Its common for one member of a couple to be the CFO for the family. If one person is more interested (or more anal) about tracking these things, there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m the one that maintains all the spreadsheets for our household, because my husband just doesn’t care about the specific cent, as long as we’re doing okay.

The important thing in this type of relationship, though, is clear communication between the couple.

We talked to a friend this last weekend about the early years of her marriage. There were times when her husband’s definition of “broke” and her definition of “broke” didn’t line up. And since he was the one in charge of the finances, it took her a while to realize that they weren’t exactly on the same page.

They figured things out and set some ground rules for discussing finances that required them both to adapt a little bit.

This is important to a successful marriage, let alone successful financial planning. Couples have to figure out what will work for them, but they have to work at it. You can not simply assume that you and your significant other are on the same page if you’ve never discussed it.