Assets and debts in couples Karen Rowlingson, Professor of Social Policy Director of Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (

Assets and debts in couples  Exploring how couples share and make decisions about assets and debts  In-depth interviews with 80 people in 40 working-age couples  Cross-section of people from different occupational groups and family types  Interviewed at same time in different rooms by different interviewers  Funded by Friends Provident Foundation  Joint work with Ricky Joseph

Two key questions  Do couples share assets and debts equally?  Do couples make joint decisions about assets and debts?

Do couples share assets and debts equally?  A distinction needs to be made between formal legal ownership and perceptions of ownership

Formal and perceived ownership We’ve bought some shares in [a bank] Interviewer: Whose name are the shares in? I don’t actually know that [laughs]... I think they probably are [all in her name] to be honest … [so] I suppose [I don’t own any shares], not really if they were in her name.’

Do couples share assets and debts equally?  Women seemed to have greater housing assets than their partners in subsequent relationships  Future pension income seen jointly but pensions were individually owned, no pension sharing orders

Individual pension pots but future income seen as joint ‘She's said … her pension will be our pension which is nice of her’. Married couple in 30s, no children, teacher and manufacturing worker

Do couples share assets and debts equally?  Women were more likely to report problem debts  Assets were shared most equally in first cohabiting and married couple relationships and where resources were similar

Re-partnered couple: cohabiting with great difference in relative resources ‘It makes things simpler if I know that I'm responsible for the mortgage. We haven’t thought about his rights if we were to separate and we don't talk about separating particularly. So it's just easier for me to be in control of it.’ Subsequent cohabitation (5 years), 40s, B/C2

Do people make joint decisions about assets and debts?  Broad typology of decision-making –Joint and equal (5) –Joint but with one partner taking the lead (20) –Independent (11) –No decision-making (4)  Socio-economic status and relative resources important here  Marital status also important here

One partner in the lead (1) Married couple in 40s/50s with children, C1s In deciding about their mortgage, for example: ‘I think he did all the shopping around and then we sat down and agreed to what we wanted and went ahead with that one’. She said she was happy to ‘pass it on to him and let him deal with it’ because: ‘he does like to go into detail so I leave him to do it and get on with my other things. I don't want that responsibility.’

One partner in the lead (2) Married couple in 40s/50s with children, C1s A similar process occurred with decisions about buying and selling stocks and shares within this couple: ‘Yes, he discusses it with me and then I go along with him thinking it can't do any harm at the time.’ And in relation to pensions: ‘Yeah, we would decide... he would tell me about it and then he'll say, yes, we've made a decision.’

One partner in the lead (3) Married couple with children, 30s, both C1 [He] probably won't have much of a clue on where his money is because I tend to deal with most of it. And she was right!

Policy implications  Relative treatment of cohabiting versus married couples in relation to assets and debts  Capital means tests in social security system  Transparency or privacy in relationships?  Financial education and capability initiatives should not be solely focused on individuals