Taking the plunge – things to think about when you’ve finally found ‘the one’

It’s happy days all round when you’ve found the person you want to spend your life with and you’re both excited to discover what the future holds. By the time you’ve decided to take the plunge and move in together, it’s likely you’ve realised you share visions of a future that’s fairly aligned.

Perhaps you’ve touched on topics like your views on marriage, children and professional ambitions but are a little unclear on specific details.

By understanding each other’s hopes and dreams and supporting them to the best of your ability, you’ll be well on your way to a happy life together. We take a look at some things to consider asking each other to help your relationship thrive.

1. What’s on your bucket list?
2. Have you always dreamed of climbing Mount Everest or spending a few months on the Italian Riviera learning Italian? Perhaps your partner has visions of sailing the Greek Islands and retiring in the country? Create a list of your individual and shared dreams to keep being excited about the possibilities your life together holds.
3. What are you passionate about? (besides each other of course!)
4. Knowing the answer to this simple question will help you understand what is really important for you and for your partner to feel stimulated and happy in life. It may be that one of you places a high value on maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle so would benefit from regular gym classes, while the other is passionate about contributing to society and feels invigorated by volunteering in the community. Whatever your respective interests may be, try to help each other continue to pursue them so you each have fulfilling aspects to your lives independently of the other.
5. What do you want to achieve before having children?
6. If you are both aligned on wanting to have children take a moment to think about what you would both like to achieve before starting a family. Consider any study or career ambitions, goals such as owning a home or spending a year travelling and discuss how those plans fit in with having children.
7. What does success mean to you? 
8. What seems like success to one person can be dramatically different for another. Try to clarify your position as individuals and as a partnership. Think about the many different aspects of your lives including health, finance, career, travel and where you might live at certain points in your life, your spiritual beliefs and the importance of family.
9. What does family life look like to you?
10. Do you or your partner have specific ideas about what your life will look like once you have children? Do you want to pursue a challenging career, be a stay at home parent or find a way to mix the two? Perhaps your partner assumes you will be happy to give up work and take on the bulk of domestic duties while they become the sole breadwinner? Thinking about potential family dynamics will help you both to understand what’s important and why to each of you, and work through any challenges.
11. What are your financial goals?
12. The first step to financial security is to realistically assess where you are both at currently. Be completely honest and tackle any surprises together, if either of you have any debt, be aware of the exact situation and work together to get into a stronger financial position. Note down goals for your future together and seek professional advice to help create a tailored plan. Consider Life Insurance, providing you with financial protection to cover for unforeseen life changes including health issues or loss of work so you have peace of mind when planning for the future.

Having a clear idea of what you want from life as individuals and as a couple will give you the insight you need from each other to reach your goals and dreams as a united front.