First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes … the visit to the financial advisor?
Yes, getting married means sharing your financial life. And if you’ve been visiting a financial professional as a singleton, then tying the knot should include a rethink of your relationship with your financial guru.
“Now that the dynamic of the family has changed, it’s important to make sure it’s a good fit all around with the advisor and the clients,” says Shashin Shah, a certified financial planner and director at SFMG Wealth Advisors in Plano, Texas. “The couple should come in together and formulate a brand-new plan with whole new questions.”
A spouse should introduce his partner to his financial professional, taking a meeting to discuss retirement goals, investment questions, insurance needs, estate-planning documents and other financial must-dos. Here’s what to know about your first “couples visit” to a financial planner.
[See: 8 Times to Talk to a Financial Advisor.]
Re-interview your advisor. As a bachelor or bachelorette, you may have been totally happy with your financial advisor, but that doesn’t mean that he’ll still meet your needs when you become a couple.
Use this first partnered visit to re-interview your advisor, making sure that you, your spouse and your advisor are on the same page when it comes to financial strategies and goals.
It’s important that everyone feels heard and included in the conversation, experts say. After all, this financial advisor may become the money referee of your married life. “If they gel nicely with one spouse, hopefully they’ll gel nicely with both,” says Eric Dostal, a certified financial planner and advisor at Sontag Advisory in New York City. But schedule that meeting, just to make sure.
Also take this meeting — and the time leading up to it — to talk with your sweetie about which assets and expenses you’ll share and which you’ll manage separately. These decisions may impact the kind of conversation you have during your couples visit. If you choose to keep your financial life and assets separate, then there may be less to think about as you combine your lives. If you choose to share everything, then you’ll be embarking on a more complex financial journey.
[See: 7 Signs Your Romantic Partner Is Financially Unstable.]
Do it at the right time. The earlier you can schedule your couples visit, the better. “I would advise [clients] to do it within the first six months of being married,” Shah says.
Better yet, make a pre-wedding meeting, experts say. Not only can you use the chat to address questions about wedding expenses and debt, but you’ll be able to make a tax plan for the coming year. That’s important because, even if you marry on Dec. 31, the Internal Revenue Service will see you as having been married for the entire prior year, Dostal says. Talking to your financial professional before the wedding means that you can dodge an overwhelming tax bill in April.
[See: Decode These 10 Vexing Financial Terms.]
Bring supporting documents. Experts disagree on whether that first meeting should involve lugging your financial documents. “Generally, for the first visit, I don’t require them to bring anything unless they specifically have an account that they want to go over,” says Greg Gulick, a certified financial planner at Nations Advisors in Dallas. “It’s information-gathering at that first meeting.”
But if you do have specific questions about estate planning, insurance, health care benefits or another topic, then take the opportunity to bring in documents that support your inquiries. Scrounge up your previous year’s tax return, financial statements, brokerage statements, bank statements and other financial documents that relate to your questions.
Don’t forget estate-planning documents and insurance paperwork, experts say. Those aspects of your financial life will likely need updates after you tie the knot.
Do your homework. This first meeting may be a jumping off point to do some financial homework. Your financial advisor may send you to your tax preparer, estate planning attorney and human resources office to update important financial and legal forms. Or he may send you to the kitchen table to follow up on questions and conversations.
Complete these assignments as soon as possible, so that you can start married life on a strong financial note.
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How to Prepare for Your First ‘Couples Visit’ With a Financial Advisor originally appeared on usnews.com
