Money and Relationships
Tune into this episode of Making Cents of Money to explore the intricate dynamics of money in relationships.
Discover how financial socialization and deeply ingrained money scripts shape your financial behaviors and impact your partnerships.Learn practical strategies for managing financial uncertainty, resolving disagreements, and enhancing your own financial management skills to prioritize relational well-being. Uncover the importance of open communication and shared financial values in achieving greater relationship satisfaction and balanced power, while also recognizing the subtle signs of economic abuse and the red flags of romance scams.
You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, & YouTube Music.
Resources Referenced in the Episode
Several studies were referenced to create the content for this particular episode which are cited below. We also highlighted a couple relevant Making Cents of Money podcast episodes to listen to and tools for learning about budgeting, understanding your unconscious beliefs about money (Money Scripts), and reporting romance scams.
Budgeting & Money Scripts
Reporting Romance Scams
Other Relevant Making Cents of Money Episodes
Research Articles
- Christy, K., Welter, T., Dundon, K., Valandra, & Bruce, A. (2022). Economic abuse: A subtle but common form of power and control. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(1–2), NP473–NP499.
- Eickmeyer, K. J., Manning, W. D., Longmore, M. A., & Giordano, P. C. (2023). Exploring the married-cohabiting income pooling gap among young adults. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 44(4), 990–1006.
- Granados, W. (2025, January 28). NRF survey: Valentine’s Day spending reaches record $27.5 billion. NRF National Retail Federation.
- Klontz, B., Britt, S. L., Mentzer, J., & Klontz, T. (2011). Money beliefs and financial behaviors: Development of the Klontz Money Script Inventory. Journal of Financial Therapy, 2(1).
- Koochel, E. E., Markham, M. S., Crawford, D. W., & Archuleta, K. L. (2020). Financial transparency scale: Its development and potential uses. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 31(1), 14–27.
- Li, X., Khan, M. A., Xiao, J. J., & Kong, D. (2024). Actions for solutions: Financial behaviors, power (im)balance, and economic abuse among Chinese young adults in non-marital cohabitation. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 41(6), 1554–1576.
- Olson, J. G., & Rick, S. I. (2023). Subjective knowledge differences within couples predict influence over shared financial decisions. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 8(4), 378–389.
- Romo, L. K. (2015). An examination of how people in romantic relationships use communication to manage financial uncertainty. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 43(3), 315–335.
- Romo, L. K., & Abetz, J. S. (2016). Money as relational struggle: Communicatively negotiating cultural discourses in romantic relationships. Communication Studies, 67(1), 94–110.
- Totenhagen, C. J., Wilmarth, M. J., Serido, J., Curran, M. A., & Shim, S. (2019). Pathways from financial knowledge to relationship satisfaction: The roles of financial behaviors, perceived shared financial values with the romantic partner, and debt. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 40(3), 423–437.
