Vittorio Zunino Celotto / Getty Images
Hayek Pinault said she’s pursuing business ideas, and her husband likes her ambition.
“I think he finds it kind of sexy,” she said.
A 2023 Bankrate/YouGov survey of 2,233 U.S adults — 1,124 of whom were married or living with their partner — found that 38% of Gen Zers (aged 18 to 27) kept their finances separate, followed by 32% of millennials (aged 28 to 43). That was compared to 24% of Gen Xers (aged 44 to 59) and 16% of baby boomers (aged 60 to 78).
Millennials and Gen Xers were also more likely to choose a mixture of joint and separate accounts than other generations, instead of completely separating or combining finances.
A 2018 survey commissioned by Bank of America involving 1,500 people aged between 18 and 71 similarly found that 28% of millennials said they kept their finances separate, compared to 11% of Gen Xers, and 13% of Baby Boomers. The survey included non-married people, which may have skewed the results as the millennials were younger and less likely to be married.
ERIC PIERMONT/AFP via Getty Images
Gillian Coote, the founder of Australian law firm Coote Family Lawyers, told The Guardian in 2023 that the pattern could be a symptom of a rise in people being skeptical about commitment, or a fear of being controlled by a partner.
“People are thinking differently about relationships. To be honest, they’re more mercenary. It’s no longer, ‘Well we’re going to be together forever and aren’t we happy and aren’t we lucky?'” Coote said. “It’s more, ‘Well we’re together now and it’s going OK, but what can I do to prevent disaster?'”
Jen Glantz, an entrepreneur from New York City who founded two small businesses, previously wrote in an essay for Business Insider that keeping her finances separate from her husband helped their marriage because they have different money habits.
“This worked because when I saw my husband overspending on things I never would, I could relax because it was his money he was spending, and mine wasn’t being wasted,” she wrote.