Not the love, honor and cherish part. Joel Mathews and Michelle Goold of Independence believe they've got that down pat. It's the how do we pay the bills, find a house, afford kids someday and build a future part that worries them.

Blending two sometimes vastly different money histories and personalities into a shared pool of resources on which new demands are placed takes work. Mathews and Goold, who plan to marry July 1, want to manage their finances well too.

Mathews was a spender and Goold was a saver when they met on the campus in Maryville. He graduated and last summer found a teaching position in Independence, near where Goold grew up. He moved in with her parents until she gets her bachelor's degree in advertising and marketing this spring, and has used the money he saves on rent to pay off more than $7,000 in credit card debts that he'd run up.

Mathews has nearly $29,000 in student loans. Goold went to school on scholarships, but she will soon inherit the remaining $8,600 of the auto loan her parents have been paying for her while she's been in college. Neither has a lot of spare cash. Their soon-to-be-pooled assets are about $9,100 short of their combined debts.

Goold was still waiting last week to learn whether she was getting a job she applied for. Her prospects seemed encouraging but raised another question. The companies she most likely would work for pay employees every two weeks. The school district where Mathews teaches middle school students and serves as a football and basketball coach pays monthly.

But for Mathews and Goold especially, managing cash flow needs to go beyond basic month-to-month budgeting and become a longer-range, more flexible plan. That plan would need to be adjusted as one-time expenses come up as Mathews and Gould begin their new life.

Minear recommended that the couple begin planning as many expenses as possible 12 months in advance and adjust that plan monthly to maintain a 12-months-forward look or whatever is needed when financial changes occur. He also provided some software and a spreadsheet based on their current finances to help them start.

"LOVE is an acronym that reflects how the plan works," he continued. "You begin by listing (L) all your spending in a pocket notebook. You organize (O) on the spreadsheet or using the software to plan for recurring expenses. You validate (V) by reviewing to confirm that your spending is on track and still meets your priorities. And you evolve (E), if needed, to change your spending habits to better meet your goals when you start over each month."

Minear's projection assumes the couple's household income in the coming 12 months will be a bit less than $3,800 a month after taxes, insurance, retirement plan contributions and other payroll deductions. About half that money comes from what Mathews makes now, and half is a reasonable, but conservative, estimate of what Goold might bring home from her first job.

Presuming that Goold receives checks every two weeks, which means three checks in some months, and that Mathews continues to pick up extra income in the summer, their actual take-home income for a couple of those 12 months will be $1,000 to $1,500 higher than the $3,800 base.

"Your monthly cash flow is going to be something of a wild card until you know exactly where Michelle is working and what she'll actually bring home," Minear told the couple. "You may be in the red some of the early months until she secures a job or Joel earns extra money in the summer or you cut expenses."

Next, the planner said, choose a bank with free checking and online bill-paying options and set up three accounts. One is a larger general account for household expenses and the others are smaller accounts for expenses they feel individually responsible for.

"You'll also need to establish a link from your household account to a money market account that will hold the cash reserves you need and which should be one of your first priorities to build," Minear said.

"Have your paychecks deposited in the general household account and once a month move regular amounts into your individual accounts and the cash reserve."

First, neither has any credit card debt to pay and Mathews' student loan payments are manageably low. Second, they still can control household expenses before those become large enough to interfere with other goals.

Minear estimated that between the time Goold's job outlook becomes clear and the couple begin having children, they can put $1,000 to $1,250 a month into cash reserves to be used as cushions against calamity or to cover irregular expenses that come up.

He suggested that the couple jump-start their reserves by cashing in a mutual fund that Goold's grandparents gave her to help with college when she was younger. She didn't use the money because scholarships covered her costs. It would be reasonable to convert those nearly $10,000 in funds to cash now.

Todd Minear is a certified financial planner and founder of Northland Wealth Advisors LC in Gladstone. He also is president of the Financial Planning Association of Greater Kansas City, whose members provide the free financial plans that Money Makeover participants receive in exchange for sharing their stories with The Star.

To find a member of the Financial Planning Association of Greater Kansas City, call the chapter at or visit its Web site at www.fpakc.org . The national Financial Planning Association Web site at www.fpanet.org also provides contact information.

More than 225 families have received free financial help through the Money Makeover series over the last 12 years. If you're interested in a makeover, send e-mail to MoneyWise editor Steve Rosen at srosen@kcstar.com or call him at . Include your name, address and telephone number. We'll mail you a packet of forms. We work with everyone who returns the paperwork.

The Star's Gene Meyer has been writing Money Makeovers since 1994. To reach him, write the business desk at 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64108; call ; or send e-mail to gmeyer@kcstar.com .

"Plan your cash flow a year in advance and adjust as necessary as circumstances change. Maintaining that control will be the driver of the rest of your plans."

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