A childless couple around 50 years old who got married three years ago and have been living with “a separate wallet”. Checking the income and expenditure of each month, there is an “asset disparity” in which the monthly surplus is seven times higher and the amount of savings is six times higher, even though the income is almost the same. FP Mitsuaki Yokoyama, who has provided more than 20,000 household financial consultations, points out, “This disparity between couples can create not only a financial crisis, but also misunderstandings between husband and wife.”
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A wall that “a couple who can’t talk about money” faced in the third year of marriage
This time, I visited a couple who both worked and got married (first marriage) in Arafif. DINKs without children. My annual household income, including bonuses, is 8.33 million yen, but I felt uneasy about the future and came to ask for a review of my household finances.
At the first consultation, my wife Kayo (pseudonym, 47) told me about the current situation instead of my husband (54), who is a man of few words.
“It’s been 3 years since we got married. Until now, the rent (60,000 yen each) and utility bills (17,000 yen each) were split 50-50, and the rest was completely split. I was able to enjoy being single.However, last year I had menopause symptoms, and there was a time when my income decreased by about 100,000 yen a month because I saved my job.From that time on, my family’s future financial future I have anxiety.
For example, my husband keeps getting expensive life insurance. She seems careless about insurance and investments, which worries me. I’m not good at managing money either, so I spend as much as I can. If I continue like this, I’m worried about my old age…”
Kayo speaks as if she has cleared her throat. Kayo, who was tormented by anxiety during her consultation this time, invited her husband to come to the store, saying, “I can’t understand it alone, so it would be very encouraging if you could come with me.” Certainly, if we don’t know each other’s household finances and asset status, the risk of something happening is enormous.
Why late marriage couples are more likely to fall into financial crisis
In fact, there are many such cases among late-married couples. Many couples have the opportunity to reassess their finances at turning points such as childbirth and real estate purchases, even if they started off as separate households. However, in the case of late-married couples, it is often the case that they do not want to have children, or they both own real estate, so they often do not have the opportunity to talk.
Still, it would be nice if one of them could open the fire, but in this case the husband is busy and has a modest personality. Her wife had the guilt she used in her wife and she couldn’t talk about money.
For that reason alone, it is a big reform for the couple that they were able to dare to open their “wallets” in their third year of marriage.