{"id":465,"date":"2012-03-05T20:06:52","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T04:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/?p=465"},"modified":"2015-06-17T10:20:14","modified_gmt":"2015-06-17T18:20:14","slug":"couples-strategy-for-building-wealth-and-saving-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/couples-strategy-for-building-wealth-and-saving-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Couples Strategy for Building Wealth and Saving Money"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_467\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-467\" style=\"width: 125px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/wmw-2012.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-467\" title=\"wmw-2012\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/wmw-2012.png\" alt=\"Women's Money Week at the Cult of Money blog\" width=\"125\" height=\"125\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-467\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Relationships and Money Day for WMW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Do you want to effectively double your income or more without any extra work?\u00a0 Do you want to effectively cut your expenses in half while still having all the material benefits you have now?\u00a0 Do you want to go to grad school without loans even if you don\u2019t have a scholarship?\u00a0 All these benefits can be yours with a careful application of <em>Couples Strategy<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Now, some of this will certainly be easier for a traditional couple, and by that I mean a married couple or two people in a domestic partnership.\u00a0 However, all these strategies are possible without being married.<\/p>\n<h4>The <em>Couples Strategy<\/em> applies to:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Married couples<\/li>\n<li>Domestic partners of mixed or the same sex<\/li>\n<li>Roommates in the traditional sense<\/li>\n<li>Retired persons<\/li>\n<li>Friends<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The core of Couples Strategy is to strategically share expenses that were it not for being part of a group (I say couples Strategy, but it can be extended in some areas to multiple people, think of a Co-Op like Costco) you would need to pay the full amount of individually.\u00a0 This is most commonly seen in housing, and why so many people have roommates, because without a roommate to share the cost, you would individually need to pay for space which could be common.<\/p>\n<h4>The doctrines of <em>Couples Strategy<\/em> include:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Trust<\/li>\n<li>Complementary requirements<\/li>\n<li>The nice to haves compatibilities that will make the level of success greater and easier<\/li>\n<li>The ideas that make everything operate more smoothly<\/li>\n<li>What expenses you can share for mutual benefit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_596\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-596\" style=\"width: 272px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Couple11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-596\" title=\"Couple1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Couple11.jpg\" alt=\"Trust, a required element for this strategy to work\" width=\"272\" height=\"255\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-596\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trust, a required element for this strategy to work<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Trust is the first and foremost requirement for <em>Couples Strategy<\/em> to succeed.\u00a0 The agreement that you are entering into is to share the costs and benefits of your shared life.\u00a0 If you\u2019re worried that your partner in this enterprise will run off with your entire joint savings, there may be a problem.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have a joint savings, you still need to worry about whether your partner will pay the correct bill in the correct amount, and other details. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mint.com\/how-mint-bills-works\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bill pay<\/a> software really simplifies the chore. Of course along with trust, you need to be responsible to fulfill you end of the bargain, as does your partner.<\/p>\n<h4>Some complementary requirements for the <em>Couples Strategy<\/em>:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>A complementary outlook on savings \u2013 if your partner doesn\u2019t value savings as highly as you do, then keeping it up in the long run could be difficult.\u00a0 See my article on the WAVE method of saving money and reducing debt<\/li>\n<li>Similar levels of materialistic needs \u2013 If you don\u2019t need much beyond the life of a monk, but your partner wants to take trips to the all-inclusive spa in Italy twice a year, there may be a long-term problem for savings.\u00a0 If you\u2019re OK with a slight used car, but your spouse wants a new car lease every other year, again, this will not bode well for long-term savings growth<\/li>\n<li>Similar spending levels on kids or at least most areas \u2013 Related to the above, if you have kids (or even pets), you need to be on the same page with kid spending.\u00a0 Some people are diligent savers, but will buy anything little Billy or Betty wants.\u00a0 This could include school supplies or field trips, sports, musical instruments, new clothes, or the newest iPhone, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Chemistry and attitude to stay together in the long term.\u00a0 \u2013 Divorce, breakups or the ending of friendships are very expensive, both monetarily and in the energy expended.\u00a0 Make sure there is a test-drive period before committing long term to the <em>Couples Strategy<\/em><\/li>\n<li>No resentment about uneven spending levels, or negotiate some type of trade-off \u2013 Pretty straight forward.\u00a0 This may mean a monthly allowance for each person to spend (see the ideas to make things go smoothly below) or some type of time trade-off like you can spend on that, but you need to do dishes for the next 3 months<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_597\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-597\" style=\"width: 171px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Couple3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-597\" title=\"Couple3 - savings goals\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Couple3.jpg\" alt=\"Do you have similar savings goals?\" width=\"171\" height=\"188\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-597\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Do you have similar savings goals?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4>Other \u201cnice to haves\u201d for the <em>Couples Strategy<\/em>.<\/h4>\n<p>These are nice, but again not requirements like the others above:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Similar saving goals \u2013 If you both really would like to travel or build an emergency fund or save for a child\u2019s education, being on the same page certainly helps things.\u00a0 Otherwise you\u2019re going to save more slowly for multiple goals<\/li>\n<li>Similar lifestyles \u2013 Again, the more compatible the better.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying that if you\u2019re a morning person and you\u2019re a night owl you can\u2019t save, but opposites attract more than they successfully save<\/li>\n<li>Similar risk tolerances \u00a0&#8211; If one of you wants to invest in a risk real estate venture while another one isn\u2019t comfortable moving out of CDs into an index fund, the process of savings can fraught with problems. There are solutions however. A letting agent in Weybridge can help advise with real estate investments while a personal banker can educate about CDs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Ideas that make things go smoother:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Monthly \u201cslush\u201d funds to be spent in any way.\u00a0 These should be a minor part of the budget, however<\/li>\n<li>Similar incomes \u2013 this makes the sharing of expenses and the contribution to various savings accounts much easier.\u00a0 Of course this isn\u2019t something you can change in the short term, but is something that you could affect in the medium term with side businesses, additional hours, or a new job<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Areas where shared costs can benefit both parties:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Housing \u2013 many individuals use this, and several can pool resources for a single residence.\u00a0 This is probably the first (and usually only) area that most people even consider<\/li>\n<li>Health and Medical insurance costs \u2013 each additional (legal) person that is added to insurance is usually cheaper than 2 people having individual coverage only<\/li>\n<li>Home electronics \u2013 That bitchin\u2019 stereo and 60 inch TV are much more affordable split 4 ways<\/li>\n<li>Transportation &#8211; Sharing a car, either for different individual trips that don\u2019t overlap or carpooling<\/li>\n<li>Yard care equipment \u2013 Do you really need to mow your lawn each day?\u00a0 What about any given Saturday?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t think so, how about your neighbors and you go in on one?<\/li>\n<li>Baby-sitting duties &amp; child-care \u2013 Trade either weeks or months of child-care with other parents, then you can work part-time or start a side business<\/li>\n<li>Real estate (such as vacation rentals) \u2013 make your own timeshare.\u00a0 You can\u2019t be on vacation every week (at least not yet).\u00a0 You and a bunch of friends buying a place in Hawaii gets you all the benefits of a timeshare with little of the downside.\u00a0 Make sure you contract this carefully though.<\/li>\n<li>There are so many others, chime in down below in the comments!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_598\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-598\" style=\"width: 263px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Couple2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-598\" title=\"Couple2\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Couple2.jpg\" alt=\"Many different ways to use couples strategy\" width=\"263\" height=\"252\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-598\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many different ways and many different groupings of people can apply couples strategy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In conclusion, Couples Strategy is just an expansion on what college students have been doing for years.\u00a0 There are some real important requirements in order to make this a lasting strategy to save money, but the benefits are vast.\u00a0 It gets easier when everyone is on the same page, and better yet when you use some of the ideas to smooth out the rough spots.<\/p>\n<p>This post is a part of Women&#8217;s Money Week 2012. For more posts about Relationships &amp; Money, see womensmoneyweek.com.<\/p>\n<p><em>Readers, what other areas would work well for shared expenses, what makes things easier, and how would you use and expand on these ideas?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you want to effectively double your income or more without any extra work?\u00a0 Do you want to effectively cut your expenses in half while still having all the material benefits you have now?\u00a0 Do you want to go to grad school without loans even if you don\u2019t have a scholarship?\u00a0 All these benefits can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,14,13],"tags":[70,69,32],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}