Yahoo Finance Happily ever after: Why a shared bank account may be a good thing for couples
When couples get together, they inevitably face questions such as whether to share a home, get married, and, maybe, buy one of those hypoallergenic dogs.
One of the biggest questions, perhaps: Should they merge their bank accounts?
A new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, put together by business researchers from several universities, found that couples with joint bank accounts fared better over the long term than couples that maintained separate ones.
"I would say there's a lot of debate out there about the benefits of joint accounts in particular," said Dr. Jenny Olson, the lead author behind the study. "But anytime you see a joint, [it] is better. It's possible that joint accounts make couples happier, but it's also possible that happier couples are more likely to join their finances."
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She added: "Our work really presents the most compelling evidence to date that joint accounts are indeed good for marriage."
The researchers recruited over 200 couples to participate in the study, all of whom were engaged or married for less than a year. Next, the researchers divided them into three groups with different instructions: One group of couples kept their accounts separate, the second joined their accounts, and the third was a "no intervention" control group, in which the study participants did whichever they preferred.
The researchers monitored all three groups closely over the next two years, surveying them at six different points to "model their trajectories," according to Olson. The researchers assessed the study participants' happiness and well-being with several questionnaires.
Scott Rick, another author of the study, said the researchers asked "things like, 'How happy does it make you to spend time around your partner? How satisfying are your interactions? Have you fought in the past week or month? And of course, we asked both partners and kind of average their responses to get the best sense possible with how the couples are doing."
All three groups saw the quality of their relationships decrease over time. Olson said such declines are typical of all relationships. But the group with couples who joined their finances saw significantly less decline than the other groups.
"Couples that were assigned to that joint [banking] condition were buffered against that decline. They didn't significantly improve. But they didn't show that same decline, and it did trend in a positive direction," said Olson.
The study lists several ways joint accounts might improve the quality of relationships. First, couples in joint accounts often know their partners see what they buy and, therefore, tend to make more conservative purchases. Consequently, they find themselves less likely to argue with their partner over unnecessary or ill-planned acquisitions. Second, joint accounts may help facilitate "openness" in communication and help them become aligned in their financial goals.
Third, the study explained that joint accounts might make relationships more "communal." In particular, joint accounts might help couples respond to each other's needs "as they arise, without expectations of reciprocity."
In other words, couples with joint bank accounts are more apt to dole out favors without keeping score.
"We find that the people who have joint accounts are actually reporting greater financial harmony," said Olson. "In other words, they're more satisfied with how they and their partner are saving and spending, there's less financial conflict, and we see that this improves over time."
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Though the results were encouraging for couples with joint accounts, Olson said the study still had limitations. For instance, Olson said that she and her fellow researchers specifically selected couples that were in "the newlywed phase," instead of later in their relationship. She conceded that the same results might not occur in couples that have been previously married.
"There's going to be different circumstances. I know, just anecdotally talking to couples that are maybe older, or they've been married previously, or have children from previous unions, there's more complexity there," she said.
She added that there also might be downsides to joint accounts, such as a lack of privacy between partners.
"One drawback is that everything is visible to both partners," Olson said. "And we heard from some couples like, well, if I want to buy a gift for my partner, how am I supposed to do that if they can see every line item?"
Still, she thinks the evidence points favorably in the direction of joint accounts.
"There's this tension between autonomy and togetherness. And so I think there are going to be scenarios where maybe this isn't the best setup for every couple," she said. "But I do think that, given that we're finding these causal elements, our results warrant a conversation with your partner."
Dylan Croll is a Yahoo Finance reporter.
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