NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast - Thanksgiving Savings You’ll Actually Notice and Tax Filing Tips for Common Law Couples

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

Learn how to save on Thanksgiving dinner and decide if filing taxes jointly makes sense for common law couples. How can you trim your Thanksgiving costs without skimping on the feast? Should common law spouses file taxes jointly or separately? Hosts Sean Pyles and Elizabeth Ayoola dig into tax choices for couples to help you understand which filing status may fit your situation and what to weigh before you commit. But first, Anna Helhoski joins Elizabeth to unpack why the cost of a classic Thanksgiving dinner is down this year and how to shop smart for the expanded table. They cover where prices fell and rose across the holiday menu, what turkey deals and meal bundles at places like Aldi, Walmart and Target could mean for your budget, and why recently reduced food tariffs may take time to show up on store shelves. Then, tax Nerd Bella Avila joins Sean and Elizabeth to answer a listener’s question about common law marriage and taxes. They discuss when married filing jointly versus separately can lower your bill, how IRS rules treat common law marriages (and what to consider if you move states), and practical to-dos like updating your W-4 within 10 days, timing a name change, and reviewing credit and student loan implications. They also touch on cohabitation agreements (a “prenup” for common law couples) and why clear money conversations matter before you file. Want us to review your budget? Fill out this form — completely anonymously if you want — and we might feature your budget in a future segment! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK53yAufsc4v5UpghhVfxtk2MoyooHzlSIRBnRxUPl3hKBig/viewform?usp=header In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: common law marriage, file taxes jointly common law, married filing jointly vs separately, Thanksgiving dinner cost 2025, turkey prices 2025, food inflation CPI, Aldi Thanksgiving meal, Walmart Thanksgiving meal, Target Thanksgiving bundle, Whole Foods Thanksgiving dinner price, Harry and David Thanksgiving meal, save money on Thanksgiving, store brand vs name brand, frozen vegetables price, sweet potato shortage North Carolina, avian flu turkey prices, food tariffs 2025, Trump food tariff rollback, grocery prices outlook, head of household vs single, surviving spouse filing status, education credits married filing separately, child tax credit MFS rules, medical expense deduction 7.5% AGI, W-4 update after marriage, add domestic partner to health insurance, dependent eligibility common law spouse, IRS rules common law marriage, cohabitation agreement, prenup cost and timeline, name change and taxes, tax brackets married vs single, standard deduction married filing jointly, and credit and deductions phaseouts joint filers. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [e-mail]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Getting married can change all kinds of things in your life, from wearing a band on your left finger to changing your last will and testament. It can also affect your tax status, and today we're going to look at how all that works, both in common law marriage and in, well, marriage, marriage, marriage. Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds. I'm Elizabeth Ayola. Later this episode will be answering a question about common law marriage and taxes. But first, our weekly money news roundup where we break down the latest in the world of finance to help you be smarter with your money. Our news colleague, Anna Halhouski, is back. And Anna, we get to talk about food today.

I'm a big foodie, so I'm excited. Hey, Anna. Hey, Elizabeth. And, yeah, also a big fan of food. And today we're talking turkey and pumpkin pot. sweet potatoes, all the usual Thanksgiving suspects, and that's because, well, it's Thanksgiving next week, but also costs for the traditional holiday dinner are down this year after several years of inflation pushing up prices. Now, there's some new data that came out yesterday from

the American Farm Bureau of Federation that shows that overall Thanksgiving dinner is expected to cost consumers about $55.18. Now, that's about 5% less than last year. It's a third straight year of annual decline, but costs are still higher now than they were before 2022 when the dinner hit a record high. I will take the lower cost, but wait, I thought food prices were up for everything. Yeah, let's back up. So food in general has been stickier than other spending categories. The Consumer Price Index or CPI, we've talked about it many times before, it's used to measure

inflation, and it shows that the food price index is up 3% from a year ago. And that's according to its September report. We don't have the October report, and we may never have the October report because of the government shut down, but I digress. The big difference is that the food index includes all foods, and the ones that have risen most dramatically in costs like beef and eggs aren't typically included in the traditional Thanksgiving menu. I never thought about the fact that I don't eat eggs during Thanksgiving, but now I am thinking about that. That's right. What items are included in that $55 and $18 cost on them? Everyone is going to do their meal a little differently, but for the typical, traditional Norman Rockwell spread, a Thanksgiving dinner includes ingredients like turkey, cubed stuffing, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, frozen peas, fresh cranberries, celery, carrots, pumpkin pie mix, and crust, whipping cream, and full milk.

Got it. So what then is getting cheaper and what's getting more expensive? Also with what hasn't changed, pumpkin pie mix and pie shells are holding steady, virtually unchanged from 2024. Now, some side dish staples are getting cheaper, and that includes cubed stuffing, fresh cranberries, and dinner rolls. But five others are pricier, frozen green beans, veggie tray of carrots and celery, whole milk, and whipping cream. Now, sweet potatoes are also more expensive this year, and that's largely because hurricanes wiped out crops in North Carolina. And North Carolina produces more than half of the nation's sweet potatoes, and that was a fact I didn't know. But it is a reminder of how prices for produce can swing due to all kinds of. kinds of setbacks, but most importantly, weather.

That's the fact I like, too, because I love sweet potatoes and I buy them all the time. Same. Good to know. They're from North Carolina. All right. Now, how about the star of the show? The turkey prices were pretty high in the last few years because of the avian flu. Since October 2024, wholesale turkey prices shot up 75%. And that's mainly due to the avian flu that first appeared in early 2022.

Now, wholesale prices are still elevated. but Purdue University's agricultural economists say that retailer discounts may be significant this year, and that means that customers can save on their turkeys. And the Farm Bureau says that the turkey typically accounts for an average 43% of the total dinner costs. But this year, it's only going to account for 39%. And they said that's the lowest share since 2000. Now, as far as the actual price, the Farm Bureau estimates a steep decrease. It found that a 16-pound turkey will cost an average of $21.50 this year, down 16% from 2024.

So that's pretty significant. That is. I love the sound of $21 for an entire turkey. Now, obviously, everyone is different when it comes to what they want to skimp and splurge on. And for some people, buying a la carte isn't the way to go. So what kind of bundles are retailers offering? If you want someone else to do the work for you when it comes to picking ingredients or even cooking the entire meat, some retailers are offering meals to shoppers. Now on the lowest end of costs are Aldi and Walmart, which are both advertising $40 Thanksgiving meals for 10 people. Wow. Yeah, yeah, I thought that was pretty low. And Target also has a $20 meal for four. Now on the higher side of things, Whole Foods is offering a $170 meal for eight or about $400 for 12, so a lot higher. And if you really want to splurge without cooking or going to a restaurant, then Harry and David will ship you a ready-to-heat Thanksgiving meal for roughly $270, and that feeds eight to

10 people. I will point out that right now it might be too late to order some of these. Absolutely, but you can think about it ahead of next year. And as a girl who does not like to cook during the holidays, I like the sound of a ready-made meal. Now, going out is an option that a lot of people choose, and there are tons of Thanksgiving buffets and pre-fixed deals out there. But just for information, the CPI shows that eating away from home is up 3.7% from last year. Anna, we also need to talk about tariffs because the Trump administration just rolled back several food-related tariffs last week. Will that impact Thanksgiving grocery prices? As you said last week, President Trump issued an executive order lowering tariffs on

hundreds of food products. And that includes things like beef, coffee, bananas, coconuts, nuts, avocados, tomatoes, tomatoes, cocoa, frozen juice, and a range of spices. The order did indicate that U.S. production can't alone meet domestic demand, which makes sense. But tariff changes aren't going to instantly make items cheaper at your local grocery store. Retailers and importers are going to need time to rearrange their contracts and work through existing inventory. So it's more likely that those changes will come in the coming months. All right, for those looking to trim their Thanksgiving bill, but still have a boogey, meal, there are a few things people can do. Kimberly Palmer, one of our senior writers here at

NerdWallet, suggests making a solid meal plan that maps out your dishes and their ingredients, so you're not adding items you really don't need. Right, keep it simple. Stick to what you know your guests will care about. Do they actually want fresh cranberry sauce, or will the cheaper canned version do? Yeah, I know personally that I want my cranberry sauce served as a cylinder. And if you're having trouble figuring out how to slim down your ingredient lists, actually using the AI tool like Chatsubit, Google Gemini, or Anthropics Claude can make it a lot easier for you to generate recipes. I'll also say that going potluck is a totally reasonable option depending on the crowd that you're serving. And even if it's just

everyone brings aside or a dessert, and then it can add a little bit more variety to the table and save you some money. I actually love potlucks and I usually bring a dish to someone's house, whether it's a dinner or the holidays. So that's something I'm definitely here for. When you're in the store, remember that store brands are often just as good and can save you money. That's true. And that is mostly typical. But something that's going on that we saw this year is that in the case of something like frozen veggies, name brand prices are competitive. And that's because store brands have lowered their sticker prices. So the name brands are trying to compete. So as always, compare, compare, compare. Cooking a big meal can be pretty overwhelming, but you'll pay a premium for convenience like pre-chopped or pre-washed ingredients. on the shelf. And bundle deals, like we mentioned before, can be a steal if you're okay with not buying individual ingredients. But keep in mind to please picky eaters, you may have to augment

your purchases with additional items. So make sure that the bundle actually has what you're looking for. And finally, use those leftovers. They taste better the next day. I'm telling you. It's totally true. Leftovers are the best part of Thanksgiving. And you don't have to stick to the Thanksgiving flavor profile if you're over it either. Extra turkey can be used in a lot of and so can those veggie sides. Now, Elizabeth, what are you looking forward to most from your Thanksgiving meal? It's interesting, Anna,

because I didn't grow up in my household making Thanksgiving meals. I remember we used to go to Boston Market and we would just get a meal from there. But what I used to like are the mashed potatoes and I would still say, well, I don't have much mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving. So maybe, Anna, the thing that I'm looking forward to

is not cooking Thanksgiving because I'm going to someone's house. Yeah, I am also looking forward to sitting back and not having to do the work. My mom was always the one cooking a giant meal for my entire extended family, and I always ended up having to, like, set the table and help out with a lot chopping and things like that. But this year, my cousin has taken the reins, and he's got, like, a really huge meal planned. And I think he's adding mac and cheese and carrot cake to the mix. And there are rumors of a possible lasagna, too.

What? Shut the front door. Yeah, it's a big thing among Italian families. But that's all TBD. Well, I love lasagna and carrot cake, so you have to keep me posted. We'll do. All right. Thanks, Anna. You got it. Up next, we answer listeners' question about common law marriage and taxes. But before we get into that, a reminder to send us your money questions.

Maybe you're planning financial goals ahead of the new year, or you're paying off debt from this year, and you need a bit of help. Leave us a voicemail or text us on the nerd hotline at 901-730-6373. That's 901-730 and ERD. We love emails, send them to us at podcast at nerdwollet.com. In a moment, this episode's money question. Stay with us. Hack the holidays with the PC Holiday Insiders Report. Try this PC Porchetta, crackling, craveworthy.

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and help you navigate expected and unexpected life changes along the way, like planning for retirement or having kids. Advisors make it clear what you can afford today, from daily expenses to international trips. And they show how much to set aside for tomorrow, so you can keep moving toward financial independence. With NerdWollet wealth partners, you don't just get a one-time plan. Advisors meet virtually as often as you like,

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On average, clients pay about 30% less than they would at other wealth management firms. Get started today at nerd walletwealthpartners.com slash smart. Be sure to use that URL so they know you came from smart money. One more time, that's nerd walletwealthpartners.com slash smart. We're back and answering your money questions to help you make smarter financial decisions. This episode's question comes from Britt, who sent us an email. Hi, smart money. My partner and I just moved in together, and we are about to get our common law status notarized

so I can add him as a dependent on my employer's health insurance plan. We live in Denver, Colorado. We are in mutual agreement about getting married after he finished his school. Should we file taxes jointly? Is there anything we should consider before getting common law married? For context, he is a full-time student paying out-of-pocket for school. His only debt is a car payment. I have healthy, high-old savings accounts, investments, retirement accounts.

Thanks, Britt. To help us answer Brits question on this episode of Smart Money, we are joined by Bella Avila, our tax nerd. Welcome back to Smart Money, Bella. Thanks for having me back. So let's start by laying out a couple of definitions. First is common law married. So with common law marriage, you have a marriage that is recognized by law, but you don't have to pay for a marriage license or have a ceremony.

Not all states offer this, but Colorado, where Britt and their partner live, does. One of the main benefits of common law marriage is that you get access to many of the legal and financial benefits of marriage, like having a spouse on your health insurance plan, like Britt mentioned, and also being able to file your taxes jointly, but you don't have to deal with the whole pomp and circumstance and expense of a formal marriage. So I want to focus on the filing taxes jointly part of it because that's what Britt seems to be asking about as well. So Bella, can you start by laying out the different tax filing statuses? Again, Britt did mention filing jointly, but there are several other forms of filing your taxes too. So there are five tax filing statuses, and single filer and married filing jointly are the most common ones,

but there are three others as well, married filing separately, surviving spouse, and head of household. I think a few of these are kind of self-explanatory, like the single status, married filing jointly, separately. And then there are a couple that are lesser known, like the surviving spouse and head of household statuses. So I'll run through those quickly. Surviving spouse is for people whose spouse has passed away with in the last two years. The tax brackets are the same as those for people who are married and filing jointly. But there are a few conditions that you have to meet to use the status, like you can't remarry in the same year of their death,

and you have to have a child that lives with you. And then head of household is used by people who are not married, and they have a dependent that they financially support. So that could be their kid or a relative, and the tax rates here are more favorable than that of just the single status. So are there any specific tax benefits to common-law marriage, or is it essentially like being regular married? as far as the IRS is concerned.

The IRS recognizes it the same as a regular marriage. The only thing I'd say you want to keep in mind is that a majority of states don't recognize common law marriages. So that means if you were to move states for any reason, your marriage might not be valid in the eyes of the IRS anymore. Unless they move to another state where there is common law marriage recognized, right? Right. Okay, got it.

So Britt asked whether they and their partners should file jointly. Since they're common law married or will be soon, their only options are really married filing jointly or married filing separate. Can you talk about why they would choose one filing status over another? Most married couples choose the married filing jointly status because it's generally more beneficial. The tax brackets and the standard deduction are double that of a single filer, which makes sense because two people are filing one return.

But where the benefit really comes in, I think, is for filers with really different incomes. That is something that my partner and I are grappling with, too. we, by the time this is live, we will be married, and we actually are going to see very little tax benefit to getting married. But I'm wondering if you can give us an example of how this all might play out for people. Let's say that there's a married couple where spouse A makes $200,000 in taxable income at their job, and then spouse B is a stay-at-home parent making no taxable income. If this couple were to file a joint return, the highest tax rate they would see would be 22%. But then let's say spouse A were to choose the married filing separately status. Those tax

brackets are much less favorable and the highest tax rate they would see would be 32% on that last few thousand dollars of their income. And this is a pretty drastic example that I've given, but the same logic really applies even if the difference isn't quite as big. And then married filing jointly all say isn't inherently beneficial like you mentioned. Me and my partner are the same where if we were to get married and choose the married filing jointly status, we make about equal incomes, we also don't have kids, we don't have student loans, and we don't have medical expenses to think about, which are also considerations. So our tax situation wouldn't change all that much by filing jointly or separately. And of course, the tax benefit isn't the only reason why

people get married. There are all sorts of other benefits like getting your spouse on your health care plan and also just, you know, building a family and a life together, all those fun, romantic thing. So Bella, can you walk us through some of the pros and cons of filing separately then? So kind of like I touched on a little bit earlier, there are some things outside of just income that are important to think about when choosing a filing status. Like I kind of touched on earlier. With the married filing separately status, you can't claim certain child-related tax credits. So if you have kids, that's something to think about. And then you also can't claim certain education-related tax credits either. And then the last negative, I'll mention the filing

separately is that if one spouse takes a standard deduction, the other has to as well. And then the same goes with itemizing. Does all of that necessarily make sense to me? Not really, but those are the rules the IRS sets, so we have to follow them. My understanding is that a lot of these rules are set up so that married couples can't game the system and get excessive tax benefits by filing separately. On the other hand, though, there are some cases in which filing separately would make sense, I think. Some income-based student loan repayment plans base your monthly payment on income. So if you're only reporting one income on your tax return instead of two, that could lower your monthly bill. And then another thing to think about is unreimbursed medical expenses.

If you have steep medical expenses, you can deduct anything over 7.5% of your adjusted gross income on your tax return. So kind of similar to the last example I gave, this deduction. being based off of just one income instead of two could be beneficial. The last things I'll touch on are a little bit more interpersonal. If your spouse has passed tax debt, you might want to file separately to avoid being held responsible for that debt. And then I'd also say that if you suspect your spouse might not be being honest about tax matters or if you're planning to get a divorce, anything along those lines, it makes sense

to file separately. So Britt also asked about what they should consider before getting common law married. So, Bella, is there anything else that you can think of tax-wise that they should be looking into here? I'd say if one spouse is looking to legally change their name, look at the tax deadline and see how far away it is. It's something you might not think to do, but processing a name change request can take quite a while. And if that process is still going on when you file your tax return, it can cause some hiccups. So you might even think about holding off on a name change until after the deadline if it's pretty close. And then before you get married, I think it's a good idea to keep.

a to-do list for after you get married. If you've decided to file jointly at the top of that to-do list should be adjusting your W-4 form at work. This form tells your employer how much tax to withhold, and a big factor in that is your filing status. The IRS actually says that newlyweds have to submit their new W-4s to their employer within 10 days of getting married. I have two other things that I would encourage Britt and their partner to look into. First, I'd encourage them to review income limits for various retirement accounts and other tax credits they might want to take advantage of. When you file jointly, as you pointed out, Bella, you can take advantage of higher income limits for many of these things. And secondly, I would love for them

to talk with an attorney about getting what's called a cohabitation agreement. And this is basically a pre-up for common law marriages. I talked about this in the podcast a few weeks ago, but I'm a big proponent of having a pre-up or a cohabitation agreement, or at least talking about the idea of this with your spouse. I'm curious to hear your take on pre-ups and why you think they're a good idea. I don't subscribe to these ideas, but I've definitely heard some talk online about pre-ups and how maybe people think they make a marriage seem transactional or like you're planning to get divorced before you're even married. What do you think about that? Yeah, so I would encourage folks to go back and listen to the podcast episode in a few weeks ago where I did talk about this,

but the bottom line for me is that, you know, all marriages are somewhat transactional and also all marriages will come to an end eventually. So you might as well plan for the end of this relationship when you're still in a good place with each other. And just make sure that you're looking out for each other while you still love each other and are not too acrimonious. So that's kind of what I'm thinking. And it just was a kind of a no-brainer for me just because my partner and I have a lot of separate assets. And we, again, we want to take care of each other. Sean, I couldn't agree more. I think these conversations are even more important as our norms for how couples think about finances and relationships shift. I think there are a good number of

out there that stray from tradition and don't share finances. And that could be another good reason to consider a pre-up. But I think there's a lot that I, and I'm sure some of our listeners might not understand about pre-ups, since I'd say they've only recently become more common. Could you give us some insight into what the process of getting one was like? And if you're comfortable sharing, I'm wondering how much they cost, how long everything took to get processed, kind of logistics like that. I'd say the logistics were maybe the biggest hurdle more than like the emotional or kind of financial awkwardness of having this conversation with my partner. Beginning to end, it took about a month. I spent some time researching law firms in the Portland,

Oregon area that do this type of work, reached out to a few, and a number of them said, sorry, we can't help you, which I found surprising. Finally found one that did want to help me. We set up a call. So at some point, you know, my partner, Garrett and I, we filled out a forum with all of our assets on it. My attorney encouraged Garrett to get his own attorney to review this, but because of the expenses involved, and since we were on the same page with what we wanted in our pre-up, we didn't end up going that route. But once we got the draft pre-up, I paid around $2,500 at that point, too, just to make sure that I was going to, you know, pay up for it. After we both went through a little dokey sign form, it was all pretty much said and done from there.

So really not that burdensome and a heck of a lot easier and cheaper than many divorces. Well, thanks, Sean, for letting us peek behind the curtain a little bit and sharing your pre-up experience. And thank you for all the insights around filing your taxes as a couple because it gets pretty complicated. Well, that's all we have for this episode. Remember, listener, that we're here to answer your money questions. So turn to the nerds and call or text us your questions at 901-730-6373. That's 901-730 NERD. You can also email us at podcast at nerdwallet.com. Join us next time to hear the next installment in our budget rehab series. You can follow a smart money on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and IHeartRadio to automatically download new episodes.

And here's our brief disclaimer. We are not your financial or investment advisors. This nerdy info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances. This episode was produced by Tess Vigland and Anna Hill Hoski, Hillary Georgie helped with editing, Nick Carysami, mixed our audio, and a big thank you to Nerd Wallet's editors for all their help. And with that said, until next time, turn to the nerds. Today's episode is sponsored by NerdWallet Wealth Partners. Everyone knows having a personal trainer helps you stay in shape, right?

Well, NerdWollet Wealth Partners is like a personal trainer, but for your money. It's a financial advisory service with real people, not just an algorithm. They'll build a personalized financial plan, manage your investment portfolio to match your goals, and help you navigate expected and unexpected life changes along the way, like planning for retirement or having kids. Advisors make it clear what you can afford today, from daily expenses to international trips. And they show how much to set aside for tomorrow,

so you can keep moving toward financial independence. With NerdWollet wealth partners, you don't just get a one-time plan. Advisors meet virtually as often as you like, once a year, every quarter, or whenever life changes. Think of it like regular training sessions. They adjust the plan, hold you accountable, and make sure you don't skip your financial reps. And because financial advisors are fiduciaries, they're legally required to act in your best interest. Like this podcast, their advice is clear and built to keep you on track.

The service is also affordable. NerdWallet Wealth Partners charges a maximum advisory fee of 0.9%. The more you invest, the lower your fee. On average, clients pay about 30% less than they would at other wealth management firms. Get started today at nerd walletwealthpartners.com slash smart. Be sure to use that URL so they know you came from smart money. One more time, that's nerd walletwealthpartners.com slash smart.