Should Couples Merge Their Finances?

When Americans marry, their finances usually do too: The majority of married couples put all their income into shared accounts.

In the 1970s and ’80s, not doing that was sometimes considered a bad omen for a relationship. But that’s no longer the case today. The share of committed couples, married or not, who keep at least some of their finances separate has risen in recent decades, in part because Americans tend to marry later, after they’ve already developed their own financial habits.

As norms have shifted, though, Americans on which financial arrangement is best for relationships. Respondents in were split almost exactly 50–50 on the question of whether a married couple should merge all their money, and two titans of American personal finance give conflicting advice on the matter. Suze Orman she would “never, ever have just one joint account.” Dave Ramsey arguments for keeping separate accounts as “a bunch of crap.”