Married with Finances

As wedding season begins to heat up, legions of brides and grooms are fixated on dress fittings, guest lists and last-minute changes to the rehearsal-dinner menu.

If you're part of this harried crowd, this might not be the best moment to make you focus on your financial future after marriage.

Here's 10 top financial tips for newlyweds:

• Figure out how much pocket money you each can have.
This is a small weekly sum to spend on whatever, with no questions asked. It will cut down on arguments about petty stuff.

• Share your secrets.
You don't want bad surprises every time the mail comes — and delivers another big credit-card or student-loan bill your new spouse wasn't expecting, said David Woods, president of the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education, or LIFE.

Lay your cards on the table, and come up with a plan for paying the bills without tears.

• Change your retirement accounts to list your spouse as the beneficiary. This goes for your 401(k) or 403(b) at work, and your individual retirement accounts.

• Write a will, or update the one you have.
"If you don't have one, the state or the courts will decide when and how your spouse gets your money — and charge a lot for it," Woods said.

• If you both work, figure out whose health insurance is better, and sign up the other spouse. Or, if one of you is worried about losing your job, this is a good time to switch to your spouse's health plan, Altfest said.

• Establish an emergency savings fund.
It should be worth at least six months of take-home pay. The money won't materialize by magic — you have to start saving. Get a copy of Quicken Basic personal-finance software, and get going.

• Start an investment account for buying a home.
In New York City, where two-thirds of the residents are renters, probably neither of you owns a house or apartment.

"Why not use some of your wedding-gift money to start this fund?" Altfest said.

• Create new goals together.
"He wanted a speed boat, she wanted Prada shoes. What do you want together?" Altfest said. "Chances are, the goals you had before you married are going to change."

• Get life insurance.
"You need life insurance if somebody will suffer financially when you die," Woods said.

• Don't go it alone — hire a financial adviser.
Trained professionals can guide you on how best to work your way out of debt, prepare to buy a home, handle the expenses of having children and plan for retirement.

New York Daily News