There comes a time in every young man and woman's life when it's time for..."the talk." ...the money talk, duh! This is the talk with your significant other because you are combining finances. KABOOM.

Now for all my single ladies, you don't need to worry about this one quite yet. You can read and store this knowledge bomb, or just go find some funny kangaroo gifs and send them my way.

For the folks who are shacked up and sharing bank accounts with their favorite person in the world, this one's for you.

Car guy husband and I just had the talk. We've been married for almost two years, and this is probably our second talk, or maybe our third. It's good stuff - and I'm not just saying that because I geek out about finance. It's legitimately good for our marriage, and we fight less about money as a result. We have the talk when our situation changes - for us, I had come out of a stretch of unemployment (which I'll delve into for a later post in case you ever find yourself in the same unfortunate situation) and was bringing home a paycheck again. We had the talk when I got laid off a few months prior. We had the talk when we first got married. Lots of opportunities for the talk.

We made it fun. It was set up on the calendar in advance. Monday night: money talk. We grabbed a picnic lunch (plus a choice cider for yours truly to take the edge off...it can be a little stressful). We went to a park on a bright and sunny evening, brought our computers, and delved into the world of joint bank accounts.

Make your money talk your own version of fun. It helps! Now for the nitty gritty:

Ten questions for the money talk:

With excerpts from our own

1. How much money do we bring home after taxes each month?

A bajillion dollars.

2. How much money are we spending each month?

Half a bajillion dollars, plus a golden doubloon.

3. Are there any areas where we can spend less?

Clothes, gas, fast food, and utilities because it's almost summer!

4. Are there any areas where we can spend more?

Up the ante for retirement accounts, savings accounts, and definitely more money on restaurants (Ha! It doesn't always have to be fuddy duddy practical).

5. Do we want to give more money away?

Well, we have more money, we could probably give more money away.

Well, we have less money, we should give less money away.

6. How is our credit situation?

Let's hop on credit karma. Cool. Our credit score went up. Let's consider a better credit card because our current one is meh.

7. What are our financial priorities?

Car Guy Husband: Retirement and house. Both number one (ahem, clearly, we're still working on the definition of "priorities").

Sage & Mint: Financial security, retirement, living in the moment (and this is why we have money fights).

8. How can we compromise on both of our money goals AT THE SAME TIME?

Sage & Mint+Car Guy Husband: We shall save xx% for retirement because that's important to both of us. We'll increase our fun budgets because Sage & Mint loves going out to eat in the city. And the rest we'll save up for a down payment on a house. Compromise reached. All parties content.

9. How can we make money more fun?

Ok, so this isn't really one you'll find in the books, but really: make it fun. I love massages so we created an incentive plan. If I reach the goal, I can take money out to get a massage. Car Guy Husband really likes trucks. We set a goal for him and when he reaches it, he gets a chunk of money to buy a truck. It's fun. Fo realz.

10. What are the next steps?

Car Guy Husband: Go here and here, switch money here, shazam katchow, all done.

Sage & Mint: Adjust the budget here, transfer money there, find a new credit card. Shazam, katchow all done.