Spring is a beautiful time of year, one of new life and new beginnings. It is also the start of the wedding season. My wife and I were wed almost two years ago, and I clearly remember how new and exciting those first few months together were. While your first few months together will be filled with many wonderful experiences, there may be some challenges along the way.

Perhaps the biggest challenge you will face concerns your finances. In fact, the single greatest cause of divorce in the US stems from financial difficulties. Because of this, it is important to start your married life on the right foot.

Start with a plan

One of the first things you will need to do is to decide whether or not to combine your finances. My wife and I combined our finances, but that may not be the best answer for everyone, at least not right away. Regardless of whether you combine your finances or not, you should always manage your finances together. The two of you can decide exactly how you want to do this, but it is highly recommended to share in the responsibility so both people know exactly what is going on.

Know how much you earn and how much you owe

Once you have decided how you will handle your finances, you and your spouse will need to have a clear picture of how much the two of you earn and how much you owe. Start with your recent paychecks and other sources of income (keep in mind your taxes may change slightly). Then, list all your recurring bills and expenses. An accurate list will help you both understand your key expenses and hopefully prevent surprises from jumping up and biting you!

Make a budget and decide how to pay bills

Now that you have a plan on how to handle your money together and a definitive list of all income and expenses, it is time to make a budget. Your budget will probably need some adjustments the first few months of living together, so remember to be flexible. When your budget is in place, you will need to decide how you will pay the bills. Will one person handle the majority of the bills, or will both people be responsible? Many people set up a joint e-mail account dedicated to handling e-mail reminders and electronic bill statements. This is a good way to keep all bills and important reminders in one place.

Create financial goals

Now that the two of you are on your way to financial harmony, you should start working on some financial goals. As newlyweds, there are likely many things you will want to do in the near future: buy a house, have children, travel, buy a new vehicle, and many other things. These all take money, and a lot of it! The only way you will achieve these financial milestones is to create a goal to achieve them. This will take a clear objective, a plan, a time frame, and a collaborative effort from you and your spouse.

Marriage can often be very similar to finances: It is not always easy, but it does not have to be hard either. When you are married, you are two people working as one. And your finances should be the same way.

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Patrick is the author of Cash Money Life, a blog about personal finance, career management, and self-improvement. He served in the United States Air Force, has traveled to over 35 countries, and is a fantasy baseball champion. He is an active lender at Prosper.

So you’ve found that special person in your life and now it’s time to buy an engagement ring. Buying the right engagement ring can be a costly endeavor and you may find yourself in need of a little financial assistance.  Prosper is the right choice for you.

The community at Prosper provides the support you need in helping you to obtain your dream. With Prosper, there are no stuffy bank staff for you to deal with. Instead it’s everyday people helping everyday people. And the best part is, you can choose your own rate and loan amount. You may even have the rate driven lower as lenders bid on your listing. You remain in control of your transaction, unlike with a major financial institution where they are in complete control. If you want to plan the perfect engagement and need assistance financially, Prosper is the best choice for you. The community at Prosper will help your engagement dreams a reality.

Now keep in mind, Prosper is not a place to come if you have extremely bad credit and want to avoid heading to the bank. It is still important that you have and maintain a decent credit score. So even though Prosper does not require a perfect credit score for you to get an engagement loan, if you do have poor credit, you may want to consider working on improving your credit before you join the community and apply for a loan. This will help you have a better chance of getting your Prosper loan, because those with an average or above average credit score can generally get more bids on your loan.

Once you take some time to browse around the Prosper website and check out the tutorials, you will quickly see how well person to person loans can work and how beneficial they can be to both parties involved. Choosing to use Prosper can be a great way for you to help pay for your engagement ring, so that you may be able to get the diamond ring of your choice for your future bride.

If you are completely unfamiliar with the concept of Prosper and person to person loans, it is definitely in your best interest to browse around and see how things work. Take some time to view other borrowers’ profiles and perhaps see if you can find one that slightly matches the situation that you are in. The more you know and the more prepared you are, the better chance you have at successfully gaining a loan from Proper. If you’re looking for a unique, affordable way to find the perfect engagement ring and plan the perfect engagement event, join Prosper today and let our community of lenders help you get on your way to achieving that goal.

These days, many couples who are planning to get married want to pay for the wedding costs themselves.  After all, some couples are getting engaged and married later in life, rather than in their early 20’s.  Therefore, a great number of these men and women have well-developed careers with substantial incomes — so, they feel that they should pay for their own wedding costs.

This usually comes as a relief to the bride’s family, as most people are simply not in a financial position to easily afford to pay for a wedding and the bride’s family has traditionally been responsible for the wedding costs.

So, this arrangement works out well for everyone involved — at least at first, anyway.

Marrying couples feel the financial strain of paying for all of the wedding costs.  Costs quickly add up to the point where they can become stressful.  Very few things associated with weddings are inexpensive… most are quite large budget-drainers.  To make matters worse, it has been suggested that vendors price gouge anyone that they think is planning a wedding.

Couples don’t want to head to their families and ask for money, for a couple of different reasons.  First of all, the couples realize that their families really cannot afford to help out with the wedding costs.  Secondly, couples may feel as if going back and asking their families for monetary help would be like stepping back into their childhood when they would ask Mom and Dad for cash.  It just isn’t a good feeling as an adult to go back to your parents to ask for financial assistance.

Instead, couples often opt for obtaining a loan.  Prosper is a great place to get that personal loan.

Why Prosper?  Well, Prosper is an active online community where lenders and borrowers meet.  Marrying couples can join Prosper as individuals and get an individual loan for the amount they need to cover the wedding costs.  This way, they can still pay for their own wedding costs without turning to their families for assistance.  If their families want to help they can join Prosper as a lender and help by bidding on the loan and giving an endorsement as a friend.

Getting a loan through Prosper is simple and quick, too.  Borrowers simply need to join the community and post a listing telling why they need a loan.  Then, lenders make bids for the loan.  The borrower gets to choose their interest rate, and most loans close within a few days (listings are 7 days in duration.)  The loan money is then directly deposited into the borrower’s bank accounts.

This can be immensely helpful to marrying couples.  After all, applying for and receiving bank loans can take a great deal of time and effort.  Wedding services don’t wait for their payments – they want significant deposits and payment prior to delivery.  In addition, a borrower may be able to acquire interest rates through Prosper that are much better than those they could get at their local banks.

Prosper loans are incredibly convenient to repay as well.  Automatic payments are set up through the borrower’s bank account.  This is a great feature for newlyweds because - let’s face it - their minds aren’t likely to be focused on bills, are they?

Marrying couples who are in need of financial help should definitely consider joining Prosper and borrowing an individual personal loan.

Many people have a policy about money-they say that they will never lend money to friends or family.  This is because there can be a lot of hassles and aggravations involved in dealing with getting the money back.  Of course, this isn’t usually the situation with small amounts, like $5 or $10, but when it comes to larger amounts–such as thousands of dollars-people are very leery of loaning money.  When a family member or close friend is getting married and needs some help paying for the wedding, many people would like to make an exception.  That is, many people wish they could make an exception; however, they are still wary about putting the money out there for fear that it still won’t be repaid… even if it was used for a wedding.

This is where Prosper can help.  Prosper is an online community that brings lenders and borrowers together.  Loans at Prosper are repaid with interest, so a lender is compensated for the temporary use of his money.

Prosper specializes in person-to-person loans.  Anyone can be a lender at Prosper.  The loans originate from Prosper via WebBank. 

Here’s how this can work for individuals who want to loan money to marrying couples.  The lenders and the borrowers join Prosper.  The borrower (meaning an individual who is part of the wedding couple) creates a listing, explaining why they are in need of the loan.  Then, the family and/or friend lenders bid on the loan.

The family and/or friend lenders can name the interest rate they would like to receive.  Of course, since they are close to the wedding couple, they will not likely want to charge a high interest rate; however, this is up to the individual.  If, though, other lenders (besides the friend and family lenders) also bid on the loan and they offer lower interest rates, they will win the bid.

But, let’s say that a family member wins the loan bid.  What happens next is that the loan money gets directly deposited into the bank account of the wedding couple within a few days.

So, what assures that the money will be paid back with loans on Prosper?  How is this any different than a regular loan to a family member?  Well, while the loans through Prosper are not guaranteed by the online site, there is a larger likelihood that this type of loan will be repaid simply because of the payment system that is set up.

Whenever a loan is paid out-for example, to an individual’s bank account-a system of repayment is set up where payments are automatically taken out of that same bank account on a monthly basis.  So, the family member or friend will feel more comfortable with this loan, knowing that a payment plan is in place as soon as the loan is given out.

All of this means that marrying couples can use Prosper as a method through which to borrow money from friends or family-without friends or family being worried about repayment.

Many years ago, it was a given that the bride’s family would take on the responsibility of paying for the wedding costs.  The groom’s family generally paid for the rehearsal dinner and the honeymoon, but other than that, all other costs were usually taken care of by the family of the bride.

These days, though, things are much different.  Due to inflation and financial difficulties among many families, many engaged couples must pay for at least some of their own wedding costs.

For a small number of couples, this change in how wedding costs are handled hasn’t been a big problem; these people may have solid jobs with significant incomes.  But, for most couples, having to pay for their own wedding costs can be quite a burden.

And, no matter how much a couple tries to economize, wedding costs are certain to be rather sizeable.  From the engagement ring to the wedding itself, from the reception to the honeymoon-all of these costs add up, regardless of how thrifty a couple tries to be.

Even if a couple decides to elope, deciding to skip conventional wedding-related events such as the rehearsal dinner, there are still some hefty costs involved.  Just because you elope doesn’t mean that there isn’t a honeymoon.  After all, there are still rings to be purchased-and no couple wants to buy bargain basement priced engagement and wedding rings, right? 

This is where getting a loan can make great sense.  Either member of the couple can get an individual personal loan for an amount that will cover the wedding costs.  And, by getting a loan, the couple can afford to pay for the rising wedding costs.  They can afford to have the wedding they want to have, complete with the exact decorations, food, entertainment, and honeymoon that they want.   And, the couple can get the very best diamond engagement and wedding rings with which to express their love for each other.

And, these days, couples are lucky-they can join Prosper.  Prosper is an online community where people can come to borrow money.  This online lending community is ideal for anyone looking for a loan because it allows a borrower (such as one of the partners of a wedding couple) to choose their own loan.

To get a loan, all a person needs to do is join Prosper and create a listing.  In the listing, the person tells about why he or she needs a loan-in this case, to pay for wedding costs.  Then, lenders will bid to fund the loan…and all the borrower has to do is select the interest rate and wait for lenders to match it.  After a few days of bidding, lenders may even get competitive and offer a better interest rate!

And here is where Prosper can really help wedding couples-after the loan bid is won, the money is directly deposited into the borrowers account within a few days.  This gives instant access to the money…no waiting period, no delays.

Getting an individual online loan with Prosper can really help deal with all of the costs involved in with weddings-it’s quick, easy, and it makes sense.