myFICO Valentine Survey

[Barry]

• Did you know that spendthrifts and tightwads tend to marry each other?

• At what point in a relationship should you discuss finances?

• Do you have a particular FICO score requirement when it comes to dating?

Just for fun, take the myFICO Valentine Survey and share any of your personal insights into this timely topic with the FICO Forums community in the thread below.

Message Edited by Barry on 02-01-2010 06:01 PM

[Anonymous]

We each have things we spend on and things we save on.  Fortunately we balance each other out on the save/spend scale.  But If there's one thing my own score has taught me, sometimes stuff just happens and credit scores may not be the most important thing in the world.   But I still really really want 700 club!

[Uborrow-Upay]

My grandfather always advised me that "It's just as easy to fall in love with a rich girl as it is a poor girl", but DW won't let me. 

[Anonymous]

LOL.   I won't let my husband fall in love with a rich girl either.   

[Anonymous]

My husband and I were badly matched.  I wanted to save for large things, but he spent it all on toys.  I was young, and thought that married couples should keep everything jointly.  I have made the mistake of being involved with men and not considering the finances thinking that someday it would all even out.  Nah! It doesn't.  If he is  in financial difficulty it is safer to assume that it is his habitual behavior that created the situation.

I guess I am trying to remind myself not to allow others to squander my resources, because I feel sorry for them.  What they love is spending my money!  Considering that my income is below poverty level, that makes them sad sacks indeed!

If I ever partner up again, I will want to make sure that I always have some money of my own.  And I think he should also.  

[laz98]

my girlfriend & i both like to spend money, but she likes to spend money on big-ticket items, like electronics.  while i do love my electronics, i'm less likely to go out & buy them.  for our own good, i control the money, & only let her buy things like that when i have looked at our finances & decided it will work out, & not leave us strapped for cash.

when we first got together, we were both spend, spend, spend, because we were both young & wanted to go out & have fun like everyone else.  of course, now we have a lot of credit card debt to show for it!  so i got us on a budget of sorts & have already cut our debt by 2/3.  at first it was very difficult, because i didn't know where to draw the line between save & spend.  but now we have a great system that works for us, & our debt is decreasing even though we still manage to have fun & buy many things that we both like.

one of the best things i could have done for our finances was teach my girlfriend the value of coupons & comparison shopping 

[dawsonmel]

I got a big chuckle off of one of the questions regarding disclosing your finances. I am married and still have yet to do so. I just feel like it makes things easier. The whole who makes the most just might not sit well with the "head of household" mentality in my world.  Maybe one day we will talk about it. I just feel like less is best.

[Anonymous]

Me and my wife are like ying and yang she saves I spend.  But I think I have finally come to her side. When we make big ticket purchases we both confirm, and decide if the purchase will pay off in entertainment dividends.  Love and money its a funny thing,  I am lucky we never have had a issue, I guess when your goal is to make sure your wife stayes happy, its always wise to make sure there is money in the bank for her to spend at her leisure. word to the wise its been 18 years and counting.

[haulingthescoreup]

It's hard to come up with a better arrangement than "yours, mine, and ours," even for those households in which one person stays and home and runs the household (equally important, IMO!)

Figure out the joint expenses and pay them from a joint checking account that is funded by both paychecks, if both parties work. Then each person should have their own account for which they are accountable only to themselves. If one party is a stay-at-homer, s/he should still have this separate account. We're grown-ups here, not 8-year-olds with 50 cent/ week allowances. (I'm showing my age here, lol.)

Don't forget to fully fund each party's retirement expenses and emergency savings before funding the joint account. And there can be hours of fun debating whether each party contributes the identical amount to the joint account or a pro-rated amount, varying by income. But IMO it's still important to acknowledge that the couple has financial needs and responsibilities, but so does each individual.

And needless to say, each party should have credit in his/her own name. This is so important in the case of one person's BK or death, not to mention the Big D.

[polo1929]

You make some valid points.  Me and my partner have started talking about our future and how our finances will or will not mingle.  We will each keep our separate accounts and open a joint account for bills when we move in with each other.  I've heard horror stories about marriages that fail because of financial troubles.  I'm a work in progress and fortunately for me he's a great saver.  He keeps on top of me and ask do I really need another pair of shoes or a handbag.  If I can not provide a valid reason for it then I don't buy it.