There are many reasons that marriages break down. One that crops up frequently is that the couple have differences in attitudes over money.
Here are a few such differences.
Spenders vs. savers
Should you save for a rainy day or enjoy the present because you never know if today will be your last? The correct answer probably lies somewhere in between. If you lean toward saving, you could easily get frustrated if your spouse appears unable or unwilling to avoid spending most of your income.
Even if you both agree that saving is essential, you might clash over how best to do so. Maybe you prefer to play it safe by investing in a municipal money market account, whereas your spouse would rather take risks and invest in things that could go big quickly, but it could also fail dramatically.
Differences over a commitment to earning
You believe in working as much as possible to earn as much as you can when the going is good. Your spouse has a more relaxed attitude toward work. They don’t feel they should work too hard and rarely work a whole five days. This could lead to friction if you feel you end up paying a larger share of the outgoings or contributing more to your joint financial reserves or if you are never free to do things with them because you are busy trying to earn more.
A resulting lack of trust
You got upset with your spouse when the last big credit card bill came in. You could not understand what led them to make those purchases that you cannot afford. They went off and sulked and as a result began trying to hide some of their spending from you, for fear you will get upset if you find out. On top of that, you have also started hiding some of your spending from them, as you fear they will call you a hypocrite if they find out. Breakdowns of trust like this can severely damage a marriage.
If differences over money have brought your marriage to breaking point, you may want to start learning more about how a divorce works. Getting legal guidance can help.