Bad financial situations can happen when you lie to each other about spending habits, credit cards or other situations. It is important that your partner is honest or it can really hurt your relationship. These types of behaviors can really affect your finances, and it does not take long for them to destroy years of careful saving and hard work. If this seems complicated when it is just the two of you, it will only get worse when you have children. You should definitely seek counseling and look at dividing expenses based on percentages of income versus the fifty/fifty method or perhaps even combining finances. It can be difficult to spot this issue until you combine finances, but if it does come up, you may want to seek counseling before the situation becomes abusive or too serious. Once you are married, everything should be considered joint property and one spouse should not hang money decisions over the other. If your partner refuses to budget, you may need to seek counseling so that you can find a good way to communicate about your finances and to create a long-term plan together. This can make a huge difference in how successful you are at managing your money.
