If you have been married awhile, what financial advice would you give young couples to help them avoid money mistakes?

My advice would be to NOT jump into expensive desicions for at least a year, even if you THINK you have the money for it. For example, wait a year before you buy a house, because you'll have more money saved for it, more time to look, and you'll be able to find a place in your budget that you love. Also, a bigger down payment can mean a slightly lower interest rate, or lower monthly payments- saving you a bundle in the long run.

Don't think you have to "keep up" with the jones. Just because the neighbor family got a new car doesn't mean you need one. Buy what you can afford, and don't charge one unless you need to. If you need a loan for a vehicle, chances are, it's too expensive.

Start out frugal- go cheap on eating out, getting groceries, entertainment, etc. Save the extra money for a rainy day. If you can do that for a single year, you're going to be better off in the long run than if you live paycheck to paycheck.

Have a goal on how much to save each paycheck- even if you can only afford to put $100 a month into savings, that's $1200 a year in an interest bearing account.

Do NOT get in over your head with credit cards. If you have to charge a meal, or a movie, it's something you can't afford. And, you just added 10-20% onto the total bill for every month it sits on the card rotting and waiting for payment.

Sit down and decide how you should keep your bank accounts. Joint, or separate. If it is joint, than the person with the best track record with paying bill, should be responsible for paying the bills and reconciling the check book each month.
Make sure you are withholding enough federal and state income tax, if you have a Payroll Supervisor or Manager, worth their salt, they should be able to crunch your numbers. This person is more knowledgeable than your tax accountant, because they understand how your taxes are created and what earnings and deductions affect your taxable wage base. You will need to bring in you spouses information (pay stub) in order for the P/R person, so to tell you what you both should have withheld.
Don't forget to itemize if you can.
Analyze which employer offers you the best cost effect choice in pretax deductions. If you have a 401k or 457 plans, you should invest now

My advice would be listen, and keep listening to each other. Our financial assumptions are so much a product of how we grew up, it's easy to assume our partner feels as we do, or to feel unappreciated if he/she doesn't. As long as you're really talking and really listening to each other, you'll weather the bumps and won't let things go too far wrong.

I'd like to recommend a book -- "The Wealthy Barber" by David Chilton. It puts financial advice in the form of a story about a barber who is rich but works because he likes it. His clients are a variety of young people, each in different circumstances and he gives them financial advice based on those circumstances.

I wish someone had given me that kind of advice when I was young.

My advice would be to respect each other. Your spouse may want to spend money on something that you think is silly or unnecessary, or vice versa--so, make a policy where purchase under a certain dollar amount do not need to be approved by the other person. This should be based on your income, obviously. If you are just starting out and not earning much, maybe the magic number should be just $10 or $20. Keep this as an ironclad rule, though, and respect that whatever your spouse buys within that money amount is not up for discussion or ridicule--you have to respect that your spouse has different tastes and ideas than you do.

Conversely, any purchase that is over the agreed-upon dollar amount needs to be discussed first. But, the discussion should be respectful and calm--not a shouting match. The person who wants to make the purchase over the dollar amount should explain why he/she wants/needs the item, and then the couple should discuss if buying the item fits in the budget at the moment. If not, the couple should try to come up with another way to get the item--saving up for a few weeks, perhaps.

Hope this makes sense. LOL It makes sense in my head, but I don't know if I explained it very well.

Hope more people chime in. So much good info! What about discussing goals, values, spending patterns with experienced couples before even getting married? Might provide food for thought....not that the experienced, long married couples should reveal their finances but they could bring up general points for consideration.

In addition to all the great advice for couples already, here's something that would maybe have helped me:
If one of you thinks he should have all the accounts and all the titles to everything in his name, the other one should not just nod and accept it. Thank god we moved to California where there's a community property law. After 20 years of marriage I might have had nothing. It's also bad if the spouse with everything in his name dies. The accounts would all be locked.

Put money in davings for emergencies then invest the rest. banks invest and make alot more then they give you back each month.