Couples ignore financial planning to their own peril. We’ve seen the warnings in this article by Anya Khalamayzer of Investment News play out in all too many family’s marriages:

Financial troubles hit home the hardest Money worries are harming marriages and impairing health, according to a quarter of 1,400  married individuals polled online recently by the  National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

“Court records have long shown that financial stress is a leading cause of divorce,” said Gail Cunningham, an NFCC spokeswoman. “It’s a constant dark cloud that follows you around day and night. You’re not as good an employee, parent or spouse when you are distracted by debt issues.”

The answer, of course, is that the best way to love your spouse is to live well below your means and set aside at least 10% of your take home pay for those unknown unknowns. As the good book says:

Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. Proverbs 17:1 (ESV)

In many younger families I think a financial planner does at least as much good as a marriage counselor.