Getting Married
Experts suggest couples begin talking about finances early on in a relationship, or once things get serious.

Marriage has huge emotional benefits—and financial advantages. Married couples filing a joint tax return may pay less in taxes. In addition, if you both have employee benefits, you may be able to choose the best benefits.
Start talking
Don't put off talking about money. Start talking and get to know each other's spending habits, including credit card use. Share your financial details, goals and concerns.
Open up
Be honest about debts or other uncomfortable details. This is the time to get a handle on how to better manage debt, and to create a plan to pay it down.
Start a plan
How will you pay bills, split expenses, combine accounts, and so on? Communicate with each other. Try our calculator tools to help you figure out how much to spend each month and set aside for saving. And of course don't forget to budget for the fun things like the wedding and honeymoon!
Build credit
Learn to understand what your credit score means and ways to manage your individual credit histories. Get started with these helpful articles in "Borrowing Smart".
This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended for use as legal, accounting, tax or professional financial advice by People’s United Bank or any of the bank’s subsidiaries. Financial calculators are for illustrative purposes only. Always consult your legal, accounting and/or tax advisor to fully understand how information may or may not apply to your personal or business financial situation.
On April 2, 2022, People's United Bank, N.A. merged into M&T Bank. It is now part of M&T Bank and its former branches and most services will operate as the People's United division of M&T Bank until we complete the integration of our systems later in 2022. M&T Bank is a Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender and Equal Opportunity Lender.