Get Your Finances Organized As A Newly Married Couple

To get to where you want to go, you have to know where you are currently. This is where getting organized is important. You want to take the time to list out all your current financial accounts, where they are & how much is in them (hint: this will save you time when doing a net worth statement too). I prefer to use Excel/Google Docs to do this. Here is an example of the finished product:

1) Start with listing out all your accounts

• Bank accounts

• Investment accounts

• Insurance policies

• Credit cards

• Personal loans

• Student loans

• Mortgage loans

2) Put where the accounts are located

• You may have your 401(k) at Fidelity, your bank account at Capital One and your savings at Ally Bank.

3) Whose names are those accounts in?

• If it is an individual account, put the name of the account owner

• If it is a joint account, list all the owners

4) Do those accounts currently have beneficiaries on them? If so, who?

• You may have already listed a beneficiary on an account. If you have, be sure to list who that is. If you haven’t listed a beneficiary, that is okay. No need to take action right this second, however it is good to know this information.

5) What is the account valued at?

• While you are looking at this information, it is a good idea to just jot down the current value on the spreadsheet.

Once you have an organized place for all your accounts, this is where you can start deciding on how you plan to merge these accounts. It is helpful to have this organizer when doing the merging. You can visually see where you are sending money from each account to the new joint account.

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If you are not sure how to set up your bank accounts, read this blog here: https://www.moneymattersfortwo.com/p/how-to-merge-bank-accounts-as-a-newly-married-couple

Thanks for reading!

-Kolin

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Disclaimer: The content provided in this blog post is for educational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice. While every effort has been made to provide accurate and up-to-date information, the content on Money Matters For Two is based on personal research, opinions, and experiences. The financial landscape can change rapidly, and what may be applicable at the time of writing may not necessarily be applicable in the future.

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