What do you look for in a significant other?
More than one in four single adults say they would consider marrying someone primarily for financial stability, according to a new LendingTree survey.
Nearly nine in 10 adults say financial security is at least somewhat important in a romantic relationship, including 60% who say it is “very important.”
The survey also found that 71% of Americans have ended a relationship because of finances.
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“Fair or not, people can see those things as indicators of whether someone generally has it together in life,” said Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst. “While that’s often unfair to the person who is financially struggling, it’s not unfair to expect them to discuss their finances with you as you progress in your relationship. Open and honest discussion of money is nonnegotiable when it comes to relationships, and an unwillingness to talk about it can be a far bigger red flag than some debt or a middling credit score.”
About 29% of adults say they’d prefer a partner who earns more than they do. Roughly two-thirds say they don’t care which partner earns more, and just 5% want to be the primary income earner.
More than half of adults say it is socially acceptable for a person to have a “sugar” relationship — in which one partner is drawn to another primarily because of their income.
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“In many ways, financial stability is freedom,” Schulz said. “It gives you the ability to take action to get yourself out of an unsatisfying or even unsafe relationship. That’s why I support both partners having at least some money that is just theirs. As much as we all would love to think that our marriage is going to be blissful and dreamy for our entire lives, that’s not the reality for millions of Americans. Having your own money means that if you feel you need to extricate yourself from a bad relationship, you can do it far more easily.”
