Talking Money in Relationships

Hey readers! Today, we’re talking money and relationships!

There is always a stigma around talking about finances in relationships and people think it’s taboo but it’s 100% necessary. Love don’t cost a thing, but a house, car payment, and bills do. Seriously though, it’s important to discuss finances with your partner before getting too serious so you can be sure that you both are on the same page BEFORE disaster strikes.

When you are someone’s partner, you take on their debt, liabilities, and future bills. If you know your partner values working two hours a day and nothing more, you need to be honest with yourself and realize that you might be the breadwinner. And that’s important to realize early on, because maybe you had hopes of being a stay at home parent, or retiring early. But now, your plans have to change.

So how can you open up this conversation?

Start by being honest

Let your partner know what your financial expectations are. If you want a huge home, a summer house and a cabin in the woods but they’re okay with renting, you may have a problem. If you’re both willing to compromise, that’s one thing, but if you are dead set on what you want, you need to financially think if it is feasible with your current partner.

Review your individual debt

Go over your student loans, car loans, medical bills, etc. to ensure that you aren’t bringing more of a financial burden into the relationship than your partner. If you want your partner to be debt free but you are racking up 100K in student loans, that’s not necessarily fair. If you and your partner are fine with that, then that is another story, but you have to be sure you don’t java a double standard.

Start Planning Early

If you and your partner set certain financial goals, and you know you’re far from reaching them currently, set up a game plan. If you both want to have a combined savings of 20k in the next two years, figure out how you’re going to get there and how much you’re individually contributing. This will help you reach your goals and keep you accountable!

The Truth About Living With Your Ex

We recently had one of our readers write in to get some advice on living with their EX. They face the dilemma of having boundaries while still living in the same domain as their ex-significant other. This is such a tricky situation and more and a lot of people find themselves in it. Some people have to live with their ex because they can't break their lease. Others have to live with their ex because of the financial burden it will have on them to live on their own. If you share a mortgage with your ex, it's easier to just continue to split the bills than to go off and start paying the mortgage on your own. While we completely understand the reasoning behind living with your ex it does take an emotional toll on you. While there are some Financial positives to living with your ex, usually I like to steer the route of advising people to just make a clean break and live somewhere else or on their own. But this is not always possible, so what can you expect when living with your ex?

1. Lack of boundaries

Most people that I know that are still living with their ex talk about this the most. There is just such a lack of boundaries when living with your ex. Whether it's them being able to see everything that you're buying, or knowing you come home at 2 a.m. from a new hot date, it's hard to separate your life from them when they know everything about it. If you come home later than normal, this might cause you both to start a conversation and they might ask you where you were, who you were with, and what you were doing. When you are trying to emotionally move on from someone this is not always the best route. By opening up this conversation and leave letting them into your life, you can't truly make a clean break.

2. Emotional Confusion

This is another big one. When you were ready to break up with your ex you thought of every possible bad thing about them. From the way that they chew to the way, they like to start arguments. When you're still living with them you can't help but try and see some good traits. Maybe you got home late from work and you didn't have time to take out the garbage. You know it was really your day to do it but you just didn't have the time. You wake up the next morning in the garbage is already on the sidewalk. You start to think, maybe they're not that bad of a person. This emotional confusion can lead to trying to reignite the relationship, which will just lead to the same problems and heartache all over again (not in all cases, but in most).

3. The need for your own identity

And last but not least, you will feel the need to remake yourself and establish your own identity. You're still in the space with someone who you either feel wasn't a good fit for you, wronged you, or you just wish to not have a part of your life. You want to try so hard to differentiate yourself from who you are now and who you were with them. You'll have this innate desire to show them that you are doing better than they are or that you're doing better than you were with them. This is a full-time job in itself because instead of truly living for yourself, you are living to set an expectation of yourself with others.

So, my advice is always just to cut the cord. I understand that you won't always have the resources to move out on your own, and if you fall into this category, we hope that you consider these three things that can happen and you find a way to potentially avoid them.

FC Home & Deco’s Friendly Breakup Collection

It's no secret that during the pandemic, divorce rates rose, with couples being cooped up in the house and getting tired of one another's presence. While couples were ready to call it quits, they found themselves in a peculiar situation. They were unable to live on their own.

With the housing market forever in a flux, ebbing and flowing and changing by the day, couples realize that they were not able to sustain themselves on their own. With interest rates hiking up day by day and with competition in the housing market, couples realized they were financially better off living with one another while being separated.

This did create an odd opportunity for FC Home & Deco, a new furniture line that would focus on couples who are apart, living together. This line features tables and chairs that are easily split apart so that separated couples who are still in the same area can have their own space. Now, while this may sound odd, I'm all for it. As a marketer myself, this was an ingenious idea. This company saw a space to create this line because there was a problem for couples who are separated but still living together. They are still able to have functional furniture and they are also able to carry out the aesthetic of their overall home decor.

The furniture is practical but also stylish. Couples who still want to entertain, or have friends over, or coworkers, can still relish in the fact that their home has style and elegance but let's say they don't want to have dinner together, they have the option to split up the table and the chairs. What do you guys think about this? Would you be able to rock this in your home? Leave your thoughts in the comments!