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It can be difficult to talk about finances with your spouse or significant other, but it鈥檚 a critical part of any healthy relationship. And instead of having a one-and-done discussion about finances, you should talk to your partner regularly about your financial decisions.

Why? Because finances change month to month, quarter to quarter and year to year. Having regular, scheduled discussions will help you stay on the same page financially as your partner. You鈥檒l know how you鈥檙e both spending and saving, if there were any financial surprises (debt, major purchases, promotions or raises, etc.) and how you can support each other.

So what should you cover in your meeting? The first time you talk about money, it鈥檚 generally a good idea to discuss some of the following topics:

• Your financial information: What聽accounts聽do you have and how much is in each of them? Do you have any debts? If, so how are you managing them? What is your total income?
• Your spending goals and savings goals: Are you frugal or spendy? How much do you save each month? Do you want to change any of your financial habits?
• What your ideal lifestyle is: Do you want to eventually聽own a home聽(or move into a larger home)? If you want to take vacations, what would they be like? Do you want to have children? What kind of lifestyle do you envision yourself leading?
• What happens financially in the event of a breakup: If you live together, who gets what if you breakup? If you have a joint account, how will that be handled? (This is definitely hard to talk about, but so important!)

After you鈥檝e had your first meeting, decide what schedule works for your recurring meetings. Some couples may choose to have a monthly meeting, whereas others might meet quarterly. It鈥檚 all about finding a schedule that works for the both of you.

Once you鈥檝e settled on a schedule, what should you discuss in your recurring meeting? Some topics you may want to cover:

• Planning for big purchases: Buying furniture, a car, a house or anything else major
• Tracking the monthly budget: How well did you stick to it? Were there areas where you exceeded your budget? Do you need to readjust it?
• Dividing up shared recurring expenses: Utilities, internet, phone plans, groceries, etc.
• Paying off debt: Did you stick to your plan of paying off debt for the month? If you didn鈥檛, how can you get back on track next month? Was any new debt incurred?
• Tracking savings and investing goals: Did you meet your savings and investing goals for the month?
• Sharing concerns or strategies: Do you have any other financial concerns you need to discuss with your partner? Do you have strategies or advice to share with one another?

While these conversations are never fun (much like the dreaded 鈥渄efine the relationship鈥� talk), they are important to your happiness and stability as a couple. And you should approach them that way. By this, I mean you don鈥檛 want to criticize your partner for financial habits you disagree with -- instead, you want to focus on supporting one another so you can build a better financial future.

Once you鈥檝e decided to start talking about your finances regularly, how do you go about implementing some of the strategies above?

Thankfully, there are a lot of options available.

You can set up a聽joint checking account聽for shared purchases or use apps like Splitwise or Venmo to pay each other back. If you鈥檙e saving money together, consider setting up a joint brokerage or savings account. If you鈥檙e planning a shared budget, consider using a service like Mint or Personal Capital together. With the availability of apps and services now, it鈥檚 easier than ever to manage your finances as a couple.

This story originally appeared on ValuePenguin.