Apr 11, 2024
Many couples are able to strike a harmonious balance when it comes to managing their finances together. However, John and Marissa from Austin, Texas are both irresponsible spenders.
Marissa, 37, buys marijuana on a weekly basis, while 25-year-old John can’t seem to resist spending money on OnlyFans, an adult content subscription service. “Dude’s paying to j–k [off] every five minutes!” Caleb Hammer shouted, as he dug through the couple’s messy financial statements on an episode of his YouTube show, Financial Audit.
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They’re both behind on payments, have several debts in collections, and blame each other for their current predicament. The couple, who have been together for four years and hope to get married one day, are now more than $45,000 in debt.
If nothing else, their situation highlights how enabling behaviors can make or break personal finances.
Separate accounts, same situation
49% of unmarried American couples who cohabitate pool at least some of their money together into joint bank accounts, according to data from the National Couples’ Health and Time Study.
Meanwhile, 86% of couples surveyed by Forbes Advisor said sharing financial goals and money habits leads to more successful relationships.
Unfortunately, John and Marissa are not on the same page about their spending habits. They’re not married and keep separate accounts, but have been racking up immense debt individually.
John claims he was “blindsided” when Marissa’s income dropped recently. She now earns $30,000 a year working as a cook in a nursing home. That’s not enough to meet all her debt obligations and Hammer discovered that she has roughly nine debts in collections.
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However, instead of paying off debt, Marissa buys roughly $50 worth of marijuana once a week. “You smoke a lot of weed,” John said at one point during the episode.
“It’s the only thing I do — we don’t go out, we don’t do anything,” Marissa responded.
John, who earns more than Marissa as a maintenance technician, claims he’s the financially responsible one in the relationship. However, he has an addiction to OnlyFans which is draining his bank account.
He also has roughly $2,000 in debt in collections, borrowed another $1,800 from his dad to pay off a payday loan and is neglecting his student loan repayments even though it’s only $50 a month.
“How are you the responsible one in the relationship?” Hammer asked him incredulously.
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Altogether, the couple has nearly $46,066 in total debt based on Hammer’s assessment. Besides accusing each other as the cause of the debt burden, they’re also blaming a lack of financial education from their relatives.
Hammer isn’t convinced that’s a good enough excuse. “Welcome to pretty much every household in America,” he said.
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Financial education crisis
On average, Americans lost $1,506 in 2023 due to financial illiteracy, according to a survey conducted by the National Financial Educators Council.
Meanwhile, 88% of U.S. adults surveyed for Dave Ramsey’s website said school didn’t adequately prepare them to manage their money as adults.
Some experts now argue that formal training could be a solution to this crisis. According to a research conducted by CivicScience, adults who said they learned financial skills either in school or in the workplace were most likely amongst their peers to say they felt “very financially literate.” The group encouraged school and employer-sponsored financial education classes.
Such efforts could potentially help adults like John and Marissa take control of their personal finances, find a budget that works and mitigate debt.
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Vishesh Raisinghani is a financial journalist covering personal finance, investing and the global economy. He's also the founder of Sharpe Ascension Inc., a content marketing agency focused on investment firms. His work has appeared in Moneywise, Yahoo Finance!, Motley Fool, Seeking Alpha, Mergers & Acquisitions Magazine and Piggybank.
