Let's face it: it's often difficult for couples to talk about money, and that includes discussing retirement options, according to Eileen Ambrose's excellent Sunday column.

At least 82 percent of those surveyed disagree on at least one element of their futures together, according to her column.

This surprised me a lot, because I thought that people who had been married for years would have an easier time discussing their hopes and priorities than those just starting out.

In this era of credit crises and real estate dilemmas, it seems like financial intimacy is the new intimacy. People seem to have just as hard a time talking about their financial history as their sexual past (if not more so).

But knowing where your partner stands when it comes to money --- both his or her current situation along with their attitudes and habits --- can tell you a lot about his or her personal hang-ups and personality. And unlike when you're single, other people are affected by your money decisions.

It seems like marriage is all about learning to make compromises, particularly about limited resources such as money and time. So, the bottom line is, the sooner you start talking about what your goals for retirement might be (such as travel, where you'll live, whether one or both of you will work, etc.) the easier it will be to plan with those goals in mind.

So how do you make those talks more interesting, no matter what stage you're in?

Here's one unusual recommendation: