money and marriage: are couples who merge their finances happier?

couples who merged their accounts experienced more transparency, goal alignment and communal understanding of matrimony.

by dave yasvinski

published may 08, 2023

3 minute read

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3 minute read

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should married couples merge their finances?

combining finances may create a sense of commonality. getty

money can’t buy you love but learning how to manage it with your mate may be the key to keeping both. a new study, published in the journal of consumer research, found that couples with joint bank accounts not only have happier marriages with fewer fights over money, they also feel better about how their household finances are handled. although previous work has pointed to a link between fused finances and matrimonial bliss, researchers said their study was the first to demonstrate a causal connection between the two.

“when we surveyed people of varying relationship lengths, those who had merged accounts reported higher levels of communality within their marriage compared to people with separate accounts or even those who partially merged their finances,” said jenny olson, assistant professor of marketing at indiana university kelley school of business. “they frequently told us they felt more like they were ‘in this together.’”

the team recruited 230 couples with an average age of 28, who were either engaged or newly married at the time of the study, and followed them for the next two years. couples had a median household income of $50,000 usd, and had known their partners for an average of five years.

participants had separate bank accounts at the outset, but one group of couples was randomly asked to keep separate accounts while a second was told to open a joint account with their partners. a third group was allowed to make the decision for themselves.

researchers found that couples who were instructed to open a joint account reported significantly higher relationship quality at the end of the study than those who maintained separate accounts. according to olson, those who merged their money experienced a greater sense of transparency, goal alignment and communal understanding of matrimony.

“a communal relationship is one where partners respond to each other’s needs because there’s a need. ‘i want to help you because you need it. i’m not keeping track,’” she said. “there’s a ‘we’ perspective, which we theorized would be related to a joint bank account.”

those with separate accounts, on the other hand, tended to view financial moves as more transactional in nature. “it’s ‘i help you because you’re going to help me later,’” olson said. “they’re prepaying for later favours and that’s tit-for-tat, which we see a bit more with separate accounts. it’s ‘i’ve got the netflix bill and you pay the doctor.’ … they’re not working together like those with joint accounts — who have the same pool of money — and that’s more common in business-type relationships.”

research conducted at the samuel curtis johnson graduate school of management at cornell university also came to the same conclusion. the study, published in the journal of personality and social psychology, found couples that pool their finances were more likely to have stable, positive interactions with each other, indicating a better connection. the results were strongest for low-income households.

those who keep their finances at an arm’s length may feel this makes it easier to move on from the relationship, olson said. of the 20 per cent of couples who did not make it to the end of the study, a significant number were from the group that did not merge accounts. gender differences did not appear to play a role in the findings.

“this is the best evidence that we have to date for a question that shapes couples’ futures; the fact that we observe these meaningful shifts over two years, i think it’s a pretty powerful testament to the benefits of merging,” olson said.

“on average, merging should warrant a conversation with your partner, given the effects that we’re seeing here.”

dave yasvinski is a writer with healthing.ca

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