The Key to Wedded Bliss? Money Matters, by Tara Siegel Bernard, NYTIMES, 9/10/2008

This article is totally true. All of it.

In my senior year of high school, I wrote my thesis on how the basis of humanity boils to two P’s: Procreation and Provision (I wish I was able to recover it from my first laptop). Everything we do in life boils down to its impact on either of these two subjects. And they’re cyclical. Because we work on ourselves to impress a mate (the social construct of the mating game) once we have children, we use the tools of a social construct to enable ourselves to provide for our children.

Unlike any other of the millions of animal species that revolves around Procreation and Provision, this social construct we employ is significantly more sophisticated, particularly when you throw irrationality and emotions into the mix. In addition, it is the socio-religious imposition of monogamy that makes the singular Procreation and Provision model reliant on the backing of an artificial financial system.

As a result, the complexity of the social construct imposed on Procreation and Provision means that “financial soul mates” are key to the upkeep of the cycle. The ability to be financially synchronous with one’s mate is what inhibits–and potentially prevents–the disintegration of marriage. It is the old adage that “money doesn’t by happiness,” which makes financial synchronicity an important element to maintaining one’s happiness.

Is it true that people can “fall out of love?” Perhaps, but as our society has increased its base of wealth and even increased its middle class, it becomes more obvious that financial pragmatism is will keep money from dividing couples and dividing families.