What To Do Before You Say “I Do” Again

October 11, 2016

As I anticipate all of the upcoming marriages, I think about two of my friends who are getting married for the second time. Second marriages make up 1/3 of weddings. One of my recently engaged friends getting married for the second time told me the first time she went into her marriage blinded by love. This time, the blinders are off and she wants to walk into her second marriage with her eyes wide open. I told her that this means having a tough, but loving financial conversation with her fiancée.

One caveat my husband asked me to include is this: I live in the south where the men eat and sleep college football so please respect the football or whatever your fiancé’s favorite sport season is and have the meeting at a time when he or she will not get distracted by scores. When you find the best time for a meeting consider reviewing the following:

1. Consider pulling up each other’s credit reports using websites like Annual Credit Report.com so you know what you are financially marrying. Ask about his or her plan to repay debt and their thoughts about the debt. Do they consider the debt to be a shared responsibility or just yours to take care of separately once you marry?

2. Review each other’s spending plan or at least your ideas on how you will spend money once you get married. If you are coming into the marriage with children, what financial obligations or promises do they have towards your child that will affect the household income now and in the future? Will you keep everything separate, together or have one joint account and two separate spending accounts? Discuss current and future financial obligations and a plan for how these obligations will be met.

3. If you have assets you are bringing into the marriage, consider a prenuptial agreement that can state how the assets will be divided in case of a divorce. As optimists, we want to believe our second marriages will last forever, but the fact remains that the divorce rate for second marriages is higher. Your EAP or prepaid legal plan may provide legal benefits to help you create your documents.

As you think of remarriage, remember that you are bringing a lot into the second marriage. Assets, kids, a credit history and money management habits can make or break your future marriage if they’re not discussed. Taking a few hours to talk about your finances with your future spouse can go a long way to building a strong foundation for your marriage.

How To Protect Your Credit From Data Hackers

October 09, 2015

It seems like almost every week I’m reading about another company getting hacked and customer data being breached. Within the last month, I’ve read about at least five major security breaches. So far, I have been fortunate enough to escape being one of the impacted customers of these hacked companies. Continue reading “How To Protect Your Credit From Data Hackers”

Good News For Credit Scores

March 13, 2015

At a time where I love to look for good news stories to combat all the negativity I’ve seen in the press lately, comes a very good news story for consumers. The 3 major credit bureaus have agreed to overhaul how they handle medical debt in credit reports. I meet with a lot of people who are looking for ways to improve their credit score so that they can buy a car, buy a house, get the nod of approval on a new job or many other reasons. Often, we look at a credit report and the biggest negative is debt from a medical provider. What’s amazing to me is that over half of the debt on credit reports is unpaid medical debt. That is gigantic.  Continue reading “Good News For Credit Scores”

What I Learned From Being a Victim of Identity Theft

October 26, 2012

A few years ago I was the victim of identity theft. Someone in Texas (where I’ve never lived…) was using my name and Social Security number and had gotten an apartment, satellite TV, utilities, and accounts with some local food establishments.  Oh, they went to the doctor a lot too.  Continue reading “What I Learned From Being a Victim of Identity Theft”