June 25, 2006
 

Get Hitched, Save Money

By Ed Ronco
South Bend Tribune

Maybe you noticed it when you went grocery shopping and they only had the "family size" box of cereal on the shelves.

Maybe it was when you left the "spouse" section empty on your tax return.

Or was it when you -- and only you -- signed a mortgage?

It becomes evident, whether pushing the grocery cart or unlocking the front door of your first home, that marriage makes money sense.

Some of the advantages, such as sharing bills, are obvious and don't require marriage. Heck, roommates can do that.But other financial advantages are, in most cases, exclusive to married couples.

Think about receiving retirement benefits after a spouse dies or being covered by insurance, said Dave Gurnee, regional management associate with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in Granger.

"Some employers will extend health benefits to cohabitating, nonmarried people, but some will not," he said.

The exception to the marital advantages might come from the Internal Revenue Service, said Claude Renshaw, professor of business administration and economics at Saint Mary's College in South Bend, and one of the Tribune's Tax Talk columnists.

Filing your tax return jointly can save money, unless you're combined income exceeds $100,000 a year, Renshaw said. Then, you get bumped up into a new tax bracket and, presto, it's not any cheaper than being single.Equity

Many of the advantages married couples receive are unfair, says Thomas Coleman, executive director of the California-based Unmarried America, which bills itself as an information service for the unmarried.

"We hear people talk about the principle of equal pay for equal work," Coleman said. "With so much compensation coming to employees in the form of benefits, rather than direct pay, it's hard for single people to actually experience that principle in action."

Coleman is talking about companies that extend more benefits to married employees than to single employees.

Well, that makes sense, you say. Single employees -- for the most part -- don't have families to care for.Beyond the argument you'd get from single parents on that one, Coleman says this isn't about who needs what. It's about choice.

Deciding not to be married is as much a choice as tying the knot.

"You should be able to exercise that choice without penalty," he said.

What about love?

Beyond the dollars-and-cents of it all are financial perks of a more social nature, said Erik Brenner, senior financial adviser for Ameriprise Financial in Mishawaka."When you're married, you've got someone to be accountable to," he said.

In other words, it's harder to go astray with wild spending and mismanagement of funds.

"Of course, the other side of that is, too, if you're married and you have a spouse that's a spender, that can cause more conflict," Brenner said.

Money is often the root of marital strife. And when you're in love, it's hard to bring up money.

How should couples avoid surprises down the road?"I don't know if it's appropriate, but maybe a credit check," Brenner said.

Sure, after all, some states require blood tests. But doesn't a credit check kind of take the romance out of things, Erik?

"It does," he said. "But you need to start out in a solid relationship, too."

Staff writer Ed Ronco:
eronco@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6467