Let's Talk about Money before You Tie the Knot: A Guide to Premarital Financial Counseling

By James H. Wilson

This book reviews the financial past, present, and future of couples contemplating marriage, with questions and text posed to highlight critical points. The work required in this financial counseling course for couples is purposely kept to a minimum to ensure that the task will be finished. Forms that accompany the questions enable each member of a couple to complete an individual workbook. A facilitator's guide is also provided. While the simplicity of this book recommends it, the wealth of good financial information and guidance in Let's Talk About Money Before You Tie the Knot provides a solid financial foundation on which to build a marriage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Apr 15, 2008
• ISBN: 9781498275361

James H. Wilson

James H. Wilson, CPA/PFS, is currently the director of personal finance planning at Blackburn, Childers & Steagall PLC in Johnson City, Tennessee. He holds a BBA in accounting from the University of Miami, has an MBA in management from Florida Atlantic University, and has earned the PFS (Personal Financial Specialist) designation awarded by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). He is a member of the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants and the AICPA. Wilson has served as chair of the AICPA's Personal Financial Planning Conference Committee and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Personal Financial Planning (PFP) Division of the AICPA. (He received the first annual Outstanding Service Award from the PFP Division. The award is given to a CPA who has served the public interest by enhancing the quality of personal financial planning services and has provided outstanding service to the PFP Division.) Named "CPA Financial Planner of the Year" in 1990 by the LINC Society of CPA Financial Planners, and 2006 recipient of the Distinguished Accredited Estate Planner award and designation from the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils, Wilson is the author of The CPA's Guide to Financial Planning (Longman Financial Services Publishing). He has created a course for the AICPA titled "Wealth Utilization and Transfer" and has also designed the computer software PFP Notebook, nationally marketed by Brentmark Software of Orlando, Florida, and one of the few PFP software programs recommended and sold through the AICPA.

Book preview

Let’s Talk about Money Before You Tie the Knot

A Guide to Premarital Financial Counseling

James H. Wilson

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LET’S TALK ABOUT MONEY BEFORE YOU TIE THE KNOT

A Guide to Premarital Financial Counseling

Copyright © 2008 James H. Wilson. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

www.wipfandstock.com

ISBN 13: 978-1-55635-611-7

EISBN 13: 978-1-4982-7536-1

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1: Some Preliminaries

Chapter 2: The Past

Chapter 3: The Present

Chapter 4: The Future

Facilitators Guide

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Glossary

This book is dedicated to my wife of fifty years, Mary.She has been a helpmate whose price is far above rubies.

Acknowledgments

for several years I have been praying for an opportunity to use my years of experience and training in the service of the church. Due to a client’s marriage, I was presented with the opportunity to observe premarital counseling from the perspective of a financial planner. I was surprised to find out that little or nothing has been done in this area. Therefore, the idea for this book was born.

Many people served as encouragers in this project. The Reverend Dave McAuley first looked at the project and thought it had merit and offered several suggestions for improvement. The Reverend Larry Ball looked at the project and encouraged me to keep on with the effort and supplied the genesis for the title. Dr. Richard Ray also reviewed the manuscript and offered helpful suggestions.

I am also grateful to several pastors, the Reverend Tom Osterhaus, the Reverend David Wilson, and the Reverend Wade Coleman for actually field testing the project and also to the Reverend Bill Leuzinger for using the manual in counseling.

To Dr. Kenn Gangel and Dr. Mark Herring who went above and beyond looking it over, I give my grateful appreciation.

For her patience in producing the many versions, I thank Jeanette Smith, and for help in selecting the graphics, my thanks go to Ann Chesser.

Finally, I must recognize the huge contribution of Gene Wigginton for his counsel, encouragement, and a listening ear.

James H. Wilson

Preface

this manual has been written to assist you as a couple preparing for marriage in the vital discussion of the financial issues that may cause difficulties later in your relationship. In studies of failed marriages, one issue emerges as a powerful causative agent: disagreements over finances.

In addition, we have touched on some issues that currently may be lacking in your life as a young married couple. This includes a number of life situations, such as the addition of children to the family. Too often financial provisions are considered after the fact rather than before, thus causing couples to miss out on what Einstein called the most powerful force in the universe: compound interest.

This