MARRIAGE
Money Matters
How financially compatible are you and your future mate?
W R I T T E N BY LY N N E T T E K H A L FA N I - COX
52
SUMMER/FALL 2018 | (201) BRIDE
QUESTION 1:
Do you know your
partner’s credit score?
Roughly 15 million Americans in serious
relationships admit to committing financial
infidelity, according to a 2018 poll from
CreditCards.com. That means people are
keeping money secrets and purposely
withholding critical information from their
partners — such as income, credit score
or the existence of credit cards and bank
accounts. Such financial infidelity can
signal mistrust. It can also spell serious
trouble for your relationship if you get
busted, since one-third of those polled
by CreditCards.com also said financial
infidelity was worse than a sexually
unfaithful partner.
QUESTION 2:
Are your credit
scores similar? QUESTION 3:
Would you delay your
Valentine’s Day celebration
until Feb. 15th — or
even later — just to
save money?
According to research from the Federal
Reserve, people with high credit scores are
more likely to commit to a relationship,
and when they do, the relationship is more
likely to last. How do they know this? Fed
researchers scoured the credit histories of
12 million U.S. consumers, identified their
romantic partners, and then tracked their
unions and breakups over a 15-year peri-
od. But here’s another surprising finding
from the Fed: having similar credit scores
also had a positive effect. Individuals with
similar scores, even if they weren’t espe-
cially high, stayed together longer than
those with very different scores. Commit to
full disclosure with your mate by checking
your credit scores together. There’s a lot of social and financial pres-
sure on couples around Valentine’s Day.
So not everyone is willing to put off gift
giving, going out for a nice meal, taking
a romantic trip, or even getting engaged
on the big day. But a surprisingly high
number of people (39 percent of couples),
celebrate Valentine’s Day on the day after
in order to save money, a study from
Finder.com has revealed. Millennials are
most likely to use this savings hack; nearly
half of them delay their Valentine’s Day
celebrations as a way to cut costs. You
and your romantic partner’s approach
to spending and saving money is a
strong signal of how financially
compatible you are.
M
oney issues can
break up even
the happiest of
couples. After all, studies
show that 70 percent of
couples that divorce had
major arguments about
finances. But how do you
know if your money
habits and views are in
sync with your partner’s?
The way you handle
three crucial topics —
credit, cash and commu-
nication — is very reveal-
ing. Take this quiz to find
out how financially com-
patible you are with your
mate — and to learn how
to get on the same page
when it comes to money
matters.