Smart Couples Get Rich Together

Two heads are better than one and this is no different in a relationship. With this in mind, Gustavo Cerbasi wrote the book Smart Couples Get Rich Together.

Thus, the first step to getting rich together with your loved one is to have someone by your side who has the same goal: to get rich.

In order to become rich, the individual must keep this priority in mind, including deciding what they are willing to give up in order to achieve their goal.

Note that a couple cannot become rich together if one person is not willing to give up some things.

For example, if you save 50% of your salary and then your husband or wife spends 50% more, it certainly won’t be possible to get rich.

Therefore, before anything else, it is essential that your goals are aligned.

Below, we’ll give you tips on how to do this according to the book Smart Couples Get Rich Together.

Gustavo Cerbasi

Gustavo Petrasunas Cerbasi is a Brazilian administrator, lecturer, professor, financial advisor and writer.

Through his practical and academic experience in business finance, family planning and home economics, Cerbasi has developed his consultancies, lectures and training.

It’s also worth mentioning that the author has a degree in public administration and a master’s degree in administration/finance from USP, one of the country’s leading universities.

He also has a specialization in finance from New York University.

Therefore, according to one of Brazil’s leading magazines, Revista Época, the author has already been considered one of the 100 most influential Brazilians.

In other words, the author is a reference in the area of personal finance, having published 14 books.

He certainly has a lot to teach us about finances, especially through the book Smart Couples Get Rich Together, which was his most successful creation.

Good habits from dating

Dating acts as a test drive for the relationship because financial responsibilities are not yet completely mixed up.

At this point, habits will be created that will become the pillars of the marriage.

It’s interesting how we create habits, because they are usually created automatically and unconsciously, especially bad habits.

For example, you probably don’t remember the exact moment when you started watching TV or fiddling with your cell phone every night before going to bed.

We’ve all heard that this is unhealthy because it delays the onset of sleep.

We even know the scientific explanation that the artificial blue light emitted by the TV suppresses the production of melatonin.

All this is clear in our minds, we understand the harm, but we find it difficult to get rid of it because it has become a habit.

Watching TV before bed or fiddling with our cell phones has become automatic and getting rid of this bad habit isn’t easy.

In the book Smart Couples Get Rich Together, it is pointed out that the couple should do their utmost to include healthy financial actions in their routine, so that they become habits.

Our choices are defined and reinforced by what we do over and over again.

That’s why, to create a good financial habit, you have to repeat it.

And when you make this constant effort, it’s only a matter of time before the couple achieves financial prosperity.

More tips for creating good financial habits when dating

Here again, it’s worth mentioning conversations to define financial visions.

You need to be clear about who will pay the bill at the restaurant or whether it will be split.

You also need to define your financial goals, what each of you considers to be a comfortable lifestyle.

According to the book Smart Couples Get Rich Together, this allows expectations to be aligned little by little so that the right habits can be created.

Note that the dating conversation can also include topics such as gifts for holidays.

In this way, the couple does not create the harmful habit of spending beyond their means, without any kind of need.

In other words, a healthy financial relationship will be created between the couple and money at the best stage, when everything is still very manageable.

This makes it easier to follow the habits for the beginning of the relationship when you move in together and share 100% of the financial responsibilities.

Finally, we recommend that you think about the right time to make the transition from dating to marriage.

It’s essential that the transition is made calmly to avoid starting your life together with various financial problems, such as a huge debt from the wedding party.

Smart Couples Get Rich Together – what to consider when dating

Housing is a couple’s first big decision.

It’s a decision that can lead you and your partner to prosperity or to a life full of financial difficulties.

The latter happens mainly when the couple opts for a house that is beyond their means because this makes it difficult to build up savings and increases the risk of experiencing a financial crisis.

The book presents several reflections and comparisons to help you make this decision.

An additional tip from Smart Couples Get Rich Together is to take your time.

You may need months or more than a year to analyze the best house, neighborhood, city, etc.

Even remember to consider the location.

For example, think about whether you or your partner will have to move to another city in a few years because of an excellent job opportunity.

It’s certainly not possible to know precisely, but you can get a baseline based on the model of the company you work for.

Learning to talk about money

According to an Orion survey, 42% of US adults said they had disagreements about money with their partners.

In addition, 27% said that this happened on a weekly or monthly basis.

Regular arguments, especially about the same subject, are extremely damaging to your relationship.

But that doesn’t mean you should stop talking about money with your spouse.

In his book Smart Couples Get Rich Together, Cerbasi points out that the main cause of disagreements is the lack of family talk about money.

So the first step is to learn how to talk about money.

This conversation should start with goals in order to define priorities.

Joining forces

Through these two points, you can join forces to achieve your goals together.

That way, everyone will know what to expect and will have the motivation to make the necessary efforts.

But we’d like you to understand that the conversation starts with the goals.

Let’s think about a couple who have a debt of US$10,000.

This is a problem that has generated many discussions over the years.

Each discussion is aimed at finding the main person responsible for the debt.

However, finding the person responsible for a debt should not be the objective, but rather to settle the debt.

In fact, the person who got into debt needs to be held accountable afterwards so that they learn to handle their finances more wisely.

However, at the beginning of the conversation, it’s essential to find the problem and try to look for a solution, not the culprit.

According to the book, Smart Couples Get Rich Together, after setting the goal of paying off the debt, the couple must define their priorities.

This is exactly what was said in the introduction: what is each of you willing to give up in order to achieve the goal in question?

Perhaps reducing spending on non-essential bills? Cut back on going out with friends?

The couple should work out together what to do to get out of debt as quickly as possible.

How to join forces

Remember there’s no point in singling out the culprit? You have to act together.

You must both work equally hard to get out of debt.

If this is your reality, we recommend making debt elimination your number 1 priority.

Compound interest is one of the biggest forces in the world and we don’t want that force playing against us in the form of interest on debts.

Smart Couples Get Rich Together – more tips

On the other hand, if you are facing a serious crisis and need to resort to third-party resources, you should study up first.

It is essential to understand how banks and credit and financing alternatives work in order to avoid bad choices with high interest rates such as overdrafts and credit card revolving accounts.

By taking care of debts or simply getting rid of them, the couple will reach the best stage of the process: celebrating each achievement together.

After working as hard as you can to achieve your goals, it’s time to celebrate, because this step is fundamental.

The pleasure of celebrating will make you even more satisfied with having achieved a goal and will make you more willing to set new ones.

In fact, the author of Smart Couples Get Rich Together doesn’t recommend that you only celebrate when you’ve achieved something great.

Paying off debts can take months or even years.

Getting your dream house and car paid off can take ⅓ of your life.

In other words, big achievements take time and if you don’t celebrate the small details, you can easily become discouraged during the process.

So celebrate the small victories in order to reinforce good brain stimuli and increase your sense of well-being, as well as your quality of life.

Know your partner’s financial profile

In the book, the author talks about 5 profiles:

Firstly, there is the saver.

This person has more financial balance because they have the habit of saving money for emergencies and for other financial goals.

In Smart Couples Get Rich Together, the author explains that those with this profile are able to maintain a balanced budget.

On the other hand, a spender is someone who spends all their income, although they don’t get into debt.

This type of person usually buys items they don’t need and commits their entire credit card limit to financing their desires.

This indicates that the individual has no budget and no money left over at the end of the month.

You see, those who fit the spendthrift profile focus a lot on enjoying today, not worrying about future plans.

Thirdly, we should talk about the uncontrolled profile.

People with this profile spend everything they have and then some, either out of necessity or lack of organization.

This is a worrying situation because the person tends to take out credit, including the most common credit card revolving loans.

The situation is so serious that the person has no idea what goes in and what comes out of their account.

Other financial profiles covered in Smart Couples Get Rich Together

The fourth financial profile is disconnected.

Although these people have no debts and don’t spend everything they earn, they simply don’t care about investments.

In other words, all the money they save is left in an account that doesn’t yield the best returns.

This type of person usually leaves the rest of their salary idle in their current account.

Note that these people also don’t save for the future because they don’t have clear financial goals and don’t pay attention to their money.

Finally, it’s worth talking about the financier’s profile.

Like savers, these people are concerned with saving money.

But the big difference is that financiers are strict about controlling their spending.

In this sense, they may use spreadsheets to keep their budget under control and they are in the habit of making statistics and projections.

In addition, they are studious and follow the latest developments in the financial market.

This means that they are well informed when it comes to inflation or interest rates.

As such, they have greater wisdom when it comes to making investments, so that they can earn higher returns.

More information on financial profiles

In the book Smart Couples Get Rich Together, the author talks about the future expectations of couples according to their financial profile.

For example, the results of a wife who is a saver with a husband who has a disconnected financial profile.

The ideal is to try to identify each other’s profile together and read the diagnosis to understand what to expect and try to minimize the negative impacts.

To minimize the impacts, it’s worth bearing in mind that you can change your financial profile.

If you have a partner who fits the uncontrolled financial profile, or even if you fit this profile yourself, it’s not the end of the world!

It’s possible to change your financial profile by changing some attitudes, including the way you think about your life in the long term.

Identifying your financial profile is also a way of dealing with the problem at its root.

If you and your partner spend a year paying off a debt, and after that period the individual takes on a worse debt, it’s not possible to evolve.

On the other hand, when you identify your financial profile through the Smart Couples Get Rich Together method, together you will strive to have the right profile so that you can achieve your dreams.

Don’t worry, there’s a test in the book itself to help you find your financial profile.

Saving money

A common mistake among couples is to put off the idea of saving and organizing finances.

Always remember the following phrase:

What are you, as a couple, willing to give up in order to achieve your dreams?

The truth is that we often don’t want to face reality.

So you may convince yourself that the previous two steps are not so relevant.

But just the two steps above can change your family’s financial reality!

In the book Smart Couples Get Rich Together, the author recommends that you stop putting off financial changes.

The time has come not only to talk and find your financial profile, but also to save.

There are two solutions to this:

Tips for saving money

The first is to actually analyze your budget in order to find superfluous expenses and remove them from your life.

Note that we are not saying that you should simply remove all entertainment from your life.

For example, people often consider leisure spending to be completely superfluous, but this is not true.

When you spend the right amount on fun, it’s good for your life and inspires you to keep working hard (don’t forget the step of celebrating victories).

Otherwise, you can save a lot by working too hard and only thinking about the future.

The problem with doing this is that when the future arrives, you realize that you could have enjoyed it when you had more energy.

But when we talk about the future and the need to organize ourselves financially, based on the book Smart Couples Get Rich Together, many people start to say:

“We need to enjoy the present because the future is uncertain”. 

“If I die tomorrow, what will happen to all the money I’ve saved?”.

It’s simple to answer that question using another one:

What will you do if you’re old and haven’t saved anything?

Neither.

Don’t think exclusively about the present and don’t think exclusively about the future

It’s essential to discuss this with your partner so that you can find a balance: what is the ideal amount to save each month?

Secondly, consider the idea of making extra income.

You could sell second-hand items, freelance online or work overtime at work.

There are many options for increasing your income to ensure that you have enough to put away for the future.

And look: you need to be very focused. 

When you see that you are managing to increase your income, it doesn’t mean that you should increase your standard of living, it means that you should save the extra money.

Learn to develop virtues such as resisting short-term temptations. 

Smart Couples Get Rich Together – the more your finances come together, the more efficient your planning will be

Bearing in mind that you and your partner are one, after following the steps above, the time will come to bring your finances together.

To make this possible, get into the habit, together with your partner, of holding weekly or monthly meetings to plan your finances.

At these meetings, you should also talk about spending, goals, investments and other financial matters.

And of course, the meetings also serve to define budget cuts if finances are tight.

And the meetings also serve to set goals such as traveling, buying a new car and other projects.

Smart Couples Get Rich Together – retirement

Certainly, one of the couple’s goals should be to prepare for retirement.

This step isn’t just for some, it’s for everyone.

It’s essential to think about financial planning for retirement because unfortunately many people don’t think about it and are faced with an extremely uncomfortable retirement.

In August 2023, the average check was $1,705.79, according to the Social Security Administration.

Although the amount changes and can increase depending on the type of beneficiary, it remains low.

This is because the estimated monthly cost for a single person to live in the United States is US$3,497.

As a result, the cost of living in the US is more expensive than in 88% of the countries in the world.

The author points out in Smart Couples Get Rich Together that to avoid any problems in retirement, such as having to drastically lower your standard of living, you need to prepare.

Keep the following in mind:

You are rich if you have a happy, healthy life to live it and also an income to maintain that happiness.

The big secret can be simplified as follows:

Agree with your partner that you will learn to spend less than you earn in order to invest the difference.

Then, instead of using the money obtained as a return on investment, reinvest it until you reach the capital you need to support yourself during retirement.

Again, it’s important to have a conversation as a couple to find out the exact amount you need to have in order to enjoy a peaceful retirement.

Another essential tip would be to seek knowledge.

It’s not enough to simply save money for the future, you need to understand the best ways to do this.

Find out about the best accounts for keeping your retirement money and learn more about investments.

Preparing financially for your children

First, we’ll talk about tips for childless couples from the book Smart Couples Get Rich Together.

The birth of a child is a very happy time in a couple’s life, but it also comes with a considerable increase in financial responsibility.

We mentioned above that the estimated monthly cost for a single person to live in the USA is US$3,497.

However, when we look at the monthly costs for a family of 4, the estimated figure is US$5,837.

The costs of raising children are among the most significant and tend to increase over time.

Supermarket costs double, as do other items such as health care and even housing, because in some cases the couple has to move house.

It’s also worth thinking about creating a savings account for your child.

The money saved can be used to make it easier for the child to go to university, or as an incentive if they want to start a business, for example.

That’s why the book Smart Couples Get Rich Together recommends the following:

It is essential to plan ahead so that this phase is lived with as much financial peace of mind as possible.

It’s even worth thinking about strengthening your solidity with a good emergency reserve or taking out life insurance.

Tips for couples who are already parents

All of the above organization is fundamental.

You also need to consider learning how to educate your children in terms of financial education.

In this case, one of the main tips is to set a good example.

Also, bring the subject into the home in language that the child understands from an early age.

You can use games or simulate shopping situations, in which you give your child a sum of money and take them shopping so that they can practice understanding the value of money and making smart financial decisions.

Finally, know that when financial independence and retirement are reached, this is not synonymous with stagnation according to the author of Smart Couples Get Rich Together.

It will be a time when you can enjoy both your professional and personal lives.

At the same time, there will be enough time to devote to family and hobbies that have been abandoned in the course of your life in order to achieve your financial goals.

At this point, one of the fundamental steps is planning the succession of assets.

In the case of couples with children, the value will normally be distributed among the heirs.

But for couples without children, it is essential to define whether the money will be donated, for example.

This avoids the decision being at the mercy of the outcome of legal proceedings, with the result that a large part is lost to taxes and fines or is the cause of a fight between family members.

Smart Couples Get Rich Together – investments

The intelligent choice of good investment options for renting out reserves is fundamental to the family’s long-term financial results

There are excellent investment alternatives that are often little publicized.

To find them, you need to seek specialized knowledge.

In the book Think and Grow Rich we learn the importance of obtaining this kind of knowledge.

In fact, the author of the book states that it is not possible to become rich without specialized knowledge.

So go beyond the investment knowledge you have today.

Learn new ways to make money work for you, whether through financial books, videos, podcasts, courses, etc.

In addition, in the book Smart Couples Get Rich Together, the author shows that it is also interesting to study investment strategies according to the stage of your life, family structure and age.

The book itself makes a number of suggestions according to this profile to help you choose the most suitable strategy with all the planning in place

Remember that by choosing a more efficient investment option, you can multiply your results.

All you have to do is stay focused and resist the temptation to spend money inappropriately.

Another essential tip would be to diversify your investments.

Concentrating on just one type of investment may increase your chances of making more money, but it increases your risk. 

Diversification is the key to achieving financial independence.

So look for different ways to ensure that your money earns income.

Conclusion

The book Smart Couples Get Rich Together has much more detailed strategic information.

As well as various additional materials to help you plan in practice.

There are also spreadsheets and tests to help you put the content into practice.

We therefore recommend that you read on to extract as much knowledge as possible.

Always remember that wealth is possible for people who value specialized knowledge.

Daniel 2 de May de 2024