Setting your couple
Wealth Goals
Imagine yourselves as a couple two decades from now. Where do you expect to be financially? What comforts do you want for yourself and your family?
What do you truly seek – and how will you reach for it?
Couple Financial Goals (PDF, 2 pages, 52 KB)
About your Wealth Goals as a couple
You need to think about your couple goals: some short-term, and some for the future, perhaps five to ten years from now. The clearer you are as a couple about your goals, the better.
Use our free Couple Financial Goals template as a starting point.
We've filled in a few goals to help get you thinking. There is lots of space to include more goals of your own!
Working with your Couple Financial Goals checklist
Download and print out two copies of the free Couple Financial Goals template.
Find some quiet time with your partner when the two of you can discuss your financial goals together and agree your financial priorities.
Some of you financial goals will be short term (say, 2-5 years) and others longer term (about 10-20 years). Prioritise your financial goals by asking:
"What goals will make us happy now" and "What goals will make us happy in the long term?"
When setting your couple financial goals, make them as specific, realistic and tangible as you possibly can. For example:
"We will save €10,000 each year for our retirement fund" is much better than "It would be really nice to retire at 50".
Create a plan to make your goals a reality. A first step might be to start putting aside savings now to clear short-term loans.
Once you've cleared even one small loan, the money saved can be used to pay off other loans ... one day you will be free of debt.
Make some hard choices. Putting aside savings each month may mean changing your lifestyle (less lattes, less clothes, less gadgets etc), but it's a sure way to clear any debts.
A new car might be nice to have, but buying a second hand car might help you achieve your goals quicker.
Start now! The sooner you start, the sooner you will reach your financial destination. Also, the power of compounding helps relatively small funds to grow into larger funds in the long term.
Remember: The absence of financial goals will create a financial gaol.
Financial Goals and your Cohabitation Agreement
Your Cohabitation Agreement expresses your shared vision of your life together in a legal document.
Ensure your Cohabitation Agreement is based on a solid foundation of open and honest sharing of all relevant information by:
Jointly completing the financial goals checklist.
Attaching your completed checklist, following a consultation with your financial advisor, as an exhibit to your Cohabitation Agreement.
Completing the financial goals checklist demonstrates that you have discussed and agreed your shared financial goals as a couple.
Also, your completed checklist will be an excellent starting point for your consultation with your financial advisor.
