The Couple Who Plan Together Stay Together...

My wife is an accountant - so between the two of us we've got the whole salary sacrifice thing down pat, and we both love getting those franking credits back at tax time... Long term we think we've got it sorted - pay down the mortgage, regularly contributing to our super funds, and eventually retire somewhere near the beach. However deciding how to manage our money in the more immediate future takes a little bit more work and compromise - should we send the kids to private schools or give them real life experience with regular overseas trips? There is plenty of evidence around that suggests financial problems are one of the biggest reasons for divorce. Financial problems don't discriminate on income either - in fact it's probably more common among higher income earners, where the main bread winner will limit their partners access to money and not involve them in family financial decisions. So what can we do to make sure this doesn't happen to us? Communication is the key - Sit down together as a family and work out your short term and long term goals. Work out what is really important to each of you - then devise a strategy that helps everyone achieve the things that are really important to them. Yes there may be a need to compromise - but if you work together then everyone will be much more likely to succeed.