My girlfriend and I have decided we want to get married but continue to keep our finances separate. We live together in a house that I bought on my own and pay the mortgage and all the bills for besides internet, which she covers with her phone plan. She also pays for her own health insurance, car insurance, and medical bills. I pay all groceries and most outings as well. We both own our own vehicles outright.
I currently have a few thousand in savings and another bit in an investment account along with my 401k. She has about $100 to her name rn and around $16k credit card debt as well as a bunch of student loans. She knows she’s bad with money and is trying to be better, but still has a long way to go, and for that reason we want to keep things as separate as possible. I also make about 2-3x more than her, though we both work full time.
We definitely want to get a prenup and avoid joint accounts as we are worried about her creditors coming after my assets. But as long as we don’t commingle our finances, my money will be safe even after we get married, right? Is there anything else I’m missing?
We’re looking at some of those online prenup services to do it as affordably as possible. Technically I could afford a lawyer but she could not, and I’m trying to be extra frugal right now to grow my emergency fund and start saving for kids down the line anyway.