How to Have the Money Talk Before You Get Married

I do a lot of premarital counselling. It is one of the parts of pastoral work I genuinely love -- sitting with a couple who is about to do one of the most significant things a person can do, and trying to help them do it with their eyes open.

There is a session I have with every couple, usually around the third or fourth meeting, that I call the money session. I warn them it is coming. I tell them it matters. I tell them we are going to actually look at numbers together, not just talk about money in the abstract. And without fail -- without a single exception I can recall -- at least one person in every couple walks in to that session more anxious than they have been in any previous session.

Not because things are bad. Not because there is something wrong. But because money is the one area of their relationship where they have not yet been fully honest with each other. They have talked about family, about faith, about children, about conflict, about their pasts. They have not sat down and said: here is what I make, here is what I owe, here is what I'm afraid of, here is what I hope.

The conversation they have in that session is often one of the most important conversations they have had as a couple.

Which means that by the time they are sitting across from me in my office, they have almost certainly waited too long.

This article is the written version of what I tell them before that session. It is what I wish more couples had six months before they needed it.

Why This Conversation Feels Impossible to Start

You know you should talk about money. You have probably known for a while. The fact that you have not yet done it in any serious way is not because you are irresponsible or avoidant. It is because the conversation carries a weight that most other relationship conversations do not.

Money is not neutral information. It is tied up in identity, shame, family history, fear, and hope in ways that make it feel much more threatening to disclose than, say, your opinion about where to live or how many kids you want. Those conversations can feel abstract. Money is specific. There are actual numbers. And numbers feel like grades.

When you ask your partner how much debt they carry, they hear an implicit question: are you good enough? When you disclose your own income or savings, you are revealing something about where you have been and where you are going -- and inviting judgment on both.

That vulnerability is real. Acknowledging it helps. You are not asking because you are keeping score. You are asking because you are trying to build something together, and you cannot build with materials you have never seen.

What You Are Actually Trying to Accomplish

This is important to get clear before you sit down, because it will change how you approach the conversation.

You are not auditing your partner. You are not interviewing a job applicant. You are not running a background check or confirming qualifications.

You are doing something more like what 1 Peter 3:7 describes when it says to "live with your wives in an understanding way." The word the Apostle Peter uses there -- and he is talking to husbands specifically -- implies an ongoing, attentive knowledge of the other person. A knowledge that requires paying attention. A knowledge that has to be built.

Financial understanding is part of that. Not all of it. But you cannot claim to know your partner in any complete sense if you have never asked how money works in their world -- where it comes from, where it goes, what it means to them, what they are worried about.

This is not paperwork.

This is intimacy.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 puts it simply: "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labour: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up." That is the picture of marriage -- two people who can see each other clearly enough to help when the other stumbles. You cannot help someone up in an area you have refused to look at together.

Four Things to Cover Before the Wedding

When I sit with couples in that money session, I am trying to get to four things. Not a complete financial plan. Not a detailed budget. Four things that, once you know them, give you an honest picture of what you are walking into together.

Seeing the Full Numbers Is an Act of Trust, Not an Audit

This is the one that causes the most anxiety, and it is non-negotiable.

Before you get married, both of you should know the full list: every debt the other person carries (credit card balances, student loans, car loans, lines of credit, anything owed to family), every significant asset they hold (savings account balances, TFSA, RRSP, any other investments), and roughly what their net worth looks like today.

In Ontario, the Family Law Act equalizes net family property at the end of a marriage -- meaning each spouse is entitled to half the increase in the other's net worth during the marriage, not the total assets. Debts brought into the marriage are factored into the starting point. This means pre-existing debt does not automatically become your legal responsibility. But it matters practically, because two people sharing a life share the financial weight of serving that debt even if one name is on the statement.

You need to see the full picture. Not to judge it -- to understand it.

The Number You Make Today Is Not the Number That Will Run Your Marriage

A snapshot of current income is useful but incomplete. What matters more is the trajectory.

Is she finishing a degree that will substantially increase her earning potential in two years? Is he in a career with capped growth and no advancement path? Is one of you planning to reduce work hours when children arrive? Is either of you self-employed or in a field with variable income?

These questions matter because a budget built on two stable incomes looks nothing like a budget built on one income plus maternity leave payments plus the hope that the other career picks up. Canada's EI maternity and parental leave program provides up to 55% of insurable earnings, up to a maximum of around $668 per week as of 2026. That is a significant income reduction, and couples who have not talked about it before marriage are often genuinely surprised when it arrives.

Talk about trajectory. Talk about what you each expect your income picture to look like in five years, and ten. It will not be perfectly accurate -- nothing is -- but it will surface assumptions you are each making that the other person does not know about.

The Money Patterns You Grew Up With Will Show Up in Your Marriage

This one is less about numbers and more about inheritance -- the financial patterns and beliefs you absorbed from your family growing up.

Ask each other: How did your family talk about money? Was it discussed openly or treated as a private, slightly shameful topic? Was there scarcity? Was there abundance? Was generosity modelled? Was your family in debt? How did your parents handle disagreements about money?

The reason this matters is that we all carry unconscious scripts about money that we absorbed before we were old enough to evaluate them. The man who grew up watching his father refuse to spend anything, convinced that disaster was always one bad month away, is going to bring that anxiety into a marriage whether he means to or not. The woman who grew up in a home where money was plentiful and spending was consequence-free may genuinely not have learned that credit card debt is a meaningful problem.

Neither of those backgrounds is a disqualifier. But they are things to know, because they will show up in your marriage -- and they show up less destructively when they have been named.

"What Is Money For?" Is the Question Under Every Other Question

This is the one couples skip most often because it sounds philosophical. It is not. It is the most practical question on this list.

What do you each believe money is for?

Some people believe money is primarily a security tool -- something to accumulate carefully as protection against an uncertain future. They feel viscerally uncomfortable when savings are depleted, even for legitimate reasons. Some people believe money is primarily a freedom tool -- the means by which you live without constraint, travel when you want, say yes when you want. Some people believe money is primarily a tool for generosity -- they feel most right about money when it is moving toward other people and the work of God's kingdom.

These orientations are not right or wrong. But they are real, and they create real conflict when they are not named.

If you believe money is primarily for security and your spouse believes money is primarily for generosity, you are going to have a difficult conversation every time a giving decision comes up. Not because either of you is sinning -- but because you are using the same dollar to accomplish different things in your heads. That conflict does not resolve itself. It has to be talked through.

Find out what money is for, to your partner. And tell them what it is for, to you. That conversation alone will be worth more than any budget template.

How to Structure the First Real Conversation

I am not going to suggest you sit down with spreadsheets and a whiteboard. That will feel like a performance review, and you will both be on your worst behaviour.

Here is what actually works.

Pick a time when you are both relaxed and not rushed -- not right after work, not late at night when you are tired, not before a big event. Saturday morning over coffee is not a bad idea. Make it specific and deliberate: "Can we block Saturday morning to talk through our finances? Not to solve everything -- just to understand the full picture."

Go in with one simple commitment: you are here to understand, not to judge or fix. Whatever comes out, your job in this conversation is to listen and ask questions, not to immediately present solutions or react emotionally.

Start with the easier stuff. Money history is a good entry point -- "how did money work in your family growing up?" is a lower-stakes question than "how much credit card debt do you carry?" Let the conversation warm up before you get to the numbers.

When you get to the numbers, go first if you can. Disclose your own picture -- income, savings, debt, whatever it is -- before asking for hers. This models the kind of honesty you are hoping to receive, and it takes some of the vulnerability pressure off her.

And when she tells you something that surprises you -- and something will -- resist the first response that comes to mind. Take a breath. Ask a question. "Tell me more about that" is almost always the right response when you need time to process.

What to Do If It Goes Badly

Sometimes it does.

One of you discloses something the other did not expect. One of you reacts more strongly than you meant to. The conversation derails into a fight, or one person shuts down completely.

If that happens, name it and take a break. "I think we both need some time. Can we come back to this tomorrow?" is not avoidance. It is wisdom. A conversation that has gone badly wrong in the first hour is unlikely to right itself if you push through.

When you come back, try starting with what you appreciate about the fact that the conversation is happening at all -- even badly. "I'm glad we're trying to talk about this" can reset the tone.

And if you genuinely cannot get through the conversation without it becoming a fight, that is a sign you may need some outside help. Not because something is wrong with your relationship -- but because some conversations need a structured space to happen well. A premarital counsellor, a trusted pastor, or a financial planner who works with couples can hold that space for you.

At our church, premarital counselling is something we offer to every engaged couple, and the money session is part of every series. I have yet to meet a couple who regretted doing it.

The Ontario-Specific Details Worth Knowing Before You Sign Anything

A few practical things that are worth understanding before you legally combine your lives, at least in Ontario.

Marriage and property: Under the Family Law Act, both spouses are entitled to share equally in the growth of net family property during the marriage. Assets owned before marriage are deducted from the equalization calculation. Gifts and inheritances received during marriage are also excluded. The matrimonial home is a notable exception -- regardless of who owned it before the wedding, both spouses have equal rights to possession of the matrimonial home.

Joint accounts vs. separate accounts: There is no legal requirement to combine finances after marriage. Many couples keep individual accounts and share a joint account for household expenses. Others fully combine everything. Neither approach is biblically mandated -- this is a practical decision, and the right structure depends on your situation. What matters is that both of you understand and agree to the structure.

Wills and beneficiary designations: Marriage revokes a previous will in Ontario. If either of you has a will, it needs to be updated after the wedding. You should also update beneficiary designations on TFSAs, RRSPs, and any life insurance policies. This is not glamorous but it matters.

These are things worth knowing before you walk down the aisle, not after.

A Concrete First Step

Here is what I want you to do this week.

Not a full financial review. Not a budget. One thing.

Send your partner a message today -- text, whatever your medium is -- and say something like: "I'd like to set aside time before the wedding to go through our finances together. Not to stress about it, just so we both understand the full picture. Would Saturday morning work?"

That is it. Just that. Schedule the time.

The conversation itself can wait until you are sitting together. The decision to have it should not wait another week.

The couples who do the hardest work before the wedding -- who have looked at each other's finances with honesty and without flinching -- are not the couples who had everything figured out. They are the couples who decided that there was nothing in this life they were not willing to figure out together.

Schedule the morning. Have the conversation. That is where it starts.