#299 - Smart financial decisions for a long-lasting marriage
“Don’t get married! Don’t do it!” Those were the words of advice our guest of today’s podcast used to share with his friends and family. As one of Atlanta’s award winning Divorce attorney’s, Aaron Thomas, a graduate of Harvard Law School, has spent years working with couples during the painful side of marriage, watching them come to an end. Today, Aaron is happily married himself and no longer advocates against getting married, he does however, offer uplifting and positive advice for the consideration of prenups when planning a wedding. Michelle's discussion with Aaron, helps demistify why prenups get a bad reputation and how they can be a useful tool for couples who want to start their financial relationship in an intentional, transparent, and fair way. Click HERE to subscribe and unlock all of the amazingness: Ad-free, full episodes TBWPP Wedding Planning Resource Center Monthly Wedding Planning Happy Hours via Zoom with Michelle Bonus Episodes and more Big Takeaways Three Things that lead to a successful financial relationship: 1. Transparency | Disclose all your assets and debts when you come in. 2. Communication | Make agreements on certain spending habits. For instance, Aaron and his spouse communicate any time they are going to spend over $500. 3. Fairness | Buckets of spending are important. For instance, asking about spending that $500 is only when it is coming from the couple spending bucket. Then each person has their own account as well. If things do come to an end, can we handle it in a way that treats both of us fairly and kindly? Even if you never get divorced, having a pre-nup can do wonders for your relationship. In setting up the agreement, both people must lay out their entire financial situation, and this creates a vulnerability and understanding of each other that may never otherwise come. The pre-nup doesn’t just have to be about what happens if the marriage ends, you can add in comments about how money is spent and handled DURING the marriage. Creating budgets helps the couple experience things together on equal footing. You can create a pre-nup after getting married, it’s actually called a post-nup! If you can’t add the pre-nup in right now, at least have the conversation. Talk to your partner about your finances! Links We Referenced prenups.com aaronthomaslaw.com Evite.com/BigWedding Flower Moxie Use code BigWeddings for $25.00 off your purchase! The Big Wedding Planning Podcast is... Hosted and produced by Michelle Martinez. Edited by Veronica Gruba Music by Steph Altman of Mophonics On Instagram @thebigweddingplanningpodcast and be sure to use #planthatwedding when posting, so you can get our attention! Inviting you to become part of our Facebook Group! Join us and our amazing members. Just search for The Big Wedding Planning Podcast Community on Facebook. Easy to get in touch with. Email us at [email protected] or Call and leave a message at 415-723-1625 and you might hear your voice on an episode Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices