The Surprising Financial Benefit of Marriage

• Mental Health

• Relationships

• Personal Finance

No, it’s NOT the tax break, although that’s helpful. It’s not the extra income, though that can help you reach your financial goals. It’s not even the health insurance perks, which may save you a massive chunk of cash.

It’s actually love. And that’s not hyperbole. It’s a fact.

A Harvard study spanning decades discovered that men who described their close relationships as warm earned vastly more than their peers.¹ Why? What’s the connection between healthy relationships and income? Maybe it’s simply a correlation, not a causation. Perhaps there’s a hidden factor that leads to both high incomes and great marriages. It’s certainly not intelligence. Past a certain point, warm relationships were better predictors of income than IQ.

Health might play a role. Happy marriages tend to boost longevity and increase physical well-being, the study found. But it doesn’t take much thought to see potential connections between relationships and income.

For instance, the stress of an unhealthy relationship might make it harder to focus on work, impacting performance.

Or maybe the power of healthy teamwork exponentially increases a couple’s ability to excel in their fields.

Or maybe encouragement and acceptance empower people to take more calculated risks with big potential payoffs.

Or maybe, just maybe, healthy relationships give people something worth fighting for.

You be the judge. Regardless of the cause, it’s clear that your relationships are among the wisest investments you can make.