Happy Valentine’s Day! Are you celebrating by giving flowers, cards, or candy to loved ones? Expressing your feelings on Valentine’s Day is a great tradition, but it’s only one day a year. In today's Faith and Finance Rob West shares things you should do all year round to ensure your Valentine’s Day is a happy one. This is Faith and Finance - biblical wisdom for your financial journey.

• Money is always cited as one of the top reasons marriages fail. So, knowing how to handle money within that relationship is key to preventing finances from harming your marriage.
• Put another way, wise money management contributes a great deal to the health of a marriage, so there are four things you should always do, according to Faith and Finance contributor Art Rainer.
• First is to always act with complete transparency about your finances. Secrecy destroys trust, an absolutely essential element in marriage. For example, if you open a credit card account without your spouse’s knowledge, you’re destroying trust and potentially putting your marriage at risk.
• That secret account also becomes a temptation to run up debt, which just compounds the problem when your spouse inevitably finds out. You might call that financial infidelity.
• The solution is simple, never do anything in secrecy. Strive for open and honest communication about money as you would in any area of your marriage. Unless both spouses know everything that’s going on with your finances, you can’t work together to solve problems and achieve your goals.
• The next way to have a happy and healthy marriage is to have a financial plan. If you haven’t already, sit down with your spouse and put together a plan for managing money to achieve your goals. But just having a plan isn’t enough. You have to stick to it. If you deviate from it without your spouse’s knowledge and approval, it‘ll cause problems in your marriage.
• That relates to transparency. Sticking to your agreed upon financial plan shows respect for your spouse. That special person you vowed to share everything with will feel more connected with you when you always act to preserve the financial health of your marriage.
• Make sure any departure from your financial plan has the full knowledge and approval of your spouse. It’s okay to make changes. Everyone has to occasionally, but keep it above board.
• The third way to ensure a happy marriage is to always put your spouse first — not your parents. Parents are, of course, a great source of wisdom and advice, but there’s a limit. Taking the counsel of your parents about money or anything else, above that of your spouse, will begin to crack the foundation of your marriage.
• This may be more common than you think. It’s no surprise that the Bible addresses the potential problem head on. Genesis 2:24 reads, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” And of course, wives should hold fast to their husbands, as well.
• Now, the last way to keep your marriage happy may be even more difficult — and that’s putting your spouse above even your children. You both love your kids and maybe you think you’d do anything for them, but don’t.
• It’s a tough one to swallow, but your first commitment is always to your spouse. Don’t put your kids’ wants over the counsel of your spouse. It’s more important to keep your marriage healthy and strong.
• Also, in many cases, continuing to help your adult children when they make bad financial decisions means they’re more likely to keep making them. They won’t become financially independent. They won’t learn to save and spend money wisely. They won’t learn that to get something, you have to earn it.
• The earlier you train your children to manage money wisely, the faster they’ll learn - and it eliminates a potentially huge conflict down the road with your spouse.
• God’s Word addresses this, too. Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
• Remember that you’re helping your kids by saying no at times, when they tend to repeat the same mistake again and again.
• So those are four ways you can maintain a happy marriage — and ensure that your Valentine’s Days will always be happy, as well.

Next, Rob answers these questions at 800-525-7000 or via email at askrob@FaithFi.com:

• Does your wife have to wait until you begin taking Social Security before she can claim Spousal benefits?
• If you're planning on having your parents move in with you and you have 13 years left on your 4.2% mortgage, should you renovate your current home or look for a larger one?
• Are we putting too much emphasis on our financial security and greed, at the cost of missing what God intends for us?
• What are the pros and cons of making a bi-weekly mortgage payment as opposed to an additional monthly payment every year?
• Should you put surplus savings into an online high yield savings account or a CD, to earn some interest, if you don't have a near-term need for the funds?

Today’s On-Air Mention

• One way to show your love to someone special in your life could be giving them our featured resource this month, the Business God’s Way workbook. It’ll help them learn what God says about operating a business and handling money. It’s helpful for everyone in business—the CEO or manager of a department, small business or large, prosperous or struggling, whether a business is a startup or well established.Request your copy with your gift of any amount to FaithFi. Simply go to faithfi.com and click “Give”. And thank you in advance for your generosity!

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