Whilst you might not be able to buy love, you can at least protect it with a little financial planning. If you and your partner are contemplating moving in together and merging your finances or even getting married or starting a family, here are few suggestions to keep the love alive over the years!

Decide on your financial priorities, such as:

• Would an emergency fund be helpful?
• Do you need to protect either your own or your partner’s income in the event of illness? At least considering cover of joint expenses?
• Do either of you want to consider life insurance, as security for the other?
• How much borrowing will you need to do to buy a home?
• If you have children, how much planning do you want to do? Is private education an option, do you want to start saving for university fees?
• Are you already saving for a pension? Do you want to incorporate your partner in your pension plans? If you’re not already saving for a pension, when do you intend to start doing this?
• Will you be saving for short-term family events – such as birthdays, holidays or Christmas?
• If you are likely to have surplus funds, are you likely to invest these? If so, will you invest in medium or long term options?

Available resources for parents:

• Child Benefit:
  
  • Child Benefit is paid for a child or young person who is:
    
    • under 16 years old or
      
    • 16, 17 or 18 years old and at school or college studying fulltime
      
    • 16 or 17 years old and has left school recently and has registered for work or training with one of the following:
      • Careers Service, or Connexions Service
      • Ministry of Defence
      • Department for Employment and Learning (in Northern Ireland)
      • An education and library board (in Northern Ireland)
  
  
• The young person must be actively seeking work or training place and have not yet started work, or training for which a training allowance is paid.
  
  
• Free dental care & free prescriptions to all mothers-to-be and new mothers (within first year of birth)
  
  
• Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)
  
  
  • According to the Department for Work and Pensions:
    
    • SMP provides the mother with financial assistance to take time off at and around the birth
    • SMP is paid by the employer, up to a maximum of 26 weeks
    • SMP is regarded as earnings and the employer will deduct tax and National Insurance accordingly
  
  
• Child Tax Credits
  
  All families with children can claim Child Tax Credits if their income is less than £58,000 (up to £66,000 if the child is less than a year old). You can still claim this benefit even if you are not the biological parent, but you must be the main person who is responsible for the child.

More information about credits and benefits:

Tax credit enquiries:
0845 3003900 (UK Tax Credits enquiries)
0845 6032000 (Northern Ireland Tax Credits enquiries)

Child benefit enquiries:
0845 302 1444
0845 603 2000 (Northern Ireland)

Available resources for children:

• Child Trust Funds (CTFs)

Child Trust Funds are long-term tax-free savings and investment accounts into which the Government will pay ‘endowments’ when a child is born. A further payment of an undisclosed amount will also be paid at the age of seven. This means that each child born on or after 1st September 2002 will receive an initial lump sum payment of (currently £250 or £500 for poorer families) from the government. This will be sent in the form of a voucher which can then be used to open a CTF account with the investment provider of the child’s guardian’s choice. Parents will be able to pay up to £1,200 a year into the fund, until the child reaches 18 when the account will cease to be a Child Trust Fund account, and will usually be transferred into an easy access account. Preferential tax treatment will then cease, and any further growth in the fund after this time will be subject to normal tax legislation. Savings in a Child Trust Fund account will develop into an asset which can then be used by the child, and no-one else, when they reach the age of age of 18 (not before) to help cover some of the large expenses encountered at this time of a person’s life, and is intended to contribute towards university fees, first mortgage, etc.

• Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA)

An EMA is a weekly payment of £10, £20 or £30, depending on the household income and is paid directly into the student’s bank account. The money is intended to help with the day-to-day costs generated by staying on at school or college, such as travel, books and equipment etc. Additionally, £100 bonuses available for students who remain committed to their course and get good marks.

A student can get an EMA if:

• Their household has an income of £30,000 or less and
• Their course involves at least 12 hours of guided learning per week

Courses eligible for EMAs include school sixth forms, sixth-form colleges or further education colleges and encompasses ‘A’ levels, GCSEs, GNVQs, NVQs or other vocational qualifications.