Exploring how one's primary financial conversant varies by marital status

Abstract

Research has shown communication around finances is essential to relational satisfaction, yet often couples avoid these money talks. In this study, we examined how financial discussions were impacted by marital status. The findings were surprising. Married people were the least likely to be engaging in money talks with their partner; all of the other participants (e.g., co-habitating, dating, separated) were all engaging their partners at much greater rates in money talks. However, married respondents were talking to their family members, friends, financial professionals, and other professionals about money. These different conversations were ana-lyzed through the lens of social capital to explore how different couple typologies may impact their tendencies to use bridging or bonding social capital. Finally, the results suggest that other aspects of human capital (e.g., health, education, age) are also related to rates of financial con-versations. The findings of this study have strong implications for financial professionals, finan-cial therapists, mental health professionals, as well as implications for anyone in a romantic relationship.