Fall in Love with Your Finances

Fall in Love with Your Finances This Valentine's Day

By: Greg Stapleton, Associate Wealth Advisor

Valentine’s day is rapidly approaching. It’s the season of love! While you focus on making sure your Valentine knows how special they are to you, I want to help you love your finances. Here are 3 ways to fall in love with your finances this Valentine’s Day:

 1. Get on the Same Page as Your Loved Ones/Spouse

Money is often a sensitive topic in relationships, but open communication is key to financial harmony. Schedule a “money date” with your spouse or loved ones to discuss your financial goals, budgets, and dreams. Talk about your priorities—whether it’s buying a home, saving for retirement, or taking a dream vacation—and make sure you’re aligned. When you’re working together, managing money becomes a team effort rather than a source of stress.

When my wife and I got married, we were both working full-time jobs and receiving a decent wage. We were young and making enough that we didn’t think we needed to budget very much. We talked about paying down debt and we worked together to make general financial decisions, but we didn’t worry about much.

About a year and a half after we were married, our first daughter was born, and we decided that my wife would become a stay-at-home mom. We knew it would require many sacrifices, but we both thought it would be worth the hardship.

It also meant that our budget was suddenly very tight. After a few months of loose budgeting, we realized that we would not be able to continue without more accountability. I turned to the ultimate financial tool—Microsoft Excel. I whipped up a beautiful spreadsheet that automatically calculated our monthly budget. I was so proud!

We used the spreadsheet for about 6 months with very inconsistent results. Every time we had a decision to make, I would pull it out and use it to calculate the results. After a few up-and-down months, my wife admitted that she was not able to use the spreadsheet to help with our daily financial needs. It was overwhelming and wasn’t useful for planning the timing of expenses and monthly payments. The tool might have worked perfectly for me, but it did not work for my wife.

We spoke about what she needed as a tool to help clarify our financial situation. After a lot of different attempts to clarify everything, we finally settled on a satisfactory solution that was straightforward for both of us. With our budget planning and implementation clearly defined, our monthly budgeting has been smooth sailing, and we have been on the same page ever since.

Our financial needs didn’t change at all, and our income didn’t increase. We were simply more unified and able to expend much less energy to try and track our monthly budget. Communication about our strengths, weaknesses, and needs was key. Ultimately, we gained more appreciation for each other, became more unified in our financial goals and implementation, decreased the stress of our finances, and reduced the amount of mental energy our finances required.

 2. Automate Everything!

The first thing my wife and I did to simplify our finances was to automate as much as possible. We set up a new checking account, adjusted the direct deposit amounts to be split between the savings account (we’re saving for a house), and the two checking accounts. One checking account was for our bills, and the other was for additional living expenses and other irregular expenses (like grocery shopping).

We printed out a monthly calendar and wrote down all our monthly bills. We then assigned each of our monthly bills to a paycheck and automated the timing of the bills.

Suddenly, we knew exactly what was available to spend each paycheck and we had the peace of mind knowing that our bills would be taken care of. The amount of stress each month and each week and even each day was reduced because we didn’t need to make many decisions. Our decisions turned from questions like, “When should we pay this bill?” and “Do we have enough to buy this toy for our friend’s child’s birthday?” to more important questions like, “Can we use the extra amount in our ‘Bills’ account to make an extra payment on this credit card?”

The secret to stress-free financial management? Automation. Set up automatic transfers for savings, investments, and bill payments. By automating your finances, you can stay on track with your goals while freeing up mental energy to focus on what matters most—your family, career, and passions.

 3. Enjoy the Journey as Well as the End Goal

Financial success isn’t just about hitting big milestones; it’s about satisfaction. Your finances provide a large portion of your way of life, so make sure you use your money to love your life. Use your money to gain more satisfaction and peace of mind—especially when focusing on planning for your future.

One of the behaviors that I have observed while working with clients is watching them work their entire lives and be incredibly disciplined in their approach to savings and investments. Their entire lives, they are squirreling away money and putting off spending to be able to live the life they want in the future.

When that future comes, they shift to a mindset of “I can’t do anything with this money I saved because this is all I have. I can’t lose it.” And they end up never living the life that they planned for and passing up so many opportunities to make lasting, impactful memories for themselves and their loved ones.

I brought this up to my wife the other day, and I asked her, “What could we do to enjoy our lives now while we continue to be really disciplined in saving and planning for our future?”

After some conversation, we decided that we would make a long list of things that we would like to do ranging anywhere from inexpensive to much more expensive. We put all these items into a hat, pick one at random, and make a plan to do it. We’re expecting to set aside only $25 or so each paycheck for our ‘Stapleton Family Adventure Fund,” as we’re calling it.

It’s a great way to enjoy the journey as we continue to look toward the future.

This Valentine’s Day, commit to building a stronger relationship—not just with your loved ones, but with your finances. By aligning goals, automating your systems, and enjoying the process, you’ll create a financial plan that serves your life and legacy. After all, true love—and financial freedom—takes effort and intention, but the results are always worth it.

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