A lot can happen in a year. You can become an entrepreneur or lose your company within 12 months. If things go well, your small business may outgrow its startup status. If things go wrong, you might be in debt and need to say goodbye to your employees. No matter how optimistic you are, it’s important to prepare for the worst-case scenario when you’re investing in a business with an uncertain future.
Amid all of these expectations, you may forget to check in with your partner regarding financial matters. This can lead to so many problems in your relationship.
Incomplete Financial Information
It’s the worst feeling when you have to explain to your spouse that those bills you have promised to pay are past due and are now causing a strain on your finances. They could have easily been dealt with if your spouse had known about them. This is also true for any small business loan that you plan to get in Ogden. You’ll want to be aware of your full financial situation before you apply for a loan to know your chances of getting approved. If you go to a lender blind to outstanding loans or unpaid bills, you might have just wasted time and effort.
Having Different Priorities
When you and your partner agreed to share your finances, it came with the assumption that you would both be thinking of the family’s needs first and foremost. This means that individual spending has a limit. If you had to choose between your personal needs and the family’s, the choice should be obvious. If you’re not having financial check-ins with your partner, one might think that there’s enough money to spend on renovation or remodeling, while the other is grappling with making ends meet. This disconnect will hurt the family and might even be a reason for divorce down the line.
Challenging Long-term Commitments
Even if you have a strong relationship and a financial strain will not lead to a divorce, it may still hinder the family’s growth. You can hide your financial problems from your spouse now. But when it comes out, it becomes such a big problem in the relationship that it stops you from accomplishing anything else without getting all your debt out of the way first. For example, if you and your spouse don’t talk about your student debt before getting married, you’ll think you’re on track to buy a house and to retire early. Then, the letters about unpaid student loan debt with their ballooning interest start coming and suddenly, you have to put a pin on all your plans. You know that the longer you avoid this debt, the bigger it becomes, so everything else suffers just to clear it out of the way.
It seems obvious that partners should be sharing their financial information with each other. But there are several reasons you might feel inclined to hide your debt. That fear of judgment is just not enough of an excuse to avoid the financial discussion, especially if it’s at the expense of trust in the relationship.
