More than half of engaged couples disagree with partner on financial goals, survey finds

(InvestigateTV) — A new study from wedding planning website Zola and NerdWallet found 54% of engaged Americans don’t agree with their partner on financial goals.

Kim Palmer, personal finance expert with NerdWallet, said it’s important to have open communication between partners about how much everything costs and how it will be paid.

“The key to avoiding all that strain is really first of all, to get on the same page with your partner and make sure you talk through your priorities,” Palmer said. “Because there are so many ways to cut back on spending during the wedding planning process, you might decide to prioritize the food part or the flowers and cut back on something that isn’t as important to you.”

Palmer said couples should create a wedding budget to figure out how much they can spend and to prioritize their spending.

“You might have generous family members that have said they want to contribute, too, which is always very helpful,” Palmer said. “And what you want to be careful of is using a credit card and taking on extra debt to pay for your wedding because in that case, then you’re carrying high interest debt into your marriage and that can just cause some financial stress early on as you’re just starting out.”

Using credit card rewards to help cover some bills is also a possibility, especially for honeymoon costs, Palmer said.

Palmer recommended couples schedule regular money chats to make sure they are on the same page about how they are paying for the big day.

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