新婚小夫妻理財指南:你的就是我的

Merging the Finances

財務合併

The Wrong Approach: United we stand, divided we bank.
錯誤認識:要麼都一塊花，要麼各自存起來。

Right Approach: It's yours, mine and ours.
正確認識:資金是你的，是我的，也是我們大家的。

One of the first issues newlyweds face is how to handle their finances. Should you merge everything you have and earn into one joint account, or should you maintain individual accounts and open a joint one for household expenses?
新婚夫婦面對的首要問題之一便是如何進行財務管理。該將雙方所有的固有資金及盈利都放到一個共同賬戶中，還是二人分別擁有各自的賬戶，然後新開一個共同賬戶用於存儲家庭開支?

For many newlyweds, the right choice may be somewhere in the middle. Assuming you both have a clean bill of fiscal health, finding a way to blend finances comfortably without feeling like big brother is watching every financial move you make can dramatically cut down on fights. Over time – once kids and mortgages come into play – many couples find that merging all their finances is simply easier. But unless you're both comfortable with the idea, there's no need to rush things.
對許多新婚夫婦來說，正確的選擇應該介於兩者之間。如果夫妻雙方都沒有負債，就可以找一種合適的方法來進行資金融合，而不要造成一種總有一位老大哥盯着你每一筆資金流動的感覺，這樣一來可以顯著減少夫妻之間的爭吵。時間長了——等孩子和房貸問題出現時——許多夫婦都會覺得將資金合併會讓日子更好過一些。不過，除非雙方都習慣於這個方式，否則還是應該慢慢來。

Dealing with Debt
還債問題

The Wrong Approach: Your debt will ruin us; you must find a way to pay it off.
錯誤認識:你的債務會讓連累了大家，你必須想辦法還清。

The Right Approach: It's our debt; Let's decide how to pay it off together.
正確認識:債務是我們大家的，討論一下如何一起將它還清吧。

Like it or not, once you're married, your spouse's debts can become your problem. Granted, you're not legally responsible for the creditcard balances ran up before you got married, or for any loans opened in your spouse's name alone – provided you keep your finances completely separate. But even with separate finances, your spouse's credit score will affect your ability to get joint credit.
不管你願不願意承認，一旦你們結了婚，配偶的債務也會變成你的麻煩。當然，對於婚前積存的信用卡欠款，你是沒有法律義務償還的。如果你在財務上保持完全獨立，你對單獨以配偶姓名開立的賬戶上的貸款也不負法律責任。不過，就算你財務獨立，配偶的信用評分也會對你申請夫妻聯名信用卡產生影響。

Conclusion:
總結:

For those couples not yet married, it may be worthwhile to think about a prenup, just to make sure that assets that one spouse brings into a marriage will always be protected from the other spouse's creditors. But those who've already tied the knot should find a way to pay down the debts as quickly as possible, and without any late payments.
對那些還未成婚的伴侶來說，制定一份婚前協議可能是必要的，這麼做是爲了保證一方帶入新家庭的資產可以永久不被另一方的債主剝奪。但對已婚夫婦來說，應該想辦法儘快還清債務，不要有任何延期支付。