At the risk of sounding like an old Aunty, I will give some unsolicited advice on relationships.

Firstly, it’s not easy, yes you read it right. If it’s to be a life-long journey, it will require give and take from both partners. It will require a lot of understanding, respect, and cheering each other’s goals and dreams.

Money will play a huge role in this relationship. As I always say, money has the power to help you achieve all your dreams and also the power to shatter them. It all depends on how you treat it.

Start by discussing what you’d like to achieve individually and collectively. You could seek the guidance of an advisor who can help you in this discussion.Once you know what the goals are, the next step would be how much is required for these goals and the timelines of them. Prioritizing your goals will make it more achievable and realistic. With this established, the next obvious step is how much to save every month for these goals.

Each of you could have an individual bank account and make investments from there for your individual goals. And have a common pool account for your common goals. Both of you can transfer the required amount into this common pool account for your expenses and investments. Consistency and discipline in investments as in life are key to achieving your goals. And the easiest way to implement this is to automate your investments. Start a Systematic Investment Plan(SIP) in an Equity Fund/Hybrid/Multi-asset as per your choice for each of your goals (goals which are minimum 3 years away). For all your goals that are less than 3 years, you can do a SIP in a Short Term Debt-oriented Fund. This way it will get automatically deducted from your account.

Also remember, life is constantly evolving, you receive increments, bonuses, promotions, gifts(cash). Don’t let this extra money go to waste, keep increasing your investment contribution as your salary increases. There is a provision called SIP TopUp, use it effectively. For e.g. if you have received an increment in your salary of say 10% then increase your investment contribution also by 10%. The point I am trying to make is that your investment should not be static it should also keep getting updated as your life does.

Set aside a date every year to review and discuss your personal goals and portfolios therewith. A good time to add, delete, or edit your goals and portfolios.

Conversations about money are necessary in today’s day and age where both partners work and contribute to the household. This brings transparency and also helps in backing each other whenever required.

Having said that, the discussion could become emotional and sensitive, especially in situations like loss of job, career breaks, separations, etc. In such a scenario a financial advisor could help you steer the conversation in the right direction.

And yes, investment like relationships is like – ‘Dal Chawal for pachas saal’. Any unnecessary excitement could prove risky.