Navigating Finances in a Second Marriage: A Story of Trust & Planning

Starting Out: Ruth & Phil

Ruth: Coming into a second marriage ...

I was ready to share my life with Phil. I wasn’t ready to share my plan, especially when it came to finances, and my feeling of responsibility to my kids. That sounds silly, but it was the hardest part for me to trust and feel safe to plan our future together.

Phil: When I met Ruth, I was single. And so I always felt that I could take certain risks because the downside to that was just going to affect me and nobody else.

Ruth: We kept our finances kind of separate, and we didn't really talk about it.

Phil: It's as the kids got older and we started thinking about what is going to be the best for the kids. How do we afford college?

Ruth: The plan that I had to save as much as I can and hope that it's enough isn't an adequate plan if one of us should lose our job, one of us should get sick. When you have three kids that you're responsible for, you need to plan in a different way.

Sometimes it's hard to talk about money. But once you kind of get it rolling, it gets easier, and it can be fun to think about the future and what we might be able to do.