A set of studies at Indiana University, University of Michigan, Yale University, and Northwestern University indicates that as those kids approach marriage age, the talk should include encouragement of husband and wife setting up joint rather than separate banking accounts at the start. During the first two years of marriage, couples who established joint accounts had a stronger relationship quality than did couples with separate accounts.
The researchers attribute this to the partners with joint accounts engaging in more interpersonal dialogues about financial goals and more monitoring of each other’s spending habits. With joint accounts, each partner is thinking how they’ll justify large purchases to their mate. Regularly discussing expenditures and plans for expenditures with each other leads to insights about the important values each partner maintains—a valuable contributor to an enduring relationship.
Couples often aim to balance their shopping tendencies. Tightwads—who recognize they should be more willing to spend money—tend to marry spendthrifts—who recognize they should be more cautious in spending. They married each other to help moderate the extremes. Joint accounts assist with this.
The study of joint-versus-separate-accounts is notable because of the implications for the strength of marriages. It’s also notable because of the research methodology. In choosing a two-year tracking time, the researchers report that this span has been considered in prior studies as foreshadowing marital fate.
The research methodology also resolves causation direction. We might argue that couples who decide on their own to set up joint accounts already have a stronger relationship than do couples who decide to set up separate accounts at the start. So it’s not that joint accounts cause stronger relationships. It’s that relationship strength causes joint accounts. Or maybe it’s just that the two are correlated, caused by some other factor.
The researchers addressed this by randomly assigning some of the couples in the study to set up joint accounts and others to set up individual accounts. When the researchers then assessed marriage relationship strength at six points over the first two years of the marriage, they could legitimately attribute the observed differences to the effects of the account type.
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Include the Kids in Financial Literacy Talk
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