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The best financial decision I ever made wasn’t a financial decision: I got married. Much to my surprise, my financial life turned around once I found my beautiful bride. Mine is not an unusual situation — according to Barbara Dafoe Whitehead and David Popenoe from Rutgers University. people who marry are, on average, four times richer than those who never marry. Here are some of the reasons why:

Marriage makes you pay attention. You are no longer that idle bachelor, you’re in a partnership. Stupid decisions that you make now don’t just affect you, they affect someone else.

Marriage encourages long-term thinking. It’s not until you start planing ten, twenty, or thirty years ahead with someone that you understand what long-term savings really means.

Marriage cuts many bills in half. The moment you move into an apartment or buy a house together, every communal expense such as rent, heating, and property taxes has just been divided. Many other bills such as food and electricity are much cheaper for two people than for one. Just watch out for lifestyle inflation and, for heaven’s sake, don’t have a baby.

Marriage lowers taxes. Most countries, like the United States and the United Kingdom, give tax benefits to married people.

Marriage Makes Men Work Harder. According to Avner Ahituv of the University of Haifa and Robert Lerman of the Urban Institute, married men drink less, take fewer drugs and work harder, and earn 10% and 40% more than single men with similar backgrounds. (From The Economist, May 24th, 2007 The Frayed knot)

Marriage clarifies your thoughts. The big advantage of getting married is that you now have to say out loud your financial plans to another human being.

The first time you try and plan your finances with your spouse, you’ll probably realize that you don’t have a plan. You thought you had one, but when you try to articulate it, you discover that the details are missing — like trying to recall a dream hours after waking.

Working with someone else forces you to clearly articulate your goals. When you make a budget together you have to decide what your priorities really are, and it helps to talk them over with your partner. Do you really want to eat out that much, or would you rather put that money into the ‘early retirement’ and ‘vacation’ funds?

Marriage makes millionaires. In both The Millionaire Next Door and The Millionaire Mind, the author Thomas Stanley, states many times that one of the factors Millionaires credit as the source of their wealth is their spouse.

I don’t recommend you go out trying to find a fiancée so that you get wealthy, but if and when you do get married, don’t forget about the financial benefits.

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Header photograph by cedarjunction

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