8 Financial Benefits of Being Married

This is the second of a three part series called Financial Benefits of Being...

And today we'll cover being married.

1. Living Expenses Per Person. It does not take twice the space for two people to live versus one. Two people do not use twice as much water or electricity. So if two people = two incomes, it is far cheaper to be married than to be single as far as living expenses go. (on the other hand, if two people = one income, the advantage lies with being single obviously).
2. Accountability. This is a huge advantage financially. There is someone else to keep your spending in check. As long as you two learn how to discuss money without fighting, there is great wealth to be found (literally) in having someone to check in with to reign in your spending.
3. Financial Stability. If both people in the marriage are working, panic does not have to ensue with the loss of work or sudden layoff occurs. There is another source of income to work with until the partner who has lost a job can get back on their feet.
4. Tax Benefits. You notice how it benefits most people to file married filing jointly rather than each filing singly? The government rewards you for being married on your tax filing status with slightly lower tax rates. With the slowly disappearing marriage penalty, this is becoming more and more true.
5. More responsibility. It seems that with marriage, people realize it is time to "grow up" a bit and think about the future. Of course it doesn't always take marriage, but too often, it does for many. Marriage usually initiates the purchase of a home to build equity, contributions to retirement to start, savings for future children's educations, and whatnot.
6. Exempt from estate and gift taxes. There are rules about the amounts that cap off these rules, but basically you can give money to a spouse, while alive or posthumously, without the huge tax penalty that would incur if you gave it to anyone else. Anyone remember Shawshank Redemption?
7. Reaching Goals Faster. If there are two incomes in the marriage, goals can be achieved much more quickly that with a single individual.
8. Men Are More Dedicated to Their Jobs. Studies have shown that with marriage (and even more so with the addition of a family), men are more dedicated to their employer and to a job well done in an effort to provide for the family. This results in more raises, promotions, and bonuses than their single counterparts.

So there are eight that I found? Can you recommend any others?

Photo credit: andreyutzu