Joint Accounts
When You Know Nothing About Your Partner’s Finances
What’s the best way to ask your significant other about their money situation?
Welcome to Joint Accounts, a weekly advice column about money and relationships of all kinds. Have a question? Email jointaccounts@medium.com.
Dear Joint Accounts,
I’ve been in my current relationship for three months, and we’ve talked about living together. We’re both older and have each been married twice before, so we share a sense that it’s okay for our relationship to move quickly, but there’s one issue: I don’t know much about his finances. I’ve shared the details of my financial state with him, partly because he’s a stockbroker and I wanted some advice, but all I know of his I’ve gotten from context clues. For example, we enjoy traveling, and he always offers to pay most or all of the expenses. On the other hand, he has some health issues, which may be a financial stress.
I don’t want to take the next step in our relationship unless there is a more concrete discussion around finances where we both lay everything out on the table. But is it too soon for that?
— Financially in the Dark
