Before you walk down the aisle, having a conversation about finances and credit can help ensure a future of wedded bliss, with minimal disagreements over money. Transparency over finances builds trust in a relationship. It can also help you establish your mutual monetary goals, whether you want to buy your first house together, start a family or send one of you back to school.

Any pre-nuptial money talk should start out with credit and debt – specifically how much debt each of you has (student loans, car loan, credit card, etc.), how you plan to pay it off, what your credit scores and reports look like, and how you will use credit to achieve your goals in the future. Enrolling in a credit monitoring membership can be a good way to start the dialogue. Web sites like freecreditscore.com make it easy to review your credit scores and reports online. You’ll be able to share with each other a comprehensive overview of your current credit status and credit history.

While you’ll each have your own credit score and report throughout your marriage, your credit – just like your lives – will be linked for better or for worse. Your combined credit history will affect what kind of interest rate you can get on mortgages, car loans and virtually any other kind of credit you’ll need in the future.

Once you’ve talked about credit, cover these conversation points next:

* Saving and spending habits – Is one of you frugal to the point of being cheap? Is the other a habitual spender? Balance is important in any marriage, and hopefully your saving and spending habits can balance each other. While you should always save as much as possible, you also don’t want to overly restrict yourselves so that you feel deprived or pressured. Ideally, you should save enough to cover several months of expenses and spend enough to cover your essential needs with a little left over for some fun.

* Retirement plans – It’s never too early to start thinking about how you’ll fare financially during retirement. Discuss any retirement accounts each of you already has. If neither has any retirement plan set up, consider consulting a financial planner to find out what type of plan might be best for your needs and goals.

* Spending styles – How will you fund big purchases, like new furniture or your honeymoon trip? Will you save until you can pay cash for big-ticket items, or will you use credit? Consider and discuss how you’ll pay for bigger purchases.

* Taxes – Talk about when you’ll file your taxes and consult with your accountant to see what filing status – such as married filing jointly, married filing separately or head-of-household – will benefit you the most.

* Marrying your money – Will you establish a joint account and deposit both your incomes there? Will you maintain separate accounts? Or perhaps you’ll establish a household budget account and both contribute a portion of your monthly income.

* Budgeting – Create a household budget right away and decide how you’ll manage expenses. Who will write the monthly checks (or handle the monthly online bill pay chores) to cover household expenses? Will you each pay personal expenses like car payments and student loan payments from separate accounts?

By discussing potentially conflict-causing monetary issues like credit use, credit scores, credit reports, spending and saving before you exchange vows, you can help ensure you start your married life together with a clear vision of how you’ll use money to make your lives better.

Watch & listen instead of reading:

There has been a lot of debate about what the government is doing to stave off a so-called double-dip recession. Some say it will cause runaway inflation; others say it’s simply delaying the inevitable. Robert Prechter says DEFLATION is the true concern.

It’s true that Robert Prechter is a polarizing figure in the world of finance. Some write off his technical analysis theories as esoteric market hocus-pocus. Others swear by the natural order of the markets, which is why they believe Elliott waves and Fibonacci are the purest forms of technical analysis.

Whatever your opinion, it’s hard to deny that Prechter is on to something. Virtually no one has called the crisis like him.

MarketWatch columnist Peter Brimelow recently reported, “Over the past three years, Prechter’s bearishness paid off handsomely. It’s up an annualized 5.25% against negative 8.12% annualized for the total return Wilshire 5000.”

Some might say it’s luck. Those familiar with Prechter’s writing call it unique insight.

After all, who else warned (as early as 2002, early enough to take action) about the impending tops in real estate, commodities and stocks or about defaulting pension plans, municipal bankruptcies and massive bank failures — plus a huge rally in the once-”doomed” U.S. dollar?

Only Prechter.

Read Prechter’s candid answers for free, and find out where he thinks the markets are heading next. Access the 20-page report now from the link below.

Download This Free Report Now

“Home and auto insurance needs change at every stage of life,” says Charles Valinotti, senior vice president of QBE Regional Insurance, which underwrites property and casualty coverage through the General Casualty, Unigard, Farmers Union Insurance and QBE Agri brands. “Seniors may not realize that downsizing from a home to a condo or driving less could have important implications for their insurance.”

Tip one: Make sure you have enough contents coverage, especially if you’ve downsized.

If you’ve moved from a home to a condo or apartment, there’s a good chance you’re underinsured. While you may have moved many of the same valuables with you, your rental or condo insurance policy probably carries much less contents coverage.

For example, a homeowners policy on a $200,000 house probably carried about $150,000 in contents coverage. While most of your stuff is the same as it was in your house, the renters policy on your two-bedroom apartment may only come with $25,000 in contents coverage.

If your coverage isn’t enough to replace your home’s contents in case of a total loss, talk to your agent about increasing your limits.

Tip two: Schedule your valuable items or collections.

The average cost of a diamond ring is almost $4,000, but a standard homeowners policy would probably only cover $1,000 if it’s lost or stolen. If you have antiques, china, silverware, jewelry or other valuable items or collections, ask your insurance agent about scheduling it (also called floater or inland marine coverage).

This coverage extends the limits on specific items, beyond what your standard policy includes. It also extends the causes of loss from “named perils” for reasons like fire, theft or lightning to an “open peril” basis, which includes dropping your diamond into the running garbage disposal.

Tip three: Take a driver safety course.

While some states mandate that drivers 55 and older take a driver safety course, in other states it’s optional. While your state might not require you to take a course, you may get a significant discount on your auto insurance for opting to take one.

Tip four: Tell your agent if you’re driving less.

Maybe you’ve stopped driving after dark. Or you now only drive in town. If you’re driving a lot less these days, you may be able to change your driver status on your auto policy from primary use to occasional use. And that could mean lower insurance rates.

“Strategically defaulting – deciding to stop paying your mortgage regardless of your ability to actually carry the debt – will have a far-reaching, long-lasting impact on your ability to secure future credit,” says Maxine Sweet, vice president of public education for global information services company Experian, one of the three large credit reporting companies that receive and update consumer credit histories which are scored to help predict risk. “It’s by no means a move to be undertaken lightly.”

About 355,000 borrowers strategically defaulted in the first half of 2009, according to research conducted as part of the Experian-Oliver Wyman Market Intelligence Reports. Interestingly, Experian and Oliver Wyman found that the homeowners most likely to strategically default were also those with the highest credit scores.

While it may seem like a good move to simply stop paying and walk away from a bad investment, keep several factors in mind when you consider strategic default:

* It’s very final. Strategic default will lead to foreclosure by the lender. Foreclosure will negatively impact your credit report and scores. In fact, only bankruptcy will affect your scores more adversely than foreclosure.

For more information on just how severe the impact can be, VantageScore LLC recently completed a study that evaluates the effect that foreclosures, bankruptcies, short sales, and various mortgage programs have on consumers’ VantageScore credit scores.

* The default will remain on your credit report for seven years. Since credit scores are based on information in your credit report, the foreclosure will greatly impact your credit scores during those seven years. Securing other credit at reasonable terms and rates will be very difficult, if not impossible, during that time.

* Potential lenders aren’t the only ones looking at credit reports these days. Insurers, employers and even cell phone companies are considering the creditworthiness of those who want to do business with them. By impacting your credit report, a strategic default may affect your ability to get a job, secure insurance and enter into important service contracts.

* Fannie Mae, the government-controlled mortgage giant, announced on June 23 policy changes that will make you ineligible for a new Fannie-Mae-backed mortgage if you walk away from a current mortgage that you actually could afford to pay. The ineligibility will last for seven years from the date of foreclosure.

* Finally, in some cases, the debt that foreclosure “erases” may be recorded as income, which means you will have to pay taxes on it.

“Strategic default may seem like ‘walking away’ from a bad debt, but it’s really anything but,” Sweet says. “While you will no longer have to pay the actual debt, you’ll almost certainly ‘pay’ in other ways, in the form of lowered credit scores and a drastically curtailed ability to secure future credit for the next seven years. Higher interest rates and unfavorable terms could end up costing you more in the long run than continuing to pay on an upside-down mortgage.”

You might find the acronym confusing, but the APR (annual percentage rate) on your credit card is a number you should be familiar with. It’s important because it describes the cost of your credit balance on a yearly basis. A healthy understanding of what determines this rate can help improve your financial decisions. You can save by assessing your current rates against competing cards or new offers, creating responsible spending and payment plans, and avoiding actions that might trigger a higher rate.

“It’s important for you to understand your annual percentage rate when managing your credit. You want to be sure you know just how much you are paying each month on your loan,” says Jennifer Ehresman, Bank of America Global Card Services customer experience executive. “Being knowledgeable about the factors that affect your APR will save you money in the long run.”

Here are some tips to educate yourself about your credit card rate:

1. Read the account agreement. If you are already using a credit card or comparing different credit card offers, pay attention to the details. Make sure you know how much you are paying in interest and how it is calculated. Some cards calculate APRs, while others do periodic rates (a monthly finance charge or a daily charge). But some cards vary these interest rates based on your use of the card, such as a 14 percent APR for purchases, but a 15 percent APR for cash advances.

2. Variable APR versus fixed APR. The account agreement tells you if your card has a variable or fixed APR. Variable means that the interest rate can fluctuate up or down from the set amount – called the margin – based on a reference rate like the U.S. Prime Rate (level charged by most banks to their most creditworthy customers). For example, when the U.S. Prime Rate increases, your variable APR can also increase. Fixed APR rates don’t fluctuate in this way, but they are not guaranteed – they can be changed based on market conditions. The good news with a fixed rate is that you will be notified first.

3. Higher or lower APRs. Which works best for you? It might always seem that having a lower APR is better, but not if you are a person who pays your balance off every month. If that’s the case, then you should be more interested in other fees that might apply to you – like cash advances or annual fees – because the APR doesn’t affect you.

4. Calculate how much interest you pay. If you maintain a balance every month, take a moment to look at how much you are paying in interest. The statement should tell you, but you can figure it out for a specific day. Your DPR (daily periodic rate) is calculated by dividing the APR by 365 (the number of days in a year). That number is multiplied by the account balance that day and by the number of days in the statement billing cycle, as shown on your statement. This figure might be a wakeup call, because what you pay in interest could be extra money in your pocket.

“Almost everyone reaches a point where they need a loan – whether for a mortgage or a start up business,” Ehresman says. “Stay in control of your credit and you will be able to secure a loan with a more favorable interest rate, thus enjoying the benefits that good credit management offers.”

Because raising a child in tough economic times can be expensive and financially challenging, many families are looking for ways to reduce their spending without having to sacrifice their family’s well-being. This has resulted in a slew of families getting creative by making old items new again.

Shanaka Brown’s family is one of many that is looking to save money by repurposing and reusing items from around the house.

Brown, a stay-at-home mom, says she believes the consumer-oriented society has prevailed for too long and has to stop. “I think a lot of people are doing things to change the spending mindset. Even if people just take baby steps in changing the way they do things, added up it all can make a huge difference in the long run.”

Brown says that her family is doing a lot of unique things to save money these days.

“For one, I cloth diaper my children which I figured has saved us a ton of money and cuts back on our curbside trash,” she says. Brown also says she regularly participates in clothing, toy and book swaps with the more than 60 moms in her playgroup, makes her own cleaning concoctions, and religiously uses refillable water bottles. After all, tap water is free.

“I also repurpose leftovers to make new meals and look for other uses for things in the kitchen such reusing empty food storage containers. Even my husband reuses milk and juice jugs in the basement to organize his stuff,” she says.

Kelly Wels, the owner of KellysCloset.com, a cloth diapering boutique that offers modern cloth diapering selections like FuzziBunz, bumGenius and Happy Heinys, has seen a huge rise in the number of families using washable and reusable cloth diapers. “I think that families are looking for ways they can save and cloth diapers are a surprisingly easy and sensible solution these days. Families can save thousands of dollars over the course of a few years by cloth diapering their baby,” she says.

Kira Williams, a physician from California, says that even though she and her husband have stable jobs, they are still mindful of their expenditures.

“Cloth diapering has definitely saved us money. Even with the extra money we spend on the water bill, we’re saving more than what we would have spent on disposable diapers. That said, while the cost savings are important, I am even more concerned with minimizing waste and streamlining our lives. I feel that so many of us have become obsessed with spending more and having more and it clearly hasn’t made us better individuals nor a better society. I want to teach my daughter to be happy with less and to treasure the simple things in life,” she says.

Williams says she prefers reusing items and says she was lucky to have inherited many maternity and baby clothes, as well as a lot of baby gear, all which she plans to pass along to others someday. She also makes her own baby food and saves the plastic souvenir cups she gets at NFL games, which have become one of her daughter’s favorite stacking and nesting toys.

Texas stay-at-home mom, Amy Scott, is also one of those moms getting creative by repurposing items that she might have once considered throwing out. For example, Scott says she keeps a small bowl on the dining table where her family puts leftover sauce packets from take-out restaurants. “We’ll never have to buy hot sauce or soy sauce again,” she jokes.

Scott also says she and her husband repurposed old nightstands that were dangerously close to being tossed. When her daughter was born, they realized they needed extra storage space. “One of our old nightstands became a feeding station to store formula, bibs, burp clothes, etc., and the other went by my back door to store mail as to not clutter my kitchen counter,” she says.

Wels adds that, with a little thought and effort, moms can save a lot of money by finding new ways to use old things.

“Think of all the new disposable products on the market that are touted as convenience items like disposable swim diapers, bibs and placemats. I don’t understand how it’s easier to keep buying new things only to end up throwing them away and buying more. If more people took a little extra time to wash items that we normally throw out, we can rack up a lot of savings and be much kinder to Mother Earth,” says Wels. “Perhaps this tumultuous economy is just the excuse families need to spend less, reuse more and overall lessen their waste.”

Brown agrees, “New is not always better or necessary. Reusing not only helps our environment but also my pocketbook because I don’t have to spend money buying things over and over again. Being a family of four on one income was difficult at first, but now I feel that we are making it work.”

If you need to replace or add a box spring and mattress you can save big money with an Intex air mattress. They cost less than $100 in many cases, even for queen size.

It goes without saying that the greatest opportunities in precious metals were not had by those who played the “disaster hedge” card; but rather by those who timed the trends as they developed, regardless of the fundamental backdrop.

Bob Prechter is in the latter group. Amidst the buzz and whirl of the most bullish backdrop in precious metals’ recent history, gold and silver prices soared to new, all-time highs and calls for a “New Gold Rush” and “$30 Silver” flooded the mainstream airwaves. Yet Bob alerted subscribers to an approaching top in the March 14, 2008 Elliott Wave Theorist.

“The wave count [in silver] is nearly satisfied, though ideally it should end after one more new high. If this analysis is accurate, and silver does peak and begin a bear market, gold is likely to go down with it.”

In the days that followed, prices in both metals fell off a cliff. In turn, Bob was asked to address his exceptional call for a turn down in a March 19, 2008 Bloomberg interview. Here are of excerpts from that conversation:

Bloomberg: “Why did you put out that call on Friday (March 14) about a peak in precious metals?”

Editor’s Note: You can download Bob Prechter’s 5-page report, Gold & Recessions, free from Elliott Wave International. It features 63 years of historical analysis that reveals how gold, T-notes, and the DJIA have performed in recessions and expansions.

Bob Prechter: “One of the reasons is that it seemed like an absolutely sure thing. We track several indicators of sentiment. One of them is the Daily Sentiment Index (DSI). That reached 98% bulls on a one-day basis going into this last high. We were tracking silver as well… as it is clearest in our minds. Now, at the time, we needed one more slightly new high. That happened Monday morning and silver dropped 15% in 48 hours. That’s a heck of a reversal and I think it’s real.”

“Real” indeed: From their March peaks, gold prices plummeted 34%, alongside a 60% sell-off in silver before hitting the breaks in October. Here, the October 2008 Elliott Wave Financial Forecast prepared for a corrective rebound and wrote:

“Silver traced out a five-wave decline from its March peak…Gold should also rally as silver pushes higher. Once silver’s rise is exhausted (initial target: $15.15), the larger downtrend should resume for both metals.”

A powerful, four-month bounce ensued in both metals: Gold prices came within kissing distance of its March peak before turning down on February 20; silver followed suit — a fulfillment of this bearish, near-term insight presented in the February 23 Elliott Wave Theorist:

“Silver has been clear as a bell. Silver is due to turn back down, and gold, which is back at $1000/oz, is likely to follow.”

Since then, it’s been a steady march lower for both metals. Obviously, EWI’s forecasts do not always prove this accurate. Yet in this case the analysis speaks for itself.

For more metals analysis from Bob Prechter, download Gold & Recessions a free 5-page report from Elliott Wave International. It features 63 years of historical analysis that reveals how gold, T-notes, and the DJIA have performed in recessions and expansions.

Robert Prechter, Chartered Market Technician, is the world’s foremost expert on and proponent of the deflationary scenario. Prechter is the founder and CEO of Elliott Wave International, author of Wall Street best-sellers Conquer the Crash and Elliott Wave Principle and editor of The Elliott Wave Theorist monthly market letter since 1972.

You open your mail and to your surprise there is a check for $4,000 claiming you won a sweepstakes. Boy that money sure will come in handy right now. But wait, there’s a catch.

You’ve been instructed to wire a portion of the check to cover the taxes. You deposit the check and, after a couple of days, the bank gives you access to the money. A few weeks after wiring the money to supposedly cover the taxes, you learn that the check was counterfeit. Not only are you responsible for paying the money back to the bank, you may never be able to recover it from the criminal.

“This is just one of many ways that fake check scams work and savvy criminals are pursuing these types of crimes more frequently,” says Denise Jaworski of Western Union, a leader in money transfer services. “There is a misconception that when you deposit a check or money order, the bank confirms that it is good before allowing you to withdraw the money. This is an incorrect assumption and one that clever scammers are taking advantage of.”

According to the National Consumer’s League’s (NCL) Fraud Center, Fake check scams are the No. 1 type of reported fraud. These scams account for more than 40 percent of the complaints received by the NCL in 2008. According to Jaworski, these scams seem to be increasing throughout the financial services industry.

A telephone survey by the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit association of more than 280 pro-consumer groups, found the most common fake check scams are those involving lotteries (66 percent), grants (36 percent) and work-at-home opportunities (35 percent).

“Unfortunately with tough economic times, people are even more vulnerable to phony claims of sudden riches or ways to make money,” says Jaworski. “Western Union takes steps to help prevent these types of crimes, but the public is the first and best line of defense against fraud. Always be skeptical.”

Western Union and other concerned businesses have teamed with the Consumer Federation of America to help educate people about what fake check scams are and how to avoid becoming a victim. Here are seven tips for avoiding fake check scams:

1. When faced with an offer that sounds too good to be true, take a moment to ask yourself a few simple questions:
* Who is this person?
* Does this money really have to be sent immediately?
* If you received a lottery check, did you actually sign up for the sweepstakes?

2. Never agree to pay to claim a prize. No legitimate sweepstakes or lottery would ever send you a check or money order and ask you to send payment in return. If you really won, you would pay taxes directly to the government.

3. Never agree to pay for grants from the government or foundations. They don’t offer money to people unexpectedly or charge to get it. Most grants go to organizations, not individuals, and require a lengthy and extensive application process.

4. Never agree to cash checks and send the money somewhere as part of a job working from home. That is not how legitimate employers operate.

5. Never agree to wire money to anyone you have not met in person or known for a long time.

6. If it seems suspicious, get advice. Consult your state or local consumer protection agency, the Federal Trade Commission, the Postal Inspection Service, or another trusted source.

7. Remember that there is no legitimate reason why anyone who wants to give you a check or money order for something would ever ask you to send money anywhere in return.

Go to www.westernunion.com to learn more about how to protect yourself from fake check scams.

So why shouldn’t the rest of us DIG into our pockets to show that we give a FIG about the stock market’s own comeback? Who would refuse a GIG to dance a JIG on the grave of the bear market?

Fortunately, it doesn’t take a MIG to shoot down this idea. Bob Prechter did it in his best-selling book, Conquer the Crash, when he explained that it’s best not to act like a PIG at a trough that will soon be empty — particularly since the U.S. economy is heading for a deflationary depression. It’s better to RIG up some kind of safety net in advance, rather than to WIG out about market ZIG-zags.

Here are three reasons Conquer the Crash gives not to speculate in the stock market now, even though it has been rising since the July low.
* * * * *
Excerpted from Chapter 20 of Conquer the Crash, You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression by Robert R. Prechter, Jr.

Should You Speculate in Stocks?

Perhaps the number one precaution to take at the start of a deflationary crash is to make sure that your investment capital is not invested “long” in stocks, stock mutual funds, stock index futures, stock options or any other equity-based investment or speculation. That advice alone should be worth the time you spent to read this book.

1. Stocks May Go to Near Zero

In 2000 and 2001, countless Internet stocks fell from $50 or $100 a share to near zero in a matter of months. In 2001, Enron went from $85 to pennies a share in less than a year. These are the early casualties of debt, leverage and incautious speculation. Countless investors, including the managers of insurance companies, pension funds and mutual funds, express great confidence that their “diverse holdings” will keep major portfolio risk at bay. Aside from piles of questionable debt, what are those diverse holdings? Stocks, stocks and more stocks. Despite current optimism that the bull market is back, there will be many more casualties to come when stock prices turn back down again.

2. Stock Mutual Funds Will Fall, Too

Not only will many stocks fall 90 to 100 percent, but so will a substantial number of stock mutual funds, which cannot exit large equity positions without depressing prices and which have the added burden to you of one percent (or more) annual management fees. The good news is that we will finally find out who the few truly good fund managers are and which ones were heroes by virtue of being around for a bull market.

3. The Fed Won’t Be Able To Save the Stock Market

Don’t presume that the Fed will rescue the stock market, either. In theory, the Fed could declare a support price for certain stocks, but which ones? And how much money would it commit to buying them? If the Fed were actually to buy equities or stock-index futures, the temporary result might be a brief rally, but the ultimate result would be a collapse in the value of the Fed’s own assets when the market turned back down, making the Fed look foolish and compromising its primary goals, as cited in Chapter 13. It wouldn’t want to keep repeating that experience. The bankers’ pools of 1929 gave up on this strategy, and so will the Fed if it tries it.

Any Room Left for the Rally? Bob Prechter has a definite opinion on whether there are any bullish opportunities left. He released his August Elliott Wave Theorist early this month to alert his subscribers to the market’s impending moves. He also makes an important forecast about the dollar, to boot. Read more about Bob Prechter and Elliott Wave International here.