Researchers checked in with the couples every few months to ask them how their relationships were going. One group of couples had to open a joint account, one had to keep their accounts separate, and a third could do whatever they wanted. Rick and his co-authors tracked 230 newlywed couples for two years. He co-authored a new study that is the first to find a causal relationship between joint accounts and happier marriages. There's been research suggesting that couples who share their accounts are happier than those who don't, but the link was only correlational, so it wasn't clear whether "joint accounts make you happy or if happiness makes you open a joint account," said Scott Rick, a University of Michigan associate professor of marketing. That lessens your chances of divorce, which can be financially devastating. 1 reason to share your money is that joint accounts appear to lead to a happier marriage. And if you're not on the same page about your values, then why are you in this relationship? Money and how we spend it is also an expression of our values. Discussions about money can get fraught fast and sometimes become proxy battles for bigger issues in the relationship, like who wields more power, whose career is more important, and who does more domestic labor. How couples manage their money isn't just about making sure the water bill gets paid on time. One big decision couples face when they form a household: Should they merge their money into joint accounts, or keep separate accounts? It can also mean unpleasant shocks - surprise, your soulmate has a 530 credit score - that stand in the way of those dreams you cooked up together when you were just two crazy kids in love. Not being open and honest about money can be a sign that you don't trust your partner, a relationship killer if there ever was one. Only 41% tell their salaries to each other and just 36% say how much debt they have. Unfortunately, many couples don't pay nearly as much attention to their finances prior to marriage: Almost half (49%) don't discuss how they'll handle their money before they tie the knot, according to one survey. Couples across the land are probably obsessing right now over wedding-day details like the seating chart and first-dance song. And please share your suggestions for future Financial Face-off columns by emailing our columnist at face-off Tell us whether you think she's right in the comments. Hello and welcome to Financial Face-off, a MarketWatch column where we help you weigh a financial decision. Only half of couples discuss how they'll manage finances before they get married
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