The life of a married couple differs quite a bit compared to the single life. But in what way does this affect your savings? Are you better of financially when you’re flying solo or is being tied down the way to go to kick your finances up a notch? Let’s try to find out the answer together.

Since there are many variables between being single and being married, we’ll segment our evaluation into these 4 categories: income, housing, transportation, and debt. We’ll look at how one group deals with these 4 things and then move over to the other group to see how they compare with each other. Here we go!

When You’re Single

Income

Being single means you have more time to yourself. Which also means more time to dedicate to either picking up a new skill that you can make more money from or even more time to generate some side income to supplement your current one. Some employers also prefer to hire those who are not yet married because they don’t have to worry about single employees taking leave to take care of their kids or look after their spouse.

Housing

You live alone so 100% of the rent is comes out of your expenses. However, with less stuff and more mobility, it’s much easier for you to move around to find cheaper places to live. You can also potentially save a lot of money if you live with fellow single roommates. A big disadvantage however, is that it’s also gonna be a lot tougher on a single income to afford buying a house on your own.

Transportation

When you’re single you don’t need a fancy expensive car to drive you around. Your car or motorcycle also isn’t shared with anyone else which means potentially lesser fuel expenses on your part. But not sharing your car also means not sharing the cost of the vehicle or petrol with anyone. Meaning all your travel expenses are completely your responsibility.

Debt

Managing your debt on your own with just a single income is much harder than having somebody else along to help you out, but at least this way you know exactly how much you owe and how much you need to repay. With only yourself as the sole person to take care of financially, your commitments are potentially a lot less as well.

So How Does Being Single Affect Your Savings?

The advantage here is in having total control and freedom to do what you need to with whatever resources you have. You don’t have to compromise on ideal living conditions or discuss any big purchases with anybody. Making huge financially impactful decisions is easier as well and more work opportunities may be available to you.

On the other hand, this also means you have to work harder and be better prepared since in times of financial stress, you won’t have another pair of hands or another flow of income from a partner to help keep you afloat.

When You’re Married

Income

Under the most financially productive circumstances, you both may be making money while sharing resources at the same time. Doing this means you can earn more together than you can by yourselves. However, being attached also means less time to explore alternative sources of income, but if both partners are drawing salaries, neither of you may need to do that.

Housing

Living together means you both pay rent for the same space. Having an automatic roommate translates to only needing to pay half of the rent, assuming its a double income household. Having two credit lines also means it might be easier to get a house loan and come up with the cash towards financing a house and build equity. On the flipside, if your marriage’s financial situation is not doing so hot then it’s also harder to move freely aboutor rent places since you both need to agree on where to go. Moving to cheaper places is also more difficult since you have more items shared between the two of you.

Transportation

When you live with a partner you can share a car and the expenses towards that car can be shared as well, cutting it in half. As long as you plan out where to go and split expenses evenly this should work out great. But the vehicle you both choose might also be something with better safety features and passenger capacity since you may be expected to start a family soon. This may offset your savings somewhat.

Debt

If you both share expenses and earnings then you may also share debt as well. After all, knowing the kind of debt your partner has is an important question to ask before starting a family together. Having two sources of income to manage your debt is much easier, but if only one of you is making money and using that to pay off debts incurred by the both of you, then this arrangement might not be so good.

So How Does Being Married Affect Your Savings?

Double the income and half the spending means a good strong advantage compared to being single. However, this is heavily dependent on both parties in the marriage having solidly communicated, shared financial goals and mutually complementary money habits. If both partners are in lockstep when it comes to this, then there is great potential to save way more than the single version of yourselves ever can. But if each partner is wildly incompatible when it comes to financial values, then things can end up being much harder than being single. This is even before taking into the account the potential additions to the family.

What Does This Mean?

The pros of being single when it comes to finances is the freedom and flexibility in ways to earn money whereas the advantages of being married is the doubling of resources available and the halving of resources consumed. With either marital status, what remains the most important is being aware of ones financial values and knowing how to practice them consistently towards productive ends. To that point, you can check out our savings account comparisons page to see which savings account suits your savings goals the best.

Have anything to add to this article? Do share your thoughts and ideas with us in the comments section down below!

 

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