Money, Marriage and Stress: The View from Ireland

Not really a surprise to see this headline out of Ireland, but interesting to see the global reach of money issues in marriage: Money worries biggest cause of marital distress: Stress: Families feel pressure of rising bills

THE majority of struggling relationships are under pressure due to financial concerns, new research has uncovered.
Counselling service Accord said that approximately 66pc of couples had turned to them for help with cash issues.
Money pressures were a “serious issue” for 39pc of clients with Accord.
Similarly, almost 7,000 new clients of the Money Advice and Budgeting Service in the first six months of this year were couples or those with children.
…
In 2007, 20pc of clients identified finances as a problem for their marriage, in 2008 this rose to 25pc and 28pc in 2009.

Reported by Claire Murphy, @CMurphyHerald
Many marriage, finance and divorce counselors use Money Habitudes to help couples talk about the difficult topic of money. For many, it’s the first good conversation they’ve ever had.