There are plenty of reasons to partner up — companionship….support….retirement security?

Apparently, according to a recent Thrivent survey.

Married individuals are:
• Eight percentage points more likely to be optimistic about their personal financial well-being, 62 percent vs. 54 percent, as compared to single individuals. Ten percentage points more likely to be confident that they have the proper financial strategy in place to survive economic swings, 41 percent vs. 31 percent.
• Ten percentage points less likely to be somewhat or very doubtful that their nest egg will last through retirement, 55 percent vs. 65 percent.
• Five percentage points less likely to cut back on their giving to charity due to market worries, 32 percent vs. 37 percent.
• Four percentage points less likely to lose sleep over market worries, 11 percent vs. 15 percent.

Why? For one, joint income, which significantly raises median household income. on average. But also financial support and having another person to run your financial plans by before you sell all of your equities at the bottom, for example, or enter into an interest-only mortgage.

However, being married means you also have someone to argue with about how the family allocates its resources. Money is a leading cause of marital strife and of divorce. It’s no secret that kids are expensive. Marrieds with kids are more likely to file for bankruptcy than their childless counterparts.

So, Kablog readers, here’s your chance to vent anonymously about your S.O.

In your own relationship, do you think being married is a financial benefit or a liability? If you’re single, do you think you’d be better off with a mate?

This entry was posted on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 3:08 pm and is filed under family finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.