HOUSTON — It used to be that joint bank accounts were the norm when it came to married couples, but in recent decades more couples have turned to separate finances in various forms.
Now researchers have taken a closer look to see if partners who merged money were more happy - and the answer to the question appears to be yes. The study found couples with joint accounts were more in synch when it came to finances and were more likely to respond to a partner’s needs without expecting anything in return.
You might think that makes sense because couples who choose joint accounts are probably in synch on money issues already but the researchers took a couple hundred newlywed or engaged couples and randomly assigned them to three groups. One with shared finances, one with separate accounts and one left to choose whatever they wanted. Then they spent a couple years studying them.
What they found is couples with joint accounts said their relationship satisfaction increased 6%, while the other two groups reported their relationship satisfaction decreased over the same period. Researchers told the Wall Street Journal that normally relationship quality decreases in the first two years of marriage, so reporting an improvement is even more significant. They believe the financial transparency and communication needed to share an account could be responsible.