Tackling money early can save relationships
Justin Dux and Elizabeth Mills had been dating for six years when they began talking about marriage in 2006. But something big stood between them and a walk down the aisle: Dux’s stack of credit card bills.
The debt started to accumulate a few years earlier. While Mills was away at college, Dux bought into a rental home with a partner - an investment that didn’t work out quite as planned. Meanwhile, he hopped through a series of jobs, from painting houses to working for a cable company to a few business ventures. His income fluctuated wildly: from $55,000 in his best year to $24,000 two years later.
The result was about $12,000 of debt that he was at first afraid to reveal to Mills.
When she learned how much he owed, she was not judgmental, despite having just $6,000 in college loans and no credit card debt. She was, however, reluctant to start a life together with such a burden.
“I knew what his income was, and I realized how long it would take to pay that back,’’ Mills recalled. “Experience was showing that he wasn’t going to be able to make the money that he needed to overcome that debt.’’
Their story has a happy ending. Dux was able to pay most of what he owed by selling off his share of the rental house, and the St. Paul couple celebrated their first wedding anniversary last month. And learning to talk about their feelings and viewpoints regarding spending and debt bodes well for their future.
Experts say couples that deal openly and honestly with money issues early on have tackled one of the toughest topics in a relationship.
“I don’t know that I would say that finances are the number one cause of divorce, but they’re right up there with the top causes,’’ said Gary Nickelson, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
There are dozens of reasons money issues can come into play in a relationship, from uncontrollable factors like job loss during the recession to secret spending.
Such spending and the resultant hefty debt, in particular, are surprisingly common. A study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry estimated 5.8 percent of US adults are compulsive shoppers.
Often, spouses looking for help bare their souls in anonymous places like the forums of money management website Wesabe.com. “My wife has a long history with overspending,’’ one recent post began. “Twice in the past, she has run up over $10,000 in credit card debt without my knowledge.’’ Another came from a woman who admitted she ran up $30,000 on her cards. “If my husband finds out, he will divorce me.’’
Nickelson sees this a lot in his practice. “I see a lot of folks who have huge credit card debt,’’ he said. “There are people out there who have absolutely destroyed their relationships based upon their spending.’’
The recession, particularly the spike in unemployment, has accentuated financial issues for many families.
“If you lost a job, and you have commitments to kids, then the issue is money,’’ said Johnson. “But how you handle it is an issue in the relationship.’’
Getting things out in the open has worked, so far, for Dux and Mills. She now works at a public radio station, while Dux decided an education would help his future prospects. He is a full-time student working toward a degree in business education, and also has a part-time job.
“I’m not saying I have all the answers, but usually when we talk it out, it seems to make sense,’’ she said.
That hard part, said her husband, is not taking the conversation personally. “It’s easy to look at your balance sheet and say, ‘That’s me, it’s my fault and my mistakes.’ ’’ He said owning up to those mistakes and learning from them has helped strengthen their relationship.
Couples trying to work out financial issues may want to start with these steps:
