COUPLES: Can You Benefit from Hiring a Money Coach? by Daniel Rodriguez | Jun 14, 2019 | Love and Marriage Until now, you may not have even heard of a money coach… so how would you know if you can benefit from hiring one!? We created this simple quiz to give couples a general sense of their financial picture. Based on your answers, you can find out if you can benefit from working with a money coach. Ready? Let’s get started! 1. Do you know how much you spend each month on food (groceries and dining out)? I have a general idea, but it’s probably too much. I have a general idea, and it’s probably about right for my situation. I have no clue. I know exactly how much. None 2. How often do you and your partner talk about money? Only when we’re forced to talk about it - otherwise, we happily pretend it’s not an issue. Regularly, but our discussions could be more productive. If by "talk" you mean fight about it, then all the time! Once or twice a month, and whenever we want/need to make a big purchase. None 3. How would you describe the dynamic of your relationship? Two “spenders” One “saver” and one “spender” Two people who have no idea about budget, conscious spending, or money. Two “savers” None 4. How would you describe the way you feel about money? We can buy what we want to buy, but we would be in trouble if anything major (car breaking down, losing a job, health emergency) came up. We can probably do a little better. Money stresses us out. We feel very good about our finances. None 5. When it comes to money, which best describes your situation? One person manages our money, and this doesn’t work for us One person manages our money, and this works for us Neither of us really manages our money We both understand our finances and are working towards our goals None 6. Imagine you need to buy a car. What do you do? Go to a dealer or financial institution and see how much financing we can get, then buy a car we can afford (according to the loan). We know how much we can put down and how much we can afford each month for a car payment, so we’d shop around for a loan that works for us, and then buy a car within that range. We’re not sure, but we know it would be difficult. Pay cash for the car we want. None 7. How often do you and your partner argue over money? Every now and then Almost never Often Never None 8. What is your financial goal? We’d like to get out of debt. We’re slowly working toward paying off debt and/or saving (toward emergency savings or a down payment on a house) To not get deeper into debt every month. We have no debt and a fully funded emergency savings account. We’re working toward paying off our mortgage and/or early retirement. None 9. Which best describes your relationship with spending plans? We know how much our bills are each month, and we spend whatever money is left over. We have a budget for major categories (groceries, savings, housing, dining out, etc.) that we stick to most of the time. We don’t have a plan for our spending. We have a spending plan that we review at least once per month. None 10. What is your system for reviewing your finances? We check our bank account and credit card balances before we make decisions. One of us reviews our finances somewhat regularly. We don’t really have a system, and only check our finances when something goes wrong. We meet once a month or so and review our finances together. None Time's up
