THE HAMMER

Breaking Down Money, Building Up Wealth.

You think you know everything about your Pookie...

You know their coffee order.

Their mom's birthday.

That weird thing they do with their feet at night.

But do you know how much debt they have?

Most couples don't. They move in together, adopt a dog, sign a lease, but never talk about their credit card balance.

Then a collections letter shows up with your partner's name on it, and suddenly the dog isn't the biggest thing you share.

Some of the rawest moments on Financial Audit happen when one person hears their partner's debt for the first time, on camera.

You can watch it hit their face.

The number hurts, but finding out on a YouTube show hurts more.

Here's how to have the talk without it turning into a fight:

Pick a boring time. Not after an argument. Not at dinner. Not the day a bill hits. Tuesday night, couch, phones down.
Everybody shows everything. Income, debt, credit scores, the Klarna nobody's mentioned. No ambushing and no "well, what about YOU."
Figure out who's who. Usually one of you is a saver and one of you is a spender. That's normal. Once you name it, you can stop taking it personally.
Pick a system. Joint everything, separate everything, or "yours, mine, and ours," where shared bills come out of a joint account and everybody keeps their own spending money. Any of those can work. "We'll figure it out" can't.
Set a no-ask number. Anything under $100 (or whatever you agree on), nobody has to check in. Over that, you talk first. It kills a shocking number of fights.

And if the talk turns up debt one or both of you have been sitting on, deal with it together, as a team.

If they've been hiding some small things here and there, make a payment plan, and knock that shit out.

But if they've got a pretty BIG monster in the closet...

That's where today's sponsor comes in.

Money Lion's Debt Relief marketplace can help you find some peace of mind.

Don't let debt become a relationship issue.

You split the Netflix password. You can split the truth about your credit card.

Taquitos,

Caleb "Couples Counselor (Unlicensed)" Hammer

P.S. It's not too late to get in on the Dollarwise Referral Games.

Until October 9th, at 11:59 PM CST, you can compete to win some pretty cool prizes.

Get out there and get to referring.