You’ve likely either had or overheard many conversations regarding marriage and finance. While romance and money don’t mix well on the surface, the lesson is always that it’s a cold conversation that must be had. Among the finance conversations millennial couples should be discussing, there is the ever-increasing problem of student loan debt. This can be a strange topic because student debt is almost ubiquitous in the US, but it’s a conversation that many young people simply forget to have.
Financial planning in marriage is at least as necessary as it is everywhere else life takes you. Many young couples are entering happy, stable relationships and end up discovering that their budget will not be nearly as large as they had expected due to student loan debt. The result is inevitably negative, as the best case scenario at this point is that you talk to your spouse and readjust your financial plans together. The worst case scenarios are too numerous to bother getting into.
Even with marriage out of the picture, US student loan debt has surpassed $1.6 trillion and it is cited as the biggest obstacle to home ownership for young people. About 28% of respondents cite student loan debt as the reason they have to delay buying a home. So while student loan debt won’t ever be a romantic conversation, it is one you should have.
