Seven Financial Benefits to Consider With Your Significant Other

When you finally find the person that you want to spend the rest of your life with, it only makes sense to start capitalizing on the financial benefits that go along with your eternal happiness.

There are multiple financial benefits to consider with your significant other that can be saving you both a lot of money.

1. HEALTH BENEFITS

If both individuals receive health benefits from work, you should investigate both provider’s health insurance options to see which policy makes the most sense for you.

If you are paying for two separate individual policies you might be throwing money away.

One provider’s plan may cost much less, or one plan may provide significantly more benefits. You should investigate the options available such as Self +1 plans or family plans depending on what your need.

Updating your Health Insurance Benefits can easily save you over a hundred dollars a month.

2. INSURANCE

AUTO INSURANCE

You will save a significant amount on your auto insurance once you update your policy to include both individuals. Policies are usually cheaper for married men vs single men. Additionally, some insurance companies base their rates on marital status.

When my wife and I merged our Auto Insurance policies together, we received a Multi-Car Discount that saved us $240 a year.

And while I am talking about auto insurance, make sure you and your significant other complete the Defensive Driver Course that is offered by your state’s MVC.

The course usually costs about $15 each to take the online class, but ends up saving you about $40 a year on your combined policy. The course and discount are good for 3 years. So for spending $30, you realize $120 in savings.

LIFE INSURANCE

If you are considering purchasing a Life Insurance Policy, the premiums usually drop after marriage. Additionally, the rates are lower the younger and healthier that you are.

HOMEOWNERS/RENTER’S

Homeowners or Renter’s Insurance may be cheaper once you are married especially if you go from paying two policies to one.

Bundling these policies will also provide you with a great discount. You can bundle any or all of the above insurance policies to see instant savings and discounts.

When we bundled our Auto Insurance and Homeowners Insurance, we received a Multi-line discount of $95 a year. Visit Geico for your auto, home, and life insurance needs

3. REFINANCE STUDENT LOANS

Student Loans are one of the biggest monthly payments for people graduating colleges and universities. Bringing debt of that magnitude into a marriage can cause lots of stress.

However, a few lenders allow married couples to refinance their student loan debt into one new loan that has a better interest rate. This provides the couple with one single monthly payment that is lower than the two separate payments.

Purefy is one of these lenders that determines the new lower interest rate and the couples’ eligibility on the higher of the two spouses’ credit scores. Lowering your interest rate even a fraction of a percentage can save you thousands of dollars for the duration of the loan.

4. SAVE ON CREDIT CARD INTEREST

Saving on Credit Card Interest is kind of similar to refinancing student loans. If one spouse has significantly better credit, that means they probably have access to interest-free or low-interest balance transfer credit cards.

Use this opportunity to move higher-interest balances over to these accounts in order to save a significant amount of money as well.

5. COMBINE ACCOUNTS FOR HIGHER SIGN UP BONUSES AND INTEREST RATES

A big debate regarding marriage and finance is if and when you should combine your financial accounts. I strongly believe the sooner you merge accounts, the better off you will be.

You gain trust, responsibility, and accountability when you merge your finances. Additionally, you could be saving money too. A lot of money market accounts or savings accounts offer large sign-up bonuses as well as higher interest rates for accounts that have higher balances.

For example, Chase Bank offers a $1,000 Sign-up bonus if you open an account with at least $75,000 or it offers a $300 Sign-up bonus if your account has at least $15,000.

6. JOINT TAX RETURNS

Once you and your significant other decide to get married, you have two options when filling out your tax returns.

You can either file “Married, filing jointly” or you can file “Married, filing separately”. This flexibility allows you the opportunity to potentially save money on your taxes.

Due to the recent changes to the income tax brackets, married people filing jointly may pay LESS taxes than married people filing separately in certain tax brackets.

People who decide to file married filing separately enter the 28%, 33% and 35% tax brackets at lower income levels than those who select married filing jointly which means they would pay more taxes.

Every situation is different depending on write-offs, deductions, capital gains, dividends, and medical expenses. I recommend filling out your taxes under both filing statuses and see which one prompts a lower tax payment.

FreeTax USA is an easy and intuitive FREE software for filling out your taxes to determine how you and your significant other should file your taxes to save the most money.

7. IRA CONTRIBUTIONS

I have explained in a previous posts the importance of contributing to an IRA. It could save you tens of thousands of dollars for your retirement. So whenever possible, you should be investing into a Traditional or Roth IRA account.

People without earned income usually cannot contribute to an IRA. However, if you are married, you are able to contribute on your spouse’s behalf.

For example, if your spouse stays home and watches the kids while you work, you are able to contribute into your IRA account AS WELL AS your spouse’s IRA account.

This is only allowed if you are married. If you were not married, your spouse staying at home would not be able to contribute to their account.

Click here to create an IRAs with E*TRADE.

LESSON LEARNED!

There are multiple financial benefits to consider with your significant other once you get married. Wether it is federal tax savings, insurance savings, or just additional investment opportunities, these seven focus areas should help put a little extra money in your pocket once you say your wedding vows.