Money Advice

Thinking about getting a joint credit card with a spouse, family member or friend? Make sure you know exactly what you’re getting into.

With a joint credit card account, two people are equally responsible for the privileges and responsibilities that come with a credit card. That means that they can both make charges to the account, and they are both liable for the credit card balance. The details of the account appear on the credit reports for both owners. If the account becomes late or unpaid, the issuer can pursue both users for delinquency.

If you’ve finally decided to take the plunge with your partner and invest in the stock market, here are five important things you should consider when investing:

1. Take the long view: Despite booms and busts, remember that over the last 100+ years, the stock market has historically performed better than bonds and real estate, and certainly better than cash sitting in a bank account. One thousand dollars invested in 1900 would have been worth close to $20 million in 1999! A 10+ year time horizon can help you keep perspective and weather the ups and downs of the market.

If looking ahead to retirement makes you a little nervous, you’re not alone. Nearly half of Americans (46 percent) who haven’t reached retirement predict that they won’t be financially comfortable once they get there, according to a Gallup survey.

For some, those potentially uncomfortable retirement years are decades away. But for the Baby Boom generation, retirement either already arrived or will in the next decade or so, prompting many Boomers to wonder whether they are prepared for their looming date with destiny.

Indeed, finance can be as crucial as romance when it comes to maintaining lasting matches, according to an Experian survey on the roles credit and financial issues played in ending the marriages of 500 divorced individuals.

Forty-one percent said their exes put their households into too much debt.

Should You Have Known Better?

* A majority of the divorced respondents (53%) said they were financially incompatible with their exes, and 59% said financial issues contributed to the failure of their marriages.

Valentine’s Day is thought of as the most romantic day of the year. For millions of couples, it’s the day to follow Cupid’s arrow and get engaged and become newlyweds. Yes, love may be in the air this month, though it’s important to keep your feet on the ground and look to the future.

Money is one of the biggest causes of marital strife, so do yourselves a favor and have that hard discussion around finances while planning your future, not boots-deep in it. Sit down and exchange a different kind of commitment: to talking about money promises.

Numerous studies point to money as one of the leading causes of divorce. From different spending habits and financial goals to one spouse earning considerably more income than the other, money can be a polarizing issue in a marriage, straining it to the breaking point.

Money problems within a marriage can spiral out of control when one spouse or both establish detrimental financial habits, such as overspending, increasing debt, and poor priorities. Things worsen when these spending behaviors occur without the other’s knowledge.

Many relationships can’t take flight until both parties have a candid discussion about money. More specifically, a conversation that prioritizes potentially troubling credit situations that can capsize a marriage. Here's what to know:

Why Talk About Money and Credit?

Yes, people can have bad credit for a variety of reasons, fair and unfair, but a romantic partner with strong credit health has a right to know if his or her significant other has credit problems. In fact, there’s a strong case that credit health should be a big factor in evaluating a romantic partner.