Survey: 'Complete 50/50 Split' Most Common for Cohabiting Couples' Expenses; Discussion and Joint Accounts Key to Relationship Satisfaction

The household management app 'One Bank', which allows users to create a joint account for two, conducted a 'Survey on the Reality of How Cohabiting Couples Share Money' targeting 552 men and women aged 22-39 with current or past cohabitation experience. While debates over how cohabiting couples should share rent and living expenses became a hot topic on social media last month, the data revealed that it's not just a debate of 'splitting equally vs. splitting by income gap,' but rather the reality that 'how it was decided' profoundly impacts the relationship. ■ Regarding the sharing of living expenses, the 'Complete Split (50:50)' camp was the most common at 53.0%. This was followed by the 'Income Ratio' camp at 36.0%, which divides the share according to the income gap. ■ The relationship satisfaction of couples in the 'Complete Split' camp was about 1.3 times higher than that of the 'Income Ratio' camp. Furthermore, the rate of 'never having fought over money' was about 3.3 times higher. ■ Couples who decided their payment sharing method 'somehow (without explicit discussion)' saw their relationship satisfaction drop by about half compared to those who 'discussed and decided' (Discussed and decided: 75.7%, Somehow decided: 40.0%). ■ Women who find it difficult to bring up the topic of money are about 2.7 times more common than men (Women: 14.2%, Men: 5.2%). ■ Couples who use a joint account feel their financial values 'match' at a rate about 2.4 times higher than those who do not (Using: 79.5%, Not using: 33.7%). Cohabiting couples splitting living expenses 'completely 50/50' is the most common at 53.0% When asked how they split living expenses, the most common answer was the 'Complete Split (50:50)', chosen by 53.0% of couples. The opinion that 'if incomes are different, splitting by ratio is fair' is often seen on social media, but the data showed the opposite trend. The background can be inferred from the following results. [Types of Sharing Methods] - Complete Split: Completely 50/50 between the two. - Income Ratio: Splitting the share according to the income gap. - Item-based: Splitting by items like rent or groceries. - One person pays all: One person covers the entire living expenses. 'Complete Split' couples have higher relationship satisfaction than 'Income Ratio' couples 1. 'Relationship Satisfaction' is about 1.3 times higher for the Complete Split camp (72.7%) than the Income Ratio camp (57.9%). 2. The rate of 'never having fought over money' is about 3 times higher for the Complete Split camp (30.4%) than the Income Ratio camp (9.1%). The background to this is that couples in the Complete Split camp have a high rate of matching values at 81.7% (Income Ratio camp: 67.0%), meaning couples who already think similarly tend to choose the equal split. Also, while the complete split has clear rules, the income ratio method requires renegotiation if incomes change, which likely makes it more prone to disputes. Satisfaction is heavily influenced by 'how it was decided' rather than the splitting method Looking at mutual relationship satisfaction and satisfaction with the sharing method, what emerges is the difference caused by the process of 'how it was decided,' regardless of the splitting method. Whether it's a 'Complete Split' or 'Income Ratio', couples who 'somehow decided' without discussing saw their relationship satisfaction, alignment of values, and satisfaction with the sharing method all drop to about half compared to couples who 'discussed and decided together'. Whether you faced each other and decided together affects relationship satisfaction more than the percentage of how much you pay. Women find it about 2.7 times harder to 'bring up' money talk than men The percentage of those who feel it is 'difficult to bring up' the topic of money was 5.2% for men, whereas for women it was 14.2% (about 2.7 times higher). While many men do not feel resistance to bringing up money talks, it is clear that women often cannot speak up, easily leading to a situation where things are 'somehow decided'. This doesn't mean either party is bad, but it shows the importance of intentionally creating a space for discussion. Couples using joint accounts have about 2.0 times higher relationship satisfaction Among couples who 'currently use' a joint account or joint card to manage living expenses, 79.5% feel their financial values 'match'. On the other hand, among couples who 'do not use' them, it was 33.7%, a gap of about 2.4 times. Relationship satisfaction was also 64.4% for couples using joint accounts/cards and 32.6% for those who do not, a difference of about 2.0 times. It seems that 'visualizing' each other's expenses naturally leads to aligning values. There are few opportunities to discuss how cohabiting couples (who are not legally married) share living expenses, and debates continue on social media. This time, we investigated the methods of sharing living expenses, and the result was that regardless of the method, 'how to decide' affects the relationship between the two and satisfaction with the shared content. Because money is hard to talk about, dissatisfaction tends to build up. When living together, it is extremely important to have 'talks about money'.