2023-05-22 11:17:39
Love and money on many occasions bring happiness, and on others, sadness. You may think that separating finances with your partner can avoid future problems, but reality is different. This is what a study from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University (United States) has reflected, when the result has surprised everyone: Married couples who share and manage finances together are more durable and tend to be happier. .
This is the first research that is able to show a causal relationship: married couples who share bank accounts not only have better relationships, they fight less over money and are more comfortable managing household finances.
The study led by Jenny Olson
Jenny Olson and her co-authors, to carry out the research, have collected information from 230 couples, who were engaged or newly married at the time. They were followed up for two years. and they all started the study with separate accounts and agreed to change the status of their financial arrangements. “When we surveyed people with different lengths of relationships, those who had merged accounts conveyed higher levels of commonality within their marriage compared to people with separate accounts,” said Kelley assistant professor of marketing Jenny Olson.
The findings are recorded in the Journal of Consumer Research article “Common Pennies: Bank Account Structure and Relationship Dynamics.”
surprising results
In achieving the investigation some couples kept their bank accounts separate, others were told to open a joint bank account, and a third group were allowed to make the decision on your own.
The result was consistent: couples with joint bank accounts reported that their relationship had improved remarkably, because merging the money meant more alignment and more transparency, says Jenny Olson. However, couples with separate accounts may come to think that it is easier to leave the relationship, and therefore, the duration is shorter.
Twenty percent of couples did not complete the study, and a significant percentage broke up after failing to merge bank accounts. The median age was 28, and 36% had a bachelor’s degree and a median household income of $50,000. 10% had children and, on average, the couples had known each other for five years and had had a previous sentimental relationship of 3 years.
#Couples #share #bank #accounts #happier #longer