21st Century Couples? It’s Time to Upgrade Your Marriage Vows

Marriage vows are sacred. The promises you make to stand by each other’s side ‘for better or worse, for richer or poorer’ last forever. These vows mark a change in your life. Be it new responsibilities or change of lifestyle;marriage brings many other things. However, after the initial euphoria of the wedding, comes the realisation that a change of lifestyle is not that easy.

These changes include hanging out with friends, doing what you want and even managing your finances. And let’s face it there is nothing romantic about money talk. However, its importance can neverbe denied.

Therefore, the time has come for new couples to upgrade the old age marriage vows to much more practical and informative vows so that they can lead their life peacefully. Vows like making investments, savings, and complete transparency of finances are the ones that should beon your list. These vows will help you better in the future.

After these vows, come the steps that you should take to ensure that you will be financially secure in the long run. In this article, we have listed a few important ones. Keep reading to know more:

Discuss Your Goals

Goals can be financial or personal, short-term or long-term or even what you expect out of your spouse. Discussing these goals is very important as a newly married couple. Once you know each other’s expectations, decide how you are going to achieve them. Furthermore, you need to review them on an ongoing basis to ensure that you both are in sync and on the right path. This will help you in trusting each other at a deeper level and will allow your partner to know that you care for them.

Create an Emergency Fund

Emergency, as the name suggests, can fall on you anytime. It could be a loss of job, significant disability, or even a disaster that destroys your house. By saving in an emergency fund, you will be financially prepared to tackle these situations. You must always commit a part of your income to that emergency fund so that in time of need you have adequate savings. Where you keep this emergencyfund is a personal choice, but you must have it.

Review Your Insurance Coverage

Do you have a life insurance policy? If no, then buy one and if yes then check if the coverage is adequate or you need to increase it. Having life insurance is like a safety net so that if something were to happen to you, your spouse would not be left high and dry financially. After marriage, considering these things becomes essential as you have the responsibility of another person on you.

Moreover, one other thing that you must take into accounts, are either of your parents financially dependent on you? As your parents grow older, the costs of medicines and treatments also increase. Therefore, if they are financially dependent on you, you must make a provision for that.

Manage Your Expenses

The biggest problem millennials have is that they tend to live from salary to salary. If you also belong to this category, then you need to change your outlook. After marriage, this way of life causesthe majority of problems between couples. Your individual outlook towards money will set a foundation to your financial well-being as a couple.

You need to control impulse purchasing problem if you have one andmust think about your future. You can resolve this by opening a joint account together and getting credit cards to track and manage your daily household expenses better. How much you put in the account, that’s your personal decision. But once you begin this, managing your expenses will be a lot easier.

Start Investing

Investments are essential to attain long-term financial goals. Once you get married, you need to think of the future- whenyou will have children in your life or when you are nearing your retirement. By opting for long-term investments like a ULIP scheme, you can achieve your future financial goals without last-minute financial stress.

ULIPs are instruments that offer you both investment option and life cover. You also have an option to choose among different types of ULIPs based on your investment objectives. Be it for your retirement, your child’s education or their marriage;insurers today offer ULIP plans to best suit your needs.In ULIPs, you can choose the funds you wish to invest in according to your risk appetite.

Moreover, insurers like Max Life Insurance also provide you with theoption to switch your funds from equity to debt or debt to balanced according to your preference. These switches are free of cost (mostly 12 times a year). With ULIPs, you also get tax deductions under section 80C up to Rs. 1,50,000. Further, you get tax exemptions on maturity and death benefits in the ULIP scheme under Section 10D.

Concluding,

Marriage is the start of a new chapter of your life. Hence, it is crucial to establish a strong financial foundation. Most of the couples delay their financial discussions and face problems later on. It is imperative to establish financial goals and find ways to accomplish them. By starting early savings, managing expenses, purchasing life insurance and investment instruments, you can make your future much better.