By Steve Garmhausen

Finances are a major fault line in romantic relationships: According to Fidelity Investments, money is the biggest relationship challenge for one in four couples. And every couple that marries must confront the question of whether and how to combine finances. For this week's Barron's Advisor Big Q, we asked financial advisors for their professional opinion: Should newly married couples combine their finances?

Eric Herzog, wealth advisor, Prime Capital: My advice to anyone getting married is to fully combine your finances. What I mean by that is all income sources in the household are going to flow to one account, ideally a joint checking account. All the bills get paid from that account, and all the automatic savings, loan payments, or anything like that get taken out of that account. It's a little more traditional and old-school, but if marriage is in union, I think combining finances promotes more of a team mentality. If you have everything in one place, if you know where all your money sits at any point in time, it's just easier as a couple to make decisions.

I'm almost 37 and my wife is 34, so we have friends who are on their second marriages or are getting married later in life. That is where I see a hybrid approach more often. That's a little bit more of a "yours, mine, and ours" mentality. That typically might happen because they have had a career already. Maybe they have built assets of their own. Maybe one or both of them owned a house before the marriage, or they have been saving and investing quite a bit. Or if they got divorced, maybe they received some assets as part of the settlement. They might be a little protective over that. These couples are used to doing what they're doing, and they just keep doing it. And then they find a way to combine finances. That might be a 50/50 split every month where they contribute to a joint account where they pay bills and cover expenses.

Nicole Romito, senior advisor, Private Vista: When I'm talking with a couple, I say, "What arrangement do you feel would be equitable?" I think an easy one is to look at income. What is your total household income, and what percentage of that income does each party represent? If you want to maybe have a joint account to cover the household expenses, that is a good way to start out. It could be strictly things related to the home, whether it's rent, mortgage, insurance, utilities, upkeep and repairs. Or it could be that all joint travel will go through the joint account. Or if you have hobbies you do together, you might pay for that through that joint account. One reason I like that is it allows each person to contribute in line with the income they're bringing into the household. It also allows them some independence on their individual spending, since a portion of their paycheck goes into the joint account, and a portion goes into their individual account. I have found that to be successful, because then you're not having to say, "Hey, I'm going to go out golfing this weekend, and it's going to be this amount of money." Or, if you're a tech-head, "Hey, I'm gonna go buy a new laptop." You're not having to ask for permission for or justify how you're spending your individual money.

Thomas Kopelman, financial planner, AllStreet Wealth: I think the vast majority of marriages and couples should combine their finances. For the average couple in their 20s or 30s, getting married is about becoming a team. While you can keep finances separate and still be a team, I don't find that very often. I've worked with clients who keep finances separate, and it's often rooted in issues they're worried about -- they just don't trust how their significant other would spend, or they have different goals or value things differently. I might like spending more money on golf or other experiences, and she might like spending more on clothes and other things. But in general you should create a system so you're saving and investing for the same goals, while realizing that each of you has different priorities and values. You might need to carve out what is OK to spend on different things, so that nobody feels like they're being restricted.

And when you don't combine finances, it's hard for people inside the relationship to make the best decisions for them. For example, one person could be making really good money, while the other person is miserable at their job. Maybe they need to find something different. Or maybe it's better that they stay home with the kids. Or maybe they have an opportunity to start at a new company that pays less but has higher equity. In a situation where finances are entirely separate, where you have to contribute half the rent, pay for half the groceries, pay for half the meals, etc., you have to say no to those possibilities.

Olivia Le Blan, wealth manager, Douglass Winthrop: It is dependent on the situation and on the individuals' values. Do they both earn income? Are there big income disparities? What stage of life are they in? How are you going to handle things if one spouse stops working? If there's an inheritance? Do you want your kids to go to private school? Can you afford that? It's important to discuss all these questions about money before the marriage and then hopefully have a strong foundation around trust and open communication so you can address any topics that come up later on. That's usually also a great time to bring up doing a prenup.

I have a client who made a good amount of money during his career in finance. His wife is a social worker, so she didn't have the same type of income. They were young when they married, and they had both started in life without significant assets. But they combined their finances, and the reason is that there was clear communication and complete trust between them. In their mind, there's no world where they're going to get divorced. The husband had accumulated enough wealth to actually create a spousal lifetime access trust: He basically made an irrevocable gift of quite a bit of money to his wife that she can access in case something were to happen to him. In case of divorce that would be an issue, but in their mind, they're together forever.

Write to advisor.editors@barrons.com

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May 13, 2026 15:23 ET (19:23 GMT)

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