Whether you share one credit card account or you juggle multiple cards at once, managing credit cards with a partner requires a lot of coordination.

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It’s not just about day-to-day spending decisions where you agree upon which card to use at the grocery store and which to use at the doctor’s office. The way you use credit can help or hinder your shared financial goals, and that can affect your happiness as a couple.

Even if you maintain separate finances, your actions affect your whole household. It’s important to have candid, frequent talks about your credit card use so you can work toward a shared set of money goals.

Check in regularly

Scheduling money dates is crucial to managing your credit cards together. Set aside uninterrupted time where both of you can fully focus on the conversation — no dinner burning in the oven, no small children tugging on your pant legs. “Don’t have these talks when you’re tired, hungry or stressed. If someone’s in a bad mood, wait,” says Erika Wasserman, a certified financial therapist based in South Florida. “You both need to be in a place to receive information, not just share it.”

Once you establish a good time to talk, you also need to commit to a productive and emotionally safe conversation. One or both of you may be coming to the table with debt or spending habits you’re not proud of, but if you can be honest without fear, you can make more progress.

Talk about the things you’re struggling with. Perhaps the rewards program on one of your cards is too complex and you’re not using the card’s benefits, or you feel like it’s too easy to impulse-shop online.

Maybe one of you forgot to pay a credit card bill that month and you’d like to prevent that from happening again. Money dates are where you air out your issues so you can solve problems.

Create your shared credit strategy

Use your money date discussions to craft a list of actions to take, such as a plan for paying down debt, an agreement about who is responsible for paying which bills, or a strategy for using rewards cards for specific purchases.

“The key question is, ‘What outcome are you looking for?’” Wasserman says. “Then work backward from there.”

A money date won’t be a one-time event. Set up future meetings — perhaps quick weekly chats to discuss upcoming expenses, plus monthly or quarterly conversations to check in on longer-term goals. If one person takes on the sole responsibility for a task, like paying all credit card bills, check-ins can also keep them accountable so the other person isn’t left in the dark if a bill isn’t paid.

Carry the right credit cards for you

Don’t just talk about how to use the credit cards you have. Ask yourselves if you should still be using those cards at all.

“Equip people with tools that fit their behavior. If one partner struggles with credit cards, they should use a debit card, or even cash, while the other uses credit,” says Brian Page, accredited financial counselor and founder of Modern Husbands, where he helps couples manage their daily finances in their homes as a team. “This isn’t about control or economic abuse. It’s acknowledging that some folks aren’t well-suited to that tool while still working toward shared goals like qualifying for a mortgage at a good rate.”

Also consider whether you’ve outgrown any of your credit cards. Perhaps you travel differently than before, or your spending habits changed after you moved to a new city.

“I once worked with a couple who still had a Disney credit card from when their kids were small,” Wasserman says. “Years later, they realized they had $600 in Disney points, but no plans to go back to Disney anytime soon.”

At least once a year, look through your wallets. Have you stopped using any of your cards? Do any of them have unredeemed rewards you can still cash in? If you’re paying annual fees, do you get enough value out of your cards to offset them?

It could make sense to shop around for a new card, or perhaps upgrade or downgrade an existing one.

Set up systems for ongoing progress

Page recommends diagnosing the root cause of credit card issues, so you can put systems in place that will help you long after your motivation to change fades away. Switching to a new card might be all you need to do right now, but if spending habits are a problem, fixing them can take long-term commitment.

If overspending is an issue for you or your partner, make it harder to spend. Delete shopping apps from your phone and credit cards from your digital wallet. Don’t save card numbers online. When you feel the urge to buy something, taking the extra time to find your credit card in another room and manually entering the number will give you just enough time to reconsider.

“Make it slightly inconvenient to buy impulsively,” Page says. “Make it easy and automated to do the right things.”

Sara Rathner writes for NerdWallet. Email: srathner@nerdwallet.com.

The article Two People, Many Credit Cards: How Couples Can Manage Credit Together originally appeared on NerdWallet.

By DAMIAN J. TROISE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell in morning trading on Wall Street Friday and are on track for their first weekly loss in the last four.

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The S&P 500 fell 0.7% in the morning trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 143 points, or 0.3%, as of 9:51 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.2%.

The market was weighed down by technology stocks, especially several big names with huge valuations that give them outsized influence over the direction of the market. Overall, there were more gainers than losers within the S&P 500, but the index was dragged down by a 2.5% drop for Nvidia and a 2.1% drop for Broadcom, among others big names losing ground.

Wall Street remained focused on the latest quarterly reports and forecasts from U.S. companies.

Payments company Block, which operates the Square and Cash App businesses, sank 10.9% after turning in results that fell short of forecasts. Exercise equipment maker Peloton jumped 6.1% after its results beat estimates.

Expedia Group surged 17.5% after beating analysts’ quarterly earnings forecasts.

Treasury yields held steady in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.10% from 4.09% late Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury remained at 3.56% from late Thursday.

Markets in Europe fell and markets in Asia closed lower. China reported that its exports contracted 1.1% in October, as shipments to the United States dropped by 25% from a year earlier. But economists expect Chinese exports to recover after U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed last week to de-escalate the trade war between the two largest economies.

By ROB MAADDI, Associated Press Pro Football Writer

It’s OK to not be OK.

Every conversation about mental health includes that important statement and a message that tough times don’t last, things will get better and help is available.

The NFL and the rest of society have come a long way in dealing with mental wellness. The stigma surrounding it has changed. The “suck it up” and “tough it out” mentality are long gone.

Players are encouraged to prioritize their mental well-being. They’re told to seek professional support if needed. They have more resources available to them now. The NFL and NFL Players Association in 2019 made it a requirement to have a licensed behavioral health clinician on the staff of each team.

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org. Helplines outside the U.S. can be found at www.iasp.info/suicidalthoughts.

The Indianapolis Colts launched “Kicking The Stigma” in 2020, the Irsay family’s initiative to raise awareness about mental health disorders. Breaking down barriers surrounding mental health was a personal mission for Colts owner Jim Irsay, who died in May at age 65. His youngest daughter, Kalen Jackson, is leading the cause and has talked openly about dealing with anxiety.

Many former and current players have opened up about their personal struggles in an effort to raise more awareness about a topic that used to be a silent illness.

Former Eagles star Brian Dawkins used the platform of his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018 to share publicly about his battle with depression. Dawkins overcame suicidal thoughts to become one of the greatest safeties in the history of the sport. Now, he’s on a crusade to educate people about mental wellness.

“I have grown leaps and bounds because of the things that I’ve gone through, and that’s one of those things I went through,” Dawkins said on the stage after receiving his gold jacket. “When I say, went through, that means I came on the other side of it. So for those who are going through it right now, there’s hope. You do have hope. There is something on the other side of this. Don’t get caught up where you are. Don’t stay where you are. Keep moving. Keep pushing through.”

Again, it’s OK to not be OK.

Sadly, this message doesn’t always get through to someone who needs to hear it the most.

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On Thursday, the NFL mourned the loss of Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland. Police in a Dallas suburb say the 24-year-old Kneeland was found dead of an apparent suicide after evading authorities in his vehicle and fleeing the scene of an accident on foot.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott lost his older brother, Jace, by suicide in 2020. Teammate Solomon Thomas’ older sister Ella took her own life in January 2018 at 24 years old.

Thomas, a first-round pick in 2017, had just completed his first season with the 49ers. His sister’s loss led to anxiety, depression and sadness.

“I wish you knew it was going to be (OK),” Thomas wrote on Instagram above a photo of Kneeland. “I wish you knew the pain wouldn’t last and how loved you are. I wish you knew how bad we wanted you to stay.”

News of Kneeland’s death hit hard for players and coaches across the league.

“It hurts your heart,” Buccaneers veteran wide receiver Sterling Shepard said in Tampa Bay’s locker room. “This game is great and everything; it is one of everybody’s childhood dreams to come and play at this level, but that is the real-life stuff people go through. You just never know, so (it) puts things in perspective for you every day that you walk into this building, being grateful and just checking on your brothers as well, make sure everything is OK with them mentally. This game is a lot on us and people tend to forget the real-life aspect of it. It hurts your heart to see.”

A second-round pick in 2024, Kneeland scored a touchdown after recovering a blocked punt on Monday night against Arizona. It was a highlight moment in what seemed to be a promising career.

Tragically, he’s gone.

Nobody has to suffer alone, there’s plenty of help available and it’s OK to not be OK.

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are moving to try to end the government shutdown by preparing a new bipartisan package of spending bills and daring Democrats to vote for it, but it was unclear if their plan would work.

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Many Democrats said they would continue to hold out for an extension of expiring health care subsidies, which was not expected to be part of the legislation.

Senate Democrats, who have now voted 14 times not to reopen the government, left their second caucus meeting of the week Thursday with few answers about whether they eventually could find a compromise with Republicans — or even with each other — on how to end the shutdown.

A test vote on the new package, which had not yet been publicly revealed, could come as soon as Friday. Democrats will then have a crucial choice to make: Do they keep fighting for a meaningful deal on extending health care subsidies that expire in January, while extending the pain of the shutdown? Or do they vote to reopen the government and hope for the best as Republicans promise an eventual health care vote, but not a guaranteed outcome?

Emboldened by overwhelmingly favorable elections earlier this week, many Democrats say the fight isn’t over until Republicans and President Donald Trump negotiate with them on an extension.

“That’s what leaders do,” said Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico. “You have the gavel, you have the majority, you have to bring people together.”

Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz said Democrats are “obviously not unanimous” but they are unified that “without something on health care, the vote is very unlikely to succeed.”

Other Democrats have been working on a deal that would reopen the government with only an agreement for a future vote on the health care subsidies. Lawmakers in both parties were feeling increased urgency to alleviate the growing crisis at airports, pay government workers and restore delayed food aid to millions of people now that the shutdown has become the longest in U.S. history.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s decision to keep the Senate in session Friday, and perhaps over the weekend, came after Trump urged Senate Republicans at a White House breakfast Wednesday to end the shutdown. Trump said he thought the six-week impasse was a “big factor, negative” for Republicans in Tuesday’s elections.

A new effort to reopen the government

The bipartisan package Thune is proposing would fund parts of government — food aid, veterans programs and the legislative branch, among other things — and extend funding for everything else until December or January.

The new package would replace the House-passed bill that the Democrats have repeatedly rejected. That legislation would only extend government funding until Nov. 21, a date that is rapidly approaching after six weeks of inaction.

The details were still to be worked out, but the new legislation mirrors a tentative plan that moderate Democrats have been sketching out in hopes of finding agreement. The proposal led by New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen would also take up Republicans on their offer to hold a vote on extending the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies at a later date.

It was still unclear what Thune, who has refused to negotiate while the government is closed, would promise on health care and if enough Democrats would agree to move ahead. Republicans have for weeks been five votes short of the 60 they need.

Johnson delivers setback to bipartisan talks

Democrats are facing pressure from unions eager for the shutdown to end and from allied groups that want them to hold firm. Many Democrats have argued that the results for Democrats in Tuesday’s election show voters want them to continue the fight until Republicans yield and agree to extend the health tax credits.

A vote on the health care subsidies “has got to mean something,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said this week. “That means a commitment by the speaker of the House, that he will support the legislation, that the president will sign.”

But Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., made clear Thursday morning he won’t make any commitment to Democrats. “I’m not promising anybody anything,” Johnson said when asked if he could promise a vote on a health care bill.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., left, leaves with Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., right, after speaking with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Johnson’s clear refusal was a setback for negotiators. Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, one of the moderate Democrats involved in negotiations, said the speaker’s comments were “a significant problem.”

“We have to make sure we have a deal that we can get broad support for,” Peters said.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has not yet weighed in on the latest push. He has repeatedly called for Trump to sit down with Democrats — a meeting that seems unlikely to happen.

“Donald Trump clearly is feeling pressure to bring this shutdown to an end,” Schumer said Thursday.

Closed-door negotiations become public

A group of Democrats and Republicans that has been quietly negotiating for weeks insisted they were making steady progress on a deal.

In a new development Thursday, Republicans suggested they might be open to including language in a final agreement that would reverse some mass firings of government workers by the White House, according to two people familiar with the private talks granted anonymity to discuss them. But it was unclear if that proposal would be included in the new package of bills.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, a moderate Republican who has been talking to Democrats, says she wants furloughed workers to be given back pay and workers who have been fired during the shutdown to be “recalled.”

“We’re still negotiating that language,” she said.

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti, Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.