal financial planning worksheets are useful for estimating your net worth, saving for retirement, organizing financial documents, and budgeting. They can also be a good way to learn about critical financial topics like taxes and managing money in the real world. As you complete your financial planning worksheet, you’ll be able to make informed decisions about how you can manage your money.

While some college students struggle with money management, it doesn’t have to be as difficult as it may seem. Using your pocket money wisely and working part-time is a great way to get started and stick with a budget. A financial planning worksheet can help you learn how to budget your money wisely and stick to it.

Your financial planning worksheet should take a snapshot of your current finances and your financial goals and then help you make decisions on how to achieve your goals. Make sure to review your financial plan at least annually and after major life changes. These budgeting worksheets will help you set priorities and help you make the best possible financial decisions.

Financial Planning Worksheet for Couples

Financial planning is an essential part of any relationship. Couples need to talk about their finances and make sure they are on the same page so that both partners have a clear understanding of their assets and liabilities.

Creating a financial planning worksheet can help couples track their progress, identify potential issues, and come up with strategies to address them.

Here are some tips for creating a financial planning worksheet:

Start by gathering all the relevant information about your income and expenses. This includes your salary, pension, Social Security benefits, rent, car payments, etc. Make sure to include any bonuses or other income you may receive every year.

Next, list all of your assets (cash savings, investments, houses, cars). Include the value of each item and whether you own it outright or have a mortgage or loan related to it.

Final Words !

So, we are now almost at the end of this guide. We hope that you have found this guide quite interesting and helpful.

The moral reason for creating a budget plan for couples is to play smartly and meet all your requirements easily and strategically.

Thanks, keep smiling, and have a healthy relationship!