Why do we marry our financial opposites?

December 1, 2009 – 11:45 am – No Comment

I wrote it in an article just a few days ago, I enjoy shopping. I think shopping is not only fun, but it is a social activity that I can do with my friends. However, I will not say that my closet is full of expensive clothes, shoes, and handbags. I actually pride myself on how cheap I can get certain things. My recent bragging point is my $7 pair of slacks.

However, I am sure that Chris wishes I would have just left most of the stuff I find on the rack. Chris is the kind of guy who only goes clothes shopping if every shirt in his closet has holes in it or he has to have a new pair of slacks or shirt for some sort of event.

We are fiscal opposites, kind of; and we’re not alone.

When it comes to money, fiery opposites attract, according to “Fatal (Fiscal) Attraction: Spendthrifts and Tightwads in Marriage,” a study being authored by a team of professors from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern University.

“We found that people tend to marry spouses with opposing emotional reactions toward spending,” the report said.

The study suggests that we all register how much an item or items cost by how much it hurts to give out the money. Because of this, those who are more free with their money gravitate to those who are a bit more tight with their money to help them create a kind of balance with their financial responsibilities and emotional responses to money.

It all has to do with the idea that opposites really do attract. People will often seek out people with the good qualities that they don’t have themselves.

“Tightwads and spendthrifts are generally unhappy with their emotional reactions toward spending, and complementary attraction may benefit both spouses if they help each other overcome their prepotent emotional reactions toward spending,” according to the report.

I believe that people who are financial opposites, or have financial dissimilarities can be happy and have a long marriage as long as they can find a way to work out their issues with money, and any other issues that may come up during their marriage.

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