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Here are the business skills I think are most important:
- Do your due diligence. Here's the least romantic date idea in the world: Sit together at a computer and pull your credit reports. Then prepare a list of what you each owns and owes (your net worth). Finally, create a cash flow statement that shows your current income and expenses (you can get help in MSN Money's Learn to Budget Decision Center). You can't make a plan for your partnership until you understand your starting point, which is where you stand financially right now.
- Determine your goals for your partnership. Successful businesses tend to have business plans, outlines of what they hope to achieve in the coming years. Your plan needs to include retirement savings (read "Could you survive on Social Security?" for inspiration). If you have kids or want them, college savings should be part of the mix. Add any other goals that are important to you, such as buying a home or taking a special vacation. If you have any toxic debt -- credit cards or payday loans -- paying that off should be a priority.
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- Create a plan to attain those goals. You'll probably discover that you have to prioritize. To save enough for retirement, for example, you may wind up contributing a bit less to your kids' college funds. Or your desire to get out of debt may mean putting off that cool vacation. You'll find plenty of resources on this site to help you, and you also might consider hiring a fee-only financial planner for guidance. You can get referrals from the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (whose planners tend to specialize in higher-net-worth folks) and the Garrett Planning Network (whose planners specialize in middle-income clients and offer hourly rates).
- Appoint a chief financial officer. Smart business owners learn to delegate and specialize, which usually means having a CFO. Having one person in charge of the day-to-day financial details, such as paying bills and monitoring accounts, also can help your marital finances stay on track.
- Stay up-to-date with your reporting requirements. Publicly traded businesses are required by law to reveal the details of their financial situations every three months, along with a comprehensive annual report. It's also important for married couples to review their finances together at least every few months, with an overall financial review each year. (I wrote about ours in "Your financial Independence Day.") This is particularly true if you take my advice to have a single CFO. The other partner needs to know what's going on, even if he or she isn't keeping the books. (Ethical businesses, by the way, don't try to fudge or hide unpleasant details in the fine print. Honesty about financial matters is crucial in marriage, too; for details, read "Financial infidelity is rampant.")
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- Work out your conflicts. No one is always right -- not in business, not in marriage, not in life. Partners have to figure out ways to communicate and compromise. When business partners reach an impasse, they may bring in a coach or mediator to help them through the conflict. If you've got an intractable problem in your marriage, invest in some counseling.
Liz Pulliam Weston is the Web's most-read personal-finance writer. She is the author of several books, most recently "Your Credit Score: Your Money & What's at Stake." Weston’s award-winning columns appear every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions on the Your Money message board.
Updated June 2, 2009
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