Hi Ashlie.

Great questions.

For starters, you're combining your lives, and his student loan debt is part of your lives, so you'll want to work together to get it paid off in a reasonable amount of time. Keep in mind that his student loan debt will impact his credit rating as well as your combined credit rating. That being said, while I'm sure you'll live happily ever after, you probably don't want to put your name on his debt at this point in time.

Regarding your second question, here is how my husband and I handled our finances when we first got married. We kept separate accounts (since we were both working), and then transferred a set amount of money into a joint account each month. From our joint account, we paid our household bills and funded our savings. The small amount of money left over could be spent however we saw fit. This system worked very well for us until we had kids and I stopped working for a while. I think it may work well for you too. The last thing you want to do is fight over your husband spending a few bucks a day for a cup of coffee. Trust me, there will be plenty of bigger things to disagree about.

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