You might have fallen in love with your significant other because you both liked rock climbing and binge watching The Walking Dead, but if you’re financial opposites, you could unknowingly be adding complications to your future together.
With communication, shared goals and compromise, these differences aren’t insurmountable.
Take this poll to see how you stack up against the rest of our readers when it comes to negotiating your differences with your partner.
If you won $1 million in the lottery, you and your partner would… (choose one)
How Often Do You Fight About Money? (choose one)
Being on top of your finances is difficult when you can’t talk about money without your fight or flight response being triggered. How have your differences affected your financial plan? (choose one)
Do you think your financial differences will affect the future of your relationship? (choose one)
Do you let your disagreements about money affect other parts of your relationship? (choose one)
If you answered mostly As
It sounds like you’re letting your disagreements about money take over your relationship. To wrest control back, consider sitting down to talk through your differences and, this time, try to listen to each other instead of shouting.
If you answered mostly Bs
It sounds like the more forceful person in your relationship is getting to make money decisions. That’s not fair! Spend more time trying to understand each other so you can find a compromise that you’ll both be happy with.
If you answered mostly Cs
When it comes to fighting about money - you’ve been there, but you’ve done the work necessary to find productive compromises that make you both happy. Money isn’t a big issue for you anymore. Congrats!
If you answered mostly Ds
You realized that the best way for the two of you to deal with your money fights was to separate your accounts. While this didn’t solve all your problems, having separate accounts has helped you both feel like you have some independence and that has improved your relationship.
This article is intended as general information only and is not to be relied upon as constituting legal, financial or other professional advice. A professional advisor should be consulted regarding your specific situation. Information presented is believed to be factual and up-to-date but we do not guarantee its accuracy and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the authors as of the date of publication and are subject to change. No endorsement of any third parties or their advice, opinions, information, products or services is expressly given or implied by Royal Bank of Canada or any of its affiliates.
