With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, your thoughts may well be turning to romance and ways you can celebrate with your partner.
You may think that talking about finances is somewhat unromantic for a day that’s about celebrating love between two people. However, doing just that may actually strengthen your relationship and improve your chances of a long and happy life together.
These conversations carry even more weight if you are a couple living the expat life, with financial ties in both the UK and Australia. Different tax systems, pension rules, currencies, and regulations can make your finances more complicated, which means approaching planning together becomes not only beneficial but essential.
So, for Valentine’s Day, here are six reasons why joint financial planning can strengthen your relationship and deliver tangible monetary advantages, especially when navigating life across borders.
1. Talking about your finances can help you create a joint approach to managing your money
When it comes to finances in any relationship, it’s important you both feel equally valued and invested in the arrangement that best suits your circumstances.
This is particularly important for expat couples, as you may be managing assets, bank accounts, pensions, insurance policies, or investments split between two countries. You can only establish a mutually agreeable approach once you have discussed your plans with your partner and clarified your individual aspirations and long-term objectives. Importantly, this will include confirming whether you plan to stay abroad, return home, or move again.
Understandably, you may have different expectations about your priorities and how you want to manage your money.
These issues could potentially create tension in a relationship, so addressing them and coming to a clear agreement can help prevent problems arising.
2. You both have a stake in your shared financial future
Having a financial plan that you create together can give you the reassurance of shared goals.
As expats, your financial future may also involve decisions around foreign exchange risk, transferring pensions between the UK and Australia, or understanding how each country taxes your income and investments.
One of you may be more confident with cross‑border financial matters or earn more than the other, but the key point is that when you create and review your financial plans, you do it together.
Just going through the process of planning as a couple can be a big step forward in securing your joint financial future.
3. By planning together, you will both have a clear idea of your financial circumstances
The discussions you have with your partner when devising your plan are likely to cover your long-term objectives and future aspirations. For example, do you plan to retire in the UK or move back to Australia?
However, it can also be helpful to look at the more detailed, day-to-day aspects of your financial arrangements.
These could include managing your income and expenditure, and deciding how much you want to save and invest on a regular basis – and in which jurisdiction.
By going through these plans together, you can ensure you are both aware of how resilient your finances are and feel confident in your agreed objectives.
In this way, you can avoid misunderstandings and both strive towards the same goals rather than potentially pulling in different directions (or across different countries!).
4. Talking through financial issues can lead to a stronger relationship
According to research by Royal London, 62% of couples admit they have had a big disagreement about their financial arrangements, making money the most common cause of mutual distrust.
Furthermore, Divorce-Online revealed that one of the most common reasons for divorce is one partner deciding that the other was “rubbish with money”.
For expat couples, the stakes can be higher. Managing finances across borders can be stressful, especially when you may be dealing with:
- Unfamiliar tax rules
- Pension transfers and superannuation
- Your international investments
- Decisions about which country to call “home” for financial purposes.
Having open discussions about your finances and ensuring you have a structure in place to address differences can go a long way towards avoiding serious disagreements.
Given how important money is in our lives, actively managing the financial side can only strengthen your relationship.
5. Your long-term wealth can underpin your aspirations
Discussions about finance may also prompt conversations about your long-term future together, which could help to reveal any differences of opinion between you.
For example, one of you may wish to retire in Australia for the climate and lifestyle, whilst the other would prefer to stay in the UK.
Furthermore, you may want to spend your retirement years quietly, whereas your partner may be thinking about overseas travel and a more active lifestyle.
There’s nothing wrong with you having different ideas and plans. The important thing is to talk about them and understand each other’s views, so you can work together to achieve those goals.
Having conversations can help you to make compromises and agree on a plan you’re both happy with.
6. There are big tax advantages in building your wealth as a couple
The final reason relates directly to some of the options open to you as part of your financial planning.
Nearly all the UK rules and regulations around personal finance issues are based on individuals rather than couples.
This means that, with careful planning, you can make the most of tax-efficient allowances, contribution limits, and different tax rates by effectively doubling your access to these benefits.
For example, in the UK:
- Both of you can contribute £20,000 to a tax-efficient ISA each year (2025/26 figure). This means a potential combined annual contribution of £40,000.
- Each individual has a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) annual exempt amount of £3,000 (2025/26 figure), so you can take profits of £6,000 as a couple, free from CGT.
- Tax relief on pension contributions is paid at your marginal rate, so if one of you is a higher- or additional-rate taxpayer, it can be advantageous to maximise the tax relief available to them.
Planning as a couple and being aware of these opportunities can help you grow your combined wealth and meet your financial goals, whether you ultimately plan to live in the UK, Australia, or between the two.
Get in touch
Expert advice and regular reviews of your financial strategy can help ensure that you and your partner are best positioned to achieve your long-term goals.
At bdhSterling, we specialise in helping clients navigate the complexities of financial planning. Whether you’re managing assets in multiple countries or planning a move abroad, our expert advisers can help you build a resilient, long-term investment strategy.
If you would like to discuss your own financial plans, please get in touch with us.
Please note
The value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
This article is for information only, it does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation, or needs.
Please do not solely rely on anything you have read in this article and ensure that you conduct your own research to ensure any actions you may take are suitable for your circumstances.
All contents are based on our understanding of HMRC and ATO legislation, which is subject to change.