“to having someone looking over their shoulder”
at their spending habits, says Steve Dorval, CEO
of Twine and head of innovation at John Hancock.
The company’s app allows couples to share as much
information as they desire, so they can, as Dor-
val puts it, “tiptoe into” transparency. On the app
Honey due, couples can use social-media-like com-
ments, including emojis, to ask each other about
recent expenses, perhaps to lighten any tension
around the subject.
of course, the idea that partners might have
financial discord isn’t completely new; it’s been a
topic in premarital courses offered by churches for
years. But as young people move away from religion,
other entities are picking up the slack. In April, Zola,
the wedding- registry company, paired with online
financier SoFi to offer newlyweds financial advice;
the ability to open joint investment accounts; and
the option to allow guests who aren’t feeling the nap-
kin rings on the registry to pay down college debt or
throw some cash toward other financial goals.
This trend inspired financial planner Richard
Davey to co-create Marriage Money Bootcamp, an
online lecture course for couples who want to figure
out their finances without the faith stuff. The site,
which launched in 2018, has a widget that lets peo-
ple ask questions in real time, and the team has no-
ticed that couples sometimes use it when they are
clearly in the middle of a fight. Davey is now thinking
of getting certified as a therapist as well. “Personal
financial planning is not very complex. It’s the rela-
tionship piece that is tough,” he says.
The rationality of financial planning and the in-
tuition of therapy aren’t necessarily a natural fit. But
for couples who need a more human touch than an
app can provide, a specialist in both might be what
gets them to book an office visit. “In general, we’ve
had more resistance from the therapy industry than
we have from the financial advisers,” says Kristy
Archuleta, who co-founded the financial- therapy
certification course at Kansas State and is now an as-
sociate professor in financial planning, housing and
consumer economics at the University of Georgia.
“According to research, this may be because thera-
pists tend to be money- avoidant themselves and they
have very little training in it.”
Couples who are put off by an in-office therapy
visit can opt for the revival- meeting style of the
Ramsey events, which are full of brio and breaking
into discussion groups and carefully chosen statis-
tics. “When you agree on your money, you’re agree-
ing on more than just money. You’re agreeing on the
goals and your fears and your dreams,” says Cruze.
Bee and Kevin were so thrilled to find a way to
talk through their issues—and to budget—that they
are taking their church’s offer of marital counseling
more seriously. “By the end of December, we should
be debt-free,” says Bee. “You know, we still disagree
about what money gets allocated to what thing,” says
Kevin. “But we work that out. I wouldn’t say there’s
fights now. It’s just more of a heated talk.” □
^
“We were very
opposite, Kevin
having no debt, and
me having debt, and
we definitely fought
a lot,” Bee Wyatt
says of their
relationship
EVE EDELHEIT FOR TIME
SOURCES: PNCOHEN ANALYSIS OF U.S. CENSUS DATA VIA IPUMS.ORG; NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL’S 2018 PLANNING & PROGRESS STUDY; FINANCIAL THERAPY ASSOCIATION
