A budget for engaged couples

by Crown Financial Ministries

Because finances have tremendous potential to create either harmony or conflict in a marriage, engaged couples need to prepare their budgets both individually and together to demonstrate before marriage that they can live on their income. Couples who decide not to budget usually end up trusting credit instead of trusting God.

Engaged couples should talk about credit cards and how to handle them. They should agree to cut up the cards and never use them again the first time they are unable to pay the full balance at the end of the month. They should talk about savings. Usually, one will want to save and the other will want to spend, so engaged couples need to set boundaries before they marry. They will need to decide what type of insurance and how much they will need. They should talk about whether the wife will work after having children, and if not they should prepare early to live on only one salary.

If an engaged couple can't agree on money issues before marriage, they may need to postpone their marriage until they can. In the Articles section of our Web site under Pamphlets, is the online pamphlet, “Before You Say I Do”. Using this pamphlet as a springboard for discussion, engaged couples can start working through important financial issues. At some point they may want to talk about buying a home, but there are so many big decisions and adjustments early in a couple’s life together that we encourage newlyweds to rent for the first year of their marriage.
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The sales portion of this article (the last two paragraphs) have been omitted as they were a sales pitch to engaged couples to purchase books and tools to help them plan their finances. If you are interested in these materials, please visit: Crown Financial Ministries.