Aligning financial values can significantly boost the strength of your partnership. This concept is backed by a study published in 2024 in the journal Personal Relationships. This research delves into how married couples’ financial values correlate with their marital satisfaction. Financial values cover priorities regarding money, beliefs on spending, and actual expenditure choices.
The study discovered that “money motives” play a crucial role in either enhancing or diminishing marital satisfaction, which in turn, influences a couple’s future together. Let’s explore two key ways money motives affect relationships, as identified by this study.
Firstly, we have “Self-Integrated Money Motives.” These are financial goals or desires that resonate with an individual’s personal values, beliefs, and life aspirations. When a person’s financial pursuits are driven by a quest for personal growth and align with their sense of purpose, they’re said to have self-integrated money motives. Such individuals might seek wealth not just for the sake of it but for noble reasons like supporting their family, contributing to charitable causes, pursuing their passions, and enjoying leisure activities.
The research indicates that individuals or those who perceive their partners to have self-integrated money motives tend to experience higher relationship satisfaction. Couples often bring their own financial goals and values into a marriage, influenced by their upbringing, experiences, and personal beliefs. Sharing these motives helps partners understand each other better, set priorities, manage resources effectively, and work towards common goals like saving for a house, planning for retirement, or funding their children’s education.
When financial motives and values align, it fosters a sense of unity and responsible money management, leading to informed decisions about spending, saving, and investing. Effective communication about financial matters, as a result, boosts marital satisfaction. The researchers emphasize that supporting each other’s integrated money motives is crucial for enhancing interpersonal relationships, even if partners don’t share identical motives.
On the flip side, we have “Non-Integrated Money Motives.” These involve financial goals or behaviors that don’t align with an individual’s deeper values and life goals. Driven by external pressures or societal norms, individuals with non-integrated money motives might spend impulsively or to compensate for perceived shortcomings, leading to a sense of emptiness or dissatisfaction despite achieving their financial objectives.
The study found that holding or perceiving a partner to have non-integrated money motives is linked to lower relationship satisfaction. Interestingly, if both partners share non-integrated motives, their relationship satisfaction might temporarily increase, but it doesn’t bode well for the long-term health of the relationship. Disagreements over money, more than any other issue, are pervasive, problematic, and often unresolved, significantly predicting divorce.
Moreover, research indicates that while self-integrated motives are associated with greater well-being, non-integrated motives fail to fulfill fundamental human needs for autonomy, competence, and belonging, leading to lower well-being. A 2017 study further revealed that equating financial success with self-worth leads to more financial comparisons, stress, anxiety, and a diminished sense of personal agency.
Financial stress can lower emotional well-being and negatively impact life satisfaction, exacerbating conflicts between couples with differing views on money and affecting their marital quality. Conversely, aligning on positive financial values can pave the way for success—financially, personally, and relationally. Fostering a healthy relationship with money can solidify the foundation of a marriage, ensuring mutual respect, support, and empowerment to achieve financial goals together.
Concerned about your romantic connection? Consider taking the Relationship Satisfaction Scale to gain more insights: [Relationship Satisfaction Scale](https://therapytips.org/personality-tests/relationship-satisfaction-scale).