Disclaimer: I am not married yet. So I don’t have personal experience of working on finances with my spouse 🙂 But still, I will try to answer your question based on my knowledge and the learnings that I had after observing other couples.
After marriage, it’s very important for couples to have an open discussion on finances. There should not be any hidden things. Both the partners should be well aware of the current financial status of the other. In fact, this is something that is done prior to getting married. Both should be aware of the current financial assets/liabilities of the other.
The majority of the fights that occur between couples are due to disagreements on financial matters. Hence financial compatibility with your partner is an important thing that should be checked before marriage.
Having said that, after marriage, the couple should work together as a team. Accordingly, they should set goals for their family’s future. If the couple has a newly born baby then they could plan to invest in the child’s education and marriage in the future. If they want to buy a house then they can both contribute and invest in it. The same goes for buying a car or planning for a vacation.
Both the members need to agree on the goal set and commit towards achieving it. One person cannot be saving/investing & the other person just blowing it away on unnecessary expenses. Both should be held equally accountable for achieving the goal.
I would also recommend after marriage the couple should open a joint account for the family. This is in addition to the separate personal accounts that they already have. The joint account will contain the money for all the family’s expenses as well as the amount that is to be invested in various products for the family’s goals. Each member can keep money in their separate accounts from which they can spend to fulfill their own wishes.