So you’re ready to tie the knot! You hear wedding bells everywhere you go, and you’re living out married life in your imagination. Marriage is a beautiful thing, but it isn’t something you should rush blindly into. There are some things that you shouldn’t find out about a person after you’ve walked down the aisle with them.
Once you marry someone, legally dissolving the relationship is difficult and expensive. The more you know right now, the less likely you’ll be to make a decision that’ll cost you in the future. Continue reading to learn what conversations you and your future spouse have to have before you jump the broom.
Your Ideas About Religion
You’ve probably heard the ageless wisdom that you shouldn’t discuss politics or religion at work, right? It’s sound wisdom—politics and religion start wars, literally. However, you will inevitably discuss them at home with your future spouse, so it’s best to discuss both of those topics before the wedding day.
Religion is a polarizing issue because, for many people, their religion is their spiritual identity. For others, they may believe in a specific religion but not practice it devoutly. And still, there are some who practice no faith at all. With so many degrees of faith—or faithlessness—it’s important to know where you and future spouse stand.
Your Thoughts On Children
When you start thinking about marriage, it’s only natural to think about children as well. The two are synonymous for many people. But believe it or not, there are people who have no desire to raise kids. Be honest about what you want, and listen to what your partner wants as well. To raise children, you two will have to be a team in every possible way.
Past Relationships
A key indicator of how someone will treat you in your relationship is how they treated the person they were in their last relationship with. Now that doesn’t mean you need to brush off your spy skills and go track down your future spouse’s ex like they’re a rogue asset. You just need to have a conversation with your significant other.
It’s important to know if the person you’re ready to commit your life to has ever been abused or abusive. Whether he or she has ever cheated or been cheated on. You want to know why the last relationship didn’t work out. There are key clues in the answers to all of those questions.
When relationships end badly, they’re damaging. You don’t want to bring stress from a bad relationship in your past into your new marriage. If you’re still dealing with hurt from a past relationship and it’s affecting your current one, then you should seek couples counseling.
Emergency Financial Plans
When you marry another person, you’re also marrying your financial security to them as well. When you live together, your financial situation will be theirs and theirs will be yours. You need to have a plan for if one of you finds themself unable to work because of injury or sickness. You even need to have that uncomfortable discussion about what to do when one of you passes away.
When it comes to securing your financial situation, there is no assurance like insurance. No one looks forward to having to shop for life insurance coverage, but it’s necessary to make sure that you both could financially survive should the other pass away.
When shopping for any kind of insurance, it’s important to get the level of coverage you feel comfortable with and stay within your budget. Compare life insurance with iSelect and save time and money.
Joint or Separate Banking
Marriage is all about two becoming one, but people get a little touchy when you talk about their finances. However, you need to talk with your future spouse about your financial future together. One of the biggest questions will be whether to have joint accounts or continue to bank separately. Whichever you choose, it’s important that you remain transparent about your finances.
