Use this financial planning checklist to find the missing pieces in your plan as a couple. Mark what is settled, what needs a conversation, and what needs a named next job. If you need to build the plan rather than audit one, start with the financial-planning sequence for couples. You do not need to finish the checklist in one sitting. At the bottom of the page, you can mark each item and then copy, download, or print your answers.

Use four marks:

  • KNOWN when the current answer is easy to find
  • TALK when you have different preferences or assumptions
  • TASK when somebody needs to get a fact or complete a job
  • LOCAL HELP when you need an answer about law, tax, a contract, or regulated advice

Do not put passwords, recovery codes, complete account numbers, or identity documents in it.

The Financial Planning Standards Board process moves from circumstances and goals through implementation responsibilities and later review. That sequence explains why this checklist ends with owners and dates. Knowing that a gap exists does not close it.

Pass 1: current numbers and cash flow

  • We know each person's usual spendable income after unavoidable deductions, plus a realistic lower-income month.
  • We know when income normally arrives, especially if it is irregular.
  • We have a current list of recurring household costs.
  • We have added yearly, quarterly, and seasonal costs to the months when they are due.
  • We know which bills are automatic and who checks the available balance.
  • Required essentials and minimum payments fit before optional goals receive money.
  • We have current debt balances, required payments, interest rates, and due dates from official statements.
  • We know which savings already have a job and which money is genuinely unassigned.
  • We can find the official record for each account or obligation.
  • We have marked every number that is still an estimate.

Couple checkpoint: Which number would change our next decision if it turned out to be wrong?

If this pass is mostly TASK, use the 30-minute finance map before doing the rest.

Pass 2: disruptions and household protections

  • We have named the next disruption we want to be better prepared for.
  • We know what cash or practical backup is already available for it.
  • We know which household bills must still be handled if the usual money manager is unavailable.
  • A backup uses their own authorized access or the provider's contact process, never somebody else's password.
  • We have checked whether insurance policies, beneficiaries, nominations, and estate documents still match our intentions.
  • We can find current statements for longer-term savings, pensions, and investments and know which assumptions need review.
  • We have written each question about debt liability, property, tax, benefits, pensions, insurance, or inheritance under LOCAL HELP and named where we will get the answer.

Couple checkpoint: Suppose our usual money manager was out of action for a month. What would stop working first?

Coverage, ownership, beneficiary, and legal decisions depend on local rules and contracts. Mark the question and assign someone to get the current answer.

Pass 3: shared and personal goals

  • Any active short-term goal has an amount or finish line and a date.
  • We have recorded later goals without pretending they all need funding now.
  • Each partner can name a personal financial goal that matters to them.
  • We have agreed which goals are household goals and which stay personal.
  • We know the base contribution for a tight month and the extra action for a stronger month.
  • We have discussed what happens if a goal becomes more expensive or the deadline moves.
  • We have included likely life changes such as a move, care work, children, training, or a change in working hours.
  • We have written the next practical job for every active goal.
  • We know when to pause or change a goal.

Couple checkpoint: A year from now, which neglected goal would bother each of us most?

When several goals compete for the same money, use consequence, timing, and feasibility to decide which comes first. Do not treat every goal as equally active.

The EU/OECD adult financial competence framework treats budgeting, saving, investing, longer-term planning, credit, and debt as distinct parts of managing finances. A balanced monthly budget therefore answers only one part of this pass. It does not tell you whether your later goals, debts, and protections fit together.

Pass 4: fairness and upkeep

  • Our joint, separate, or hybrid account system is clear enough for both of us to explain.
  • We know how shared bills are funded and what happens in an unequal or irregular income month.
  • We have agreed how unequal income and unpaid household work affect contributions and workload.
  • Disability and schedule constraints are visible when we divide money jobs.
  • Both partners have reasonable room for personal choices within the plan.
  • Every recurring money job has an owner, trigger, finish line, and backup.
  • We know which decisions need both people and which jobs one person can complete alone.
  • We have a date for the next short review.
  • We have named events that reopen the plan sooner.
  • Either partner can ask to pause a disputed decision.

Couple checkpoint: Which part of the system looks equal on paper but feels uneven in time, effort, or freedom?

Turn the checklist into two actions

An unmarked line is not yet a task. Turn no more than two lines into complete actions for the next review period.

CHECKLIST ITEM:
CURRENT MARK: KNOWN / TALK / TASK / LOCAL HELP
NEXT ACTION:
OWNER:
DONE WHEN:
DUE DATE:
WHAT COULD BLOCK IT:
NEXT REVIEW:

The owner moves the action. They do not get to settle a disputed choice alone. Once the choices have held through a review, the couples financial plan template gives the decisions, owners, and dates a permanent home.

Try this opener:

"Can we use this to find gaps? Let's mark facts first, put different views under TALK, and leave local questions under LOCAL HELP. Then we choose two actions."

Example: a useful incomplete checklist

Mateo wants to clear every unchecked box. Chris is already overwhelmed and worries the list will become a month of appointments and paperwork.

They stop after four passes and choose two tasks. Mateo checks the dates of three annual bills. Chris writes down the exact question they have about a pension without changing anything. They leave insurance and tax under LOCAL HELP until a real decision makes those questions timely.

Most of the checklist is still open. At the next review, they can finish or reassign those two jobs instead of reopening every blank line.

Mark, copy, download, or print the checklist

The interactive version below includes every line from the four passes. Your marked version can be copied, downloaded, or printed; it is not saved between visits.