American adults’ hesitancy to share how much they make can hinder healthy financial growth as a couple, said Andrei Cherny, co-founder and CEO of Aspiration.
“Money has traditionally been a taboo topic in America and people don’t like to discuss it because it makes them uncomfortable,” Cherny said. “However, this unfortunately results in many Americans having limited financial literacy — how are people supposed to learn how to deal with their money in a responsible way, if nobody ever wants to talk about it?”
Ed Zapson, a financial adviser at investment company Edward Jones, said that once couples find “themselves using ‘we’ or ‘us’ for making plans, as if the two of them come in a unit, it’s probably time to have a [money] conversation.”
It’s a big mistake if you’re not sharing details of your financial status with each other at that point in a relationship, he said.