How Money, Even a Lot of it, Can Test a Marriage
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Here's your money briefing for Monday, April 3rd. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. We wanted to let you know our new series, Under Contract, Your Guide to Home Buying, runs every Friday in April. So make sure you're following the show so you don't miss an episode. Money is tight these days for almost everyone, and that can put a strain on a relationship. But would a sudden windfall unlock the path to marital bliss? Not necessarily.
But when it comes to relationships, huge financial moves in either direction can shake couples in much the same way. Because in both cases, they are exposing weaknesses in the marriage or sensitive spots in the marriage that otherwise might have been overlooked or ignored.
Coming up, we'll be joined by Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Julia Carpenter. After the break...
This podcast is brought to you by ReliaQuest. Cyber criminals are constantly attacking. They want your data. They want your identity. They want your innovation. ReliaQuest fortifies your business with agentic defense, AI that detects, contains, and eliminates cyber threats in minutes. It helps your security team move faster at the work that matters most to protect the business now and delivers insights to help them predict what's next. ReliaQuest, agentic defense for the enterprise. Learn more at ReliaQuest.com. That's R-E-L-I-A-Q-U-E-S-T.com.
What question does the episode pose about money's effect on marriage?
You'd think a large influx of cash, be it from a job or even winning the lottery, would boost the strength of a marriage. But it turns out marriages are often put to the test by either cash shortfalls or windfalls. WSJ personal finance reporter Julia Carpenter looked into new research on the matter, and she joins me now. Hey, Julia, thanks for being with us.
Thank you for having me.
So, Julia, I guess there's no way around it. Like they say, for richer or poorer, money plays a significant role in almost any relationship.
Money tests a relationship. So these are things that present challenges when they sort of rock the status quo, both a financial setback and a windfall. Setbacks can test the strength of the marriage because when one partner loses a job or makes a bad investment or loses an income stream, then the couple then has to decide, how is this going to affect us? And similarly, a financial windfall An inheritance, a payout, or in the case of some research, I was looking at a lottery win, does the same thing. You know, it sort of rocks the relationship because it's challenging the status quo.
OK, but losing money is more challenging to handle than adding money to your finances, right?
Yes. I mean, behavioral economists have found that thinking of losing money, we have a stronger emotional effect to that. That's true for everybody. Then gaining a similar amount, we don't have as strong of an emotional reaction to that. But when it comes to relationships, the research that I've looked at suggests that Huge financial moves in either direction can shake couples in much the same way, because in both cases, they are exposing weaknesses in the marriage or sensitive spots in the marriage that otherwise might have been overlooked or ignored.
Weaknesses in the marriage, even involving an influx of cash?
So yeah, so in a study conducted in Sweden, I was talking to researchers who had been tracking lottery winners. They looked at them 10 years after they won the equivalent of $100,000. And the study compared how single and married winners adjusted to this and how many of them formed new relationships and families and how many of them ended up dissolving their existing relationships or filing for divorce.
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