Marriage and Money Myths — and Why the Economy Feels 'Off'

Summary

NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast: "Marriage and Money Myths — and Why the Economy Feels 'Off'"

Release Date: February 20, 2025

In this insightful episode of NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, hosts Sean Pyles and Elizabeth Ayola delve into the intricate interplay between marriage and financial well-being, while also unpacking the broader economic sentiments that have left many feeling disconnected from the numbers presented by national statistics. The episode seamlessly blends expert analysis with practical advice, ensuring listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of both personal and macroeconomic financial landscapes.

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Money News Roundup: Perception vs. Economic Reality

The episode kicks off with a news segment addressing the persistent disconnect between public perception of the economy and the official statistics reported by government agencies.

Elizabeth Ayola reminisces, “[Listeners may remember way back last fall...] I was also confused by the mismatch between musings shared in my social networks and the economic data that we were presented with” (00:41).

Sean Pyles concurs, noting, “Lots of economic indicators were indicating that things were pretty swimmingly, but polls kept showing that the public did not agree” (00:27).

Anna Hilhosky, the news correspondent, introduces Eugene Ludwig, a seasoned economist and chair of the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity. Ludwig challenges the reliability of traditional economic metrics, arguing that they fail to capture the lived experiences of middle and low-income Americans.

Eugene Ludwig explains, “The Bureau of Labor Statistics... use definitions that were locked in the 1930s and they were based on concepts of the 1890s” (03:10). He highlights that modern employment patterns, such as the prevalence of part-time work, are not adequately reflected in headline statistics.

Delving deeper, Ludwig reveals a staggering claim: “23% of the American people are functionally unemployed” (05:32). He emphasizes that many individuals are employed but struggle to earn a living wage or secure full-time positions, a nuance often overlooked in official reports.

Addressing inflation concerns, Ludwig states, “[Middle and low income Americans...] the basket of goods and services they buy and need to survive on... has inflated more than the CPI” (09:46), underscoring that while the Consumer Price Index (CPI) provides a general economic overview, it fails to account for the specific inflationary pressures faced by lower-income households.

Ludwig advocates for a paradigm shift in economic reporting: “They could become the new headline statistics or alternatively, they could be published alongside the current headline statistics” (12:04). This would offer policymakers a clearer, more accurate picture of the economic challenges faced by the majority.

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Listener Q&A: Navigating the Financial Implications of Marriage

Transitioning from macroeconomics to personal finance, the hosts address a poignant listener question submitted by Bailey, grappling with the financial considerations of marriage.

Listener’s Question Highlights:

• Both partners are in the 22% federal income tax bracket.
• Standard deductions negate potential tax benefits.
• Employer offers domestic partner health insurance.
• Concerns about inheriting partner’s credit issues and significant student debt.

Elizabeth Ayola introduces the segment, emphasizing the nuanced nature of marriage beyond romantic and traditional pressures.

Lauren Schwann, NerdWallet’s personal finance writer, joins the discussion to provide expert insights.

Tax Implications

Sean Pyles breaks down the tax dynamics: “Since our listener and their partner are both in the same tax bracket, the larger range for that 22% tax bracket for married couples doesn't amount to much in terms of savings on a tax bill for them” (17:03). He illustrates that significant tax benefits typically arise when there’s a disparity in income between spouses, allowing for optimization within different tax brackets.

Lauren Schwann shares a personal anecdote: “We messed up adjusting our withholding after we got married, so we ended up owing more than we expected after filing” (19:01), highlighting the importance of proactive tax planning post-marriage.

Credit and Debt Considerations

Addressing Bailey’s concerns about credit and debt, Lauren Schwann clarifies, “There is no such thing as a joint credit score or a credit report. Credit files are unique to each individual's credit history” (20:29). She reassures that marrying does not directly merge credit histories; only joint applications for credit can impact both partners’ credit scores.

Regarding lingering credit issues from past scams, Schwann advises, “You can and should dispute that with the three major credit bureaus to try and get it corrected as soon as possible” (20:29). She emphasizes the importance of addressing outdated or erroneous negative marks to improve credit standing.

Managing Finances as a Couple

The conversation shifts to collaborative financial management. Lauren Schwann suggests, “Talk about your financial goals and expectations so you can make sure you're on the same page” (23:12). She advocates for open communication and strategic planning in areas such as debt repayment and savings.

Elizabeth Ayola, referencing her own experience, shares how marriage streamlined financial tasks: “We opened joint checking and savings accounts so we could officially combine our income” (23:46). This integration facilitated easier bill payments and savings for shared goals without the hassle of transferring funds repeatedly.

Lauren Schwann adds, “It's important to check in with each other every once in a while and just be honest about how things are going” (26:49), underscoring the significance of ongoing financial dialogue to navigate shared responsibilities and support each other’s financial health.

Security and Legal Benefits

Sean Pyles highlights additional non-tax benefits of marriage, such as automatic decision-making authority in healthcare emergencies and streamlined asset transfer upon death, which provide crucial legal and personal security without the need for additional documentation like medical power of attorney (19:03).

He also touches upon the broader social implications, especially for LGBTQ+ couples, noting, “getting married... may be worth it for that sense of security and stability that marriage can bring” (25:43), reinforcing the multifaceted value of marriage beyond immediate financial considerations.

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Conclusion

The episode adeptly balances discussions on macroeconomic perceptions with intimate, practical advice on personal finance within marriage. By integrating expert opinions, personal anecdotes, and actionable tips, NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast equips listeners with the knowledge to make informed financial decisions both individually and in partnership.

Notable Quotes:

• "The only thing that's changed is the increasing homeless city of tents... [and] things aren't better when you actually physically see them and touch them" – Eugene Ludwig (02:10)

• "There is no such thing as a joint credit score or a credit report" – Lauren Schwann (20:29)

• "It's important to check in with each other every once in a while and just be honest about how things are going" – Lauren Schwann (26:49)

• "Getting married can have big implications for a range of aspects of your finances, including things like Social Security benefits and how you save for retirement" – Sean Pyles (19:03)

For those navigating the complexities of marriage and finances or seeking clarity on economic perceptions versus realities, this episode serves as a valuable resource. Listeners are encouraged to engage with NerdWallet’s experts by submitting their own financial questions, continuing the journey toward smarter money management and financial empowerment.

Transcript

[Sean Pyles]

When you think of all the reasons to get married, what comes to mind?

[Elizabeth Ayola]

Dream weddings? Tax breaks? Sometimes. Love to.

[Sean Pyles]

Well, this episode we help a listener figure out if marriage is worth the effort and cost. Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds. I'm Sean Pyles.

[Elizabeth Ayola]

And I'm Elizabeth Ayola.

[Sean Pyles]

This episode, we're talking about some of the more nuanced financial implications and benefits of marriage. But first, our weekly money news roundup where we break down the latest in the world of finance to help you be smarter with your money.

[Elizabeth Ayola]

Listeners may remember way back last fall when there was a lot of talk about economic vibes and how they didn't seem to match up with what national statistics were telling us about the economy. I am a listener, and I will say I was also confused by the mismatch between musings shared in my social networks and the economic data that we were presented with.

[Sean Pyles]

Yeah, lots of economic indicators were indicating that things were going pretty swimmingly, but polls kept showing that the public did not agree. Our news colleague Anna Hilhosky is here with more. And Ana, there really has been this huge disconnect between perception and reality when it comes to the economy.

[Ana Hilhosky]

There has, Sean, and that's why an article that I read last week in Politico grabbed my attention. The author argues that people's negative feelings about the economy were actually spot on and that the government stats on unemployment, wages and growth were wrong. So for today's episode, I spoke with that very author, Eugene Ludwig, chair of the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity, who also served as the U.S. comptroller of the Currency during the Clinton administration. Eugene Ludwig, welcome to Smart Money.

[Eugene Ludwig]

Ana, it's nice to be with you.

[Ana Hilhosky]

In your article for Politico, you say that you're skeptical that the government's measurements of things like unemployment and wage growth are capturing the realities of the economy. So before we get into what your team of researchers found, I'm curious what led you to dig into the divide between what stats show and what the economic, for lack of a better word, vibes seem to be?

[Eugene Ludwig]

Well, it's really a two part Ana. I've either walked by, ridden my bicycle by, or been in a car passing by the Federal Reserve since I came to town here in Washington over 40 years ago. And the buildings are just as pretty as they were when I arrived. The only thing that's changed is the increasing homeless city of tents, which didn't even exist when I first came and there were some people sleeping on grates, maybe occasionally, but now it's a, it's like a tent village around the Federal Reserve. So you see that and you say, hey, what's so good about these numbers? Tell you everything ought to be better and things aren't better when you actually physically see them and touch them.

[Ana Hilhosky]

So all of that led you to assemble a team of researchers who found that for some 20 years voter perception was, quote, more reflective of reality than the incumbent statistics. That's quite a statement to make. Can you explain what your team found was accurate and inaccurate in the data?

[Eugene Ludwig]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which comes out with most of these statistics that are used by the Fed and others, is a hard working bunch of folks who capture data more or less accurately. They do a good job and of collecting information. But in creating these headline statistics, they take the raw data and they put it together on the basis of definitions that were locked in the 1930s and they were based on concepts of the 1890s so that you have definitions that made sense in the 1930s that don't make as much sense today. For example, virtually everybody had a full time job or no job. Today. There's a lot of part time that really influences the data. We found that in all the headline statistic areas.

[Ana Hilhosky]

So you wrote in your piece that, quote, those living in more modest circumstances have endured at least 20 years of setbacks and the last four years did not turn things around enough for the lower 60% of American income earners, end quote. So if public opinion is a reliable gauge of objective economic conditions and most of the public has suffered 20 years of setbacks, then I was curious why Gallup's economic index was much higher during the first Trump administration, that is after the Great Recession and before the pandemic than it had been in 2004. And if we've seen a 20 year period of economic decline, wouldn't we expect economic confidence to have been lower toward the end of that period than it was at the beginning of that period?

[Eugene Ludwig]

Well, the economics over a 20 year period obviously themselves fluctuate during that period somewhat. And of course they vary depending on location in the United States. So there are some areas that have been hit even harder than the median. I actually think that the decline has been going on for a longer period of time than 20, 25 years. But the reliable statistics we were able to find were really a 2025 year time frame. And the weakness, as I say, is definitional. But the definitions tend to Leave out the fact that middle and low income Americans have been experiencing a different reality than upper income Americans.

[Ana Hilhosky]

So in your article you make another pretty startling claim. If you adjust the unemployment stats, about 1 in 4 are functionally unemployed in the US. Can you explain that a bit?

[Eugene Ludwig]

If you look at the unemployment statistics that the BLS puts out, what it doesn't do is have any reflection in those numbers really for the degree to which people are working part time and want to work full time and whether or not they can earn a living wage. What we look at is can people earn above a poverty wage? And if you filter the numbers for I'm working but I can't earn above a poverty wage, or I'm working but I'd love a full time job but I can't get it. So you basically create a bucket of what are really functionally unemployed. We call this the unemployed bucket. It's really dreadful. 23% of the American people are functionally unemployed. That is those that we're told have only a 4ish percent unemployment rate. It's worse for black Americans and worse for women.

[Ana Hilhosky]

Aren't the measurements that you're talking about something kind of distinct from unemployment? Part time workers have jobs and so do full time workers who earn low salaries.

[Eugene Ludwig]

It is fair to say, Anna, that well, yes, I've got, as one of my friends in York, Pennsylvania used to say, a piece of a job. But in terms of what I think people think of as being, oh, they're employed so they're kind of okay, they're on the ladder upwards or at least a ladder that can put a roof over your head or have a decent meal. They're not on that ladder. I think you explain why the American people have been so upset, that is middle and low income Americans, because their reality is not good and getting worse.

[Ana Hilhosky]

Now let's dig in a little bit about part time work. The number of Americans working part time because they can't find full time work is near historic lows. And that's despite the US population being historically high. Census Bureau of data allows for respondents to give a reason for their work status. And the majority of those who work part time do so by choice. That's what they say. So I'm looking at two recent periods. Federal data measuring involuntary part time work show that there were more involuntary part time workers in December 2019 than in November 2024. And yet public approval of the economy was higher in December 2019 than it was in November 2024. So what's the explanation for why voters like the economy in December 2019 versus November 2024.

[Eugene Ludwig]

The big influencer, I think, of public attitude had to do with the increase in prices so that the real wage they were earning was actually down. The nominal wage may have been up, but the real wage was down. And you say, well, how could that be? Because if you look at government statistics and you use the cpi, which is a normal inflator that's used, you'd think wages would be up a little bit over that period of time. In fact up about 3%. But that's not reality because for the lower 60%, in fact, what's happening is that the basket of goods and services they buy and need to survive on, food, housing, education, that has inflated more than the CPI. And so in fact they're not up 3%, they're down 3%. And that's painful. It's painful for people who barely have enough money to put a roof over their head to begin with.

[Ana Hilhosky]

And about wages, in your article you say that data shows the median wage is just under $62,000 annually. But then if you include part time workers and unemployed job seekers, the median wage is about $52,300 annually. So that would mean that the median worker actually earns 16% less than the stats would indicate.

[Eugene Ludwig]

Right. And you add into that the inflation adjuster which has been used by the bls, which is not as meaningful for middle and low income Americans, and use the real adjuster, which is what are they buying, what do they really need, which is greater? And they're in really a big hole.

[Ana Hilhosky]

And as you said, the consumer Price Index, that's the cpi, which tracks all the costs of goods and services in the economy, isn't telling the whole story of inflation. Can you talk a little bit more about that?

[Eugene Ludwig]

Well, the CPI is a basket of goods and service about 80,000. It's a useful statistic as a general picture of, of the economy generally. But it is not a meaningful statistic really for middle and low income Americans because Most of that 80,000 goods and services are things that don't touch middle and low income Americans at all. What they're concerned about are the goods and services that really matter to them. And if you look at that basket of goods and services, it is inflated more than the cpi. And it's inflated so much so that there's a meaningful gap that creates a negative improvement for them. In other words, they're not an improvement. Things are going downhill for middle and low income Americans economically.

[Ana Hilhosky]

So when it comes to perception, is the disconnect between stats and how people feel really more about inflation than anything else, rather than the actual stats that the government is putting out there.

[Eugene Ludwig]

That was the big story over the last four years. But generally it's more complex than that because in a sense, all the government stats have misleading implications. When we're dealing with middle and low income Americans, gdp, which net net does give us a sense of whether the economy is growing or not, whether wealth is being created or not. We would think, for example, gross domestic product means product being produced domestically, that is production. But in fact that's not what it means. It means really wealth creation, not whether things are actually being produced here, shorthand for more jobs. Worse still, while it gives us a sense that there's an even handed sharing that's going on, in fact that's also not what the GDP is when one digs into it. It doesn't necessarily mean that middle and low income Americans well being is growing. It just means the economy's wealth is growing. So in terms of how one looks at these headline statistics, if one's not going to dig into the details, one gets, I think, a misleading picture of how well things are developing for middle and low income Americans overall.

[Ana Hilhosky]

You say something needs to change to give people a more realistic perception of the U.S. economy. What does that change look like to you?

[Eugene Ludwig]

Well, there are a number of different ways one can make the change. One thing that you could do is basically take the statistics we've come up with and substitute them for the headline statistics. They could become the new headline statistics or alternatively, they could be published alongside the current headline statistics, which would give policymakers a better picture of what's really happening in the economy. The reason we're doing this is we're hopeful that policymakers, this is really a bipartisan effort, left, right, whatever, have an accurate picture of the economy they're dealing with and therefore will make more informed decisions as to what policies they want to pursue.

[Ana Hilhosky]

All right, Eugene Ludwig, thank you so much for joining us today.

[Eugene Ludwig]

Thank you, Ana. It's nice to be with you.

[Sean Pyles]

And thank you, Ana.

[Ana Hilhosky]

Thanks, Sean.

[Elizabeth Ayola]

Up next, we're gonna answer a listener's question about some of the more nuanced financial implications and benefits of marriage. But before we get into that, a reminder listener to send us your money questions. Maybe you're trying to figure out how to better your credit so you can buy a home this year, or you need some help figuring out which financial goal you should prioritize. Either way, leave us a voicemail or text us on the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373. That's a 901730, nerd. You can also pop us an [e-mail].

[Sean Pyles]

And we want to talk with more of you live on smart money this year. So if you want to hang out with Elizabeth and me and get some nerdy wisdom, let us know one more time. Leave us a voicemail or text us on the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373. That's 901730, nerd. Or email [e-mail] now let's get to.

[Elizabeth Ayola]

This episode's money question that's coming up in a moment. Stay with us.

[Sean Pyles]

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[Elizabeth Ayola]

So to help us answer this listener's question on this episode of the podcast, we are joined by NerdWallet personal finance writer Lauren Schwann. Welcome back to Smart Money.

[Lauren Schwann]

Lauren, hello. Thank you.

[Elizabeth Ayola]

Let's start by talking about what Bailey mentioned about marriage and taxes, because the alleged tax breaks are a big draw of getting married for some couples. So firstly, Sean, can you break down what people should know about this?

[Sean Pyles]

Yeah, you're right. A lot of people think that getting married is this great way to save on taxes. And for some folks, that's really not the case. The big things to think about are combined income and tax brackets. When you file your taxes as a married couple, the income threshold for the marginal brackets is much higher, so your combined income may be taxed at a lower rate than what you would have been taxed at as a single filer. And I realize this can get kind of confusing, so let's use our listener situation as an example. Bailey said that they and their partner are both in the 22% tax bracket. For single filers, that bracket is between roughly $48,000 and $103,000 for the 2025 tax year. For married couples filing jointly, the 22% bracket range is between roughly $97,000 to around $207,000. So it's basically, basically double. Since our listener and their partner are both in the same tax bracket, the larger range for that 22% tax bracket for married couples doesn't amount to much in terms of savings on a tax bill for them, getting married would be more advantageous tax wise if one partner earned much more than the other so they could take advantage of those larger tax brackets. And another thing to note that Bailey pointed out is the standard deduction for Couples who file jointly, the standard deduction is double that of single filers. And while that might sound really exciting, it ends up being kind of a wash when you break it down on an individual basis. So, like Bailey said, getting married may not be a huge advantage tax wise.

[Elizabeth Ayola]

Thanks for breaking that down, Sean. So, Lauren, you're the only one who is married here. Did getting married change your and your husband's tax situation much?

[Lauren Schwann]

I don't remember the exact details. I just know it didn't change too much at that point. What I remember most is that we messed up adjusting our withholding after we got married, so we ended up owing more than we expected after filing. So heed my cautionary tale.

[Sean Pyles]

Yeah. Growing pains as a young married couple.

[Lauren Schwann]

Right.

[Sean Pyles]

So getting married can have big implications for a range of aspects of your finances, including things like Social Security benefits and how you save for retirement. But I want to touch on two that come to mind for me. Healthcare decisions and your estate. When it comes to healthcare, when you're married, you become the default decision maker for each other's healthcare decisions in the event that one of you is incapacitated. And this happens without having to get a medical power of attorney, which can be a kind of drawn out and sometimes expensive legal process where you might probably have to get an attorney involved. It's just not super easy. So this can be a huge advantage in a health emergency. Instead of having to pull out some paperwork to prove that you should be in the room with your partner and that you can make the healthcare decisions for an incapacitated partner, you are just accepted as being in that role. Again, think about what that might mean in some kind of crisis. You want to be there to support your partner without having to dig through documents. And then when it comes to your estate, being married can make it much easier to transfer each other's assets upon death. Something that folks might not want to think about. But you'll be happy to have that sorted out in event that that happens.

[Elizabeth Ayola]

Absolutely. So, Lauren, it sounds like this listener's partner experienced something really terrible with their finances a few years back, and they're still trying to recover from that. But even if the listener and their partner do get married, the credit issues that the partner is dealing with won't port over to the listener's profile, right?

[Lauren Schwann]

That's right. And I know there are a lot of myths surrounding what happens to your credit when you get married. So let me set the record straight. There is no such thing as a joint credit score or a credit report. Credit files are unique to each individual's credit history. So you're not going to inherit anything from a spouse's record. The only time that your partner's credit might impact your own is if you apply for a credit card or a loan together in the future. Then that information would appear on both of your files. But that's also going to be the case whether or not you're married. One other thing is depending on where you live, it's also possible that if your spouse refinances an existing, say student loan after you're married, that could open you up to liability. But that's not usually the case. I want to say something about the scam situation that the listener's partner experienced real quick. It's important to know if you've been the victim of a scam and there's a negative mark on your credit report because of it. Like in the listener's case, a charge off, which is when you have an unpaid account that your creditor writes off as a loss. Instead of waiting for the mark to fall off your credit report situation several years down the road, you can and should dispute that with the three major credit bureaus to try and get it corrected as soon as possible. And the same goes for if you see a negative mark that's been there longer than you think it should. So legally most negative marks have to come off your credit report after seven years. And I don't know if the listener's partner maybe already tried disputing that information, but if not, it's a good idea. So that's my public service announcement.

[Sean Pyles]

Thank you for that. That's super important. And a lot of people aren't aware that they can dispute information on their credit reports or they may not know how do that. We have articles on NerdWallet that walk you through this process because it's a little bit different with each of the three credit bureaus. So we will link in our show notes two articles that can help people understand how to dispute errors on their credit reports. So Lauren, is there any way that getting married could limit our listeners ability to qualify for credit in the future? If their spouse does have a pretty rough credit record, it is possible.

[Lauren Schwann]

Again, it's going to come down to whether they decide to apply for credit jointly or separately. If they get married and apply jointly for, let's just say a mortgage, lenders will look at things like the couple's credit scores and reports and also their debt to income ratio to assess their risk. So if lenders see that your partner has a high amount of debt compared with their income, or if their credit is in really rough shape, that could make it harder for you to get approved or get good terms.

[Sean Pyles]

All right, so I want to zoom out a little bit and talk about just managing money as a married couple. Even though our listener and their partner earn about the same amount, it seems like they have very different financial circumstances. Lauren, how do you think they should go about building the financial future that they want to have together, considering what each person is bringing to the table?

[Lauren Schwann]

Well, it's great that they've already shared details about their financial situations with each other, so hopefully they won't run into any surprises there. I think that's a really good start. I think it's also important for them to talk about their financial goals and expectations so they can make sure they're on the same page. And then from there, they can decide how to prioritize those goals and whether they want to manage their money together or separately. For example, we know the listener's partner has student debt. The couple might want to talk about whether they should both contribute to the payments and possibly pay it down faster, or if they want to have the partner continue to pay it on their own.

[Elizabeth Ayola]

So, Lauren, as we mentioned earlier, you are married. So how did getting married change your financial life? Did you have any, like, why did nobody tell me this moment? Or things that you didn't expect?

[Lauren Schwann]

You know, our financial situation wasn't that complicated, so there weren't a lot of major changes at first. You know, neither one of us brought any debt into the marriage. We kept our own credit card accounts open, and we're also renters, so we haven't gone through the home buying process or anything. But I think the biggest change for us was that we opened joint checking and savings accounts so we could officially combine our income. And that just made it so much easier for us to pay our bills and to save up for our goals without having to figure out how much each person needed to contribute or having to send money back and forth. And also being able to get on each other's health plans was a really big plus, I would say. If there's anything financially that I didn't expect about getting married, it's maybe that I'm just not as stressed about money as I thought I would be. I know this sounds like a really cheesy cliche, but my husband and I have always been a good team. We share the same values, we've supported each other, and we're both pretty responsible with money. We both work in the finance world. So I think that's been a huge help. So it's not like I expected necessarily that a switch would flip and we would suddenly start fighting about money or anything once we got married. But I also knew we were going to make some bigger financial decisions, like having kids. And thinking about managing those added costs for me was just a little bit scary. But it actually hasn't been too stressful in reality because I've had someone else to share that load. So I'll give you one example. We bought our car right after we had our first kid, and we just decided to have my husband do everything, put it in his name, because I didn't have to bring my newborn along to the dealership. So it was a lot better that way. And my husband's also just really on top of little things, like he calls the garbage company to sort out our auto pay issues with our bill. And he has taken a lot of those, what I find annoying tasks off my plate.

[Sean Pyles]

You have to play to each person's strength in a relationship. That makes it a lot easier to manage household stuff and finances. So something else I'll add, because from Bailey's original email to us, I've gathered that they're in a queer relationship and, you know, we're living in, shall I say, very uncertain times right now. And there are some signals that gay marriage may be challenged at the Supreme Court. So for peace of mind alone, for people like Bailey and myself, frankly, getting married to the person that you plan to spend the rest of your life with may be worth it for that sense of security and stability that marriage can bring. My partner and I are planning on getting married this year. And for a long time, we approached marriage much like Bailey and their partner. It wasn't really a priority because we weren't on that traditional path that is expected of more heterosexual couples traditionally. But we want to build a secure life together, and marriage just makes that so much easier across a range of areas of your financial and personal life, as we've laid out earlier.

[Elizabeth Ayola]

All right, Lauren, can you share some thoughts about how couples can help support each other financially? For anyone listening out there, I think.

[Lauren Schwann]

It'S a good idea to check in with each other every once in a while and just be honest about how things are going. Couples might want to talk about whether they're making progress toward their goals, if there's been any changes in their financial situation, and also just address how they're feeling, because I think obviously the numbers and details side of managing your finances is important. But the mental and emotional side is really important too. And then there are a lot of ways you can support your partner. Even if you keep your finances separate. You might just want to be a cheerleader for them, or you can help them research a problem that they're having or share resources. Maybe you've used an app to track your spending and you really like it and you can recommend that to your partner. So there's definitely a lot you can do and just ask, see what kind of support they need and then deliver where you can.

[Sean Pyles]

Well, Lauren Chuan, thank you so much for joining us.

[Lauren Schwann]

Happy to be here. Thank you.

[Sean Pyles]

That's all we have for this episode. Remember, listener, that we are here to answer your money question. So turn to the Nerds and call or text us on the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373. That's 901-730-N E R D. You can also email us at podcasterdwallet.com visit nerdwallet.com podcast for more info on this episode. And remember, you can follow the show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and iHeartRadio to automatically download new episodes.

[Elizabeth Ayola]

This episode was produced by Sean and Tess Vigelin. We had editing help from Pamela de la Fuente and Hilary Georgi. Megan Maurer mixed our audio and here's our brief. We are not financial or investment advisors. This nerdy info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and it may not apply to your specific circumstances.

[Sean Pyles]

And with that said, until next time, turn to the Nerds.

[Unknown]

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