Financial dynamics play a crucial role in relationships, from choosing a suitable partner to deciding who pays for what, allocating money to long-term goals, and everything in between. Disagreements about money can easily sink a relationship, even before it really gets going, while a symbiotic financial relationship can produce results far beyond the sum of its parts.
To gauge how couples navigate financial independence, disputes, and shared responsibilities, WalletHub conducted a nationally representative online survey. You can find the complete results in the infographic below.
Key Stats
- Love vs. Money: Nearly 1 in 3 people think their relationship is limiting their financial growth.
- Shared Accounts Cause Trouble: 24% of people believe that sharing a financial account leads to more money problems rather than preventing them.
- Financial Secrets: More than 1 in 4 Americans have a financial account that their partner doesn’t know about.
- Shared Accounts Catch Cheaters: 50% of people believe that sharing financial accounts can help them catch a cheating partner.
- More Divisive Than Politics: 73% of Americans believe that financial disagreements are worse for a relationship than political disagreements.
- Shared Spending Plans: 94% of Americans believe couples should share a budget.
Full Survey & Responses
| How many financial accounts do you share with your partner? | |
|---|---|
| 1 account | 31% |
| More than 1 account | 28% |
| All accounts | 25% |
| None | 15% |
| How do you handle money disputes in your relationships? | |
| Work together to find a solution | 83% |
| Have an argument | 13% |
| Ignore the problem | 3% |
| Is your relationship limiting your financial growth? | |
| No | 70% |
| Yes | 30% |
| Sharing a financial account… | |
| Helps prevent money problems | 76% |
| Causes more money problems | 24% |
| Do you have a financial account that your partner doesn’t know about? | |
| No | 73% |
| Yes | 27% |
| Does sharing financial accounts help you catch a cheating partner? | |
| No | 50% |
| Yes | 50% |
| What is worse for a relationship: financial disagreements or political disagreements? | |
| Financial disagreements | 73% |
| Political disagreements | 27% |
| What is more expensive: being in a relationship or being single? | |
| Being in a relationship | 68% |
| Being single | 32% |
| Is poor financial literacy a turn-off? | |
| Yes | 79% |
| No | 21% |
| Should couples share a budget? | |
| Yes | 94% |
| No | 6% |
Note: Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
Survey Methodology
This report reflects the results of a nationally representative online survey of 200 respondents.
After we collected all responses, we normalized the data by age, gender and income so the sample would reflect U.S. demographics.
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