Introduction 

Family and finances are key sources of strength and self-sufficiency that interact in the lives of 

most Americans. However, many face ongoing problems and stress because of family and 

financial instability, especially in these uncertain times. Families in low-income communities 

may face greater difficulties in accessing resources to build strong finances and healthy 

relationships due to limited social networks, skills, and opportunities. 

In the last decade, a variety of federal efforts were pioneered to build financial literacy skills 

among lower income populations and across the entire citizenry. These range from the Assets for 

Independence program at the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which 

combines matched savings and financial education to foster asset development in low income 

families, to the Money Smart Financial Education Program at the Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation (FDIC), which provides financial education resources free of charge. 

At the same time, growing recognition of the important roles that family and marital 

relationships play in the overall well-being of children, families, and communities—including 

financial well-being—has led to new HHS grants that provide skill-building and learning 

opportunities that will help foster healthy, stable family relationships and marriages. Some of 

these community-based grant programs, which target marital, family, and relationship stability, 

include a focus on improving communication about money issues and on encouraging joint 

financial planning. Many also help families connect with support services that address other 

barriers to relationship stability. 

Research indicates that there is an interaction between interpersonal relationships and economic 

well-being.1

 There is a well-documented correlation between marriage and better economic 

status; over time, married people experience a greater accumulation of wealth than do single or 

divorced people.2

 Disagreements over money are often a major source of conflict between 

spouses and within families.3 Instability, be it familial or financial, can create problems and 

ABOUT THIS ISSUE BRIEF

This brief was prepared by RTI International, under contract to ASPE as part of the “Marriage Education, 

Financial Literacy, and Asset Development” task order. As part of this task order, ASPE convened a Roundtable 

Meeting bringing together researchers and practitioners from the marriage education, financial literacy, and asset 

development fields to begin a dialogue on the relationship between healthy marriages and financial practices. A 

summary of the Roundtable, and a companion brief “Health Relationships and Financial Stability 101,” are 

available online at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/MEFLAD-Roundtable/index.shtml

1 
stress across income groups, but those in lower income categories are often most adversely 

affected.4

 Finally, despite evidence that marriage can improve economic circumstances, 

preliminary evidence suggests that many low-income couples consider a certain level of financial 

stability as a precondition for marriage.5

 These few examples are just the beginning; given the 

complexity of human relationships, both with other people and with economic systems, we 

clearly have more to learn 

about the interactions 

among family, marriage, 

income, and assets. 

This is the first of two briefs 

that examine the interplay 

between education and 

skills-building programming 

for lower income 

individuals and families in 

the areas of marriage and 

relationships, financial 

literacy, and asset 

development. These briefs 

are intended for 

practitioners working in any 

of these areas and interested 

in learning more about the 

other fields and potential collaboration or idea exchange. We hope that greater understanding of 

the similarities, differences, and interdependencies between relationships with a partner or 

spouse and one’s finances will better equip educators from those fields for the task of improving 

the stability of American families. 

The Case for Collaboration 

“The family unit has long been the basis of economic activity: the 

stronger the family, the stronger the society and greater its 

achievements. Combining asset-building strategies with familystrengthening education leverages the potential of both. While these 

types of services typically are delivered separately, they are deeply

intertwined. Asset-building projects bolster family economic 

stability through economic and consumer education, credit 

counseling and repair, and by helping clients save money to 

accumulate economic assets over the long term. Family 

strengthening projects, including Healthy Marriage projects, impart 

concrete skills to better communicate and manage and resolve 

conflicts. The result is more success in every area of family and 

married life.”

Excerpted Building Assets, Building Stronger Families, by the U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services. Document is online at: 

www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/afi/buildingassets/babsf_narr1.htm

This brief provides an overview of existing efforts, documenting the fundamental concepts and 

skills that are taught by both marriage and financial educators to help low-income families move

toward stability. We begin by defining each set of programs and its objectives and main tools. 

Then, we discuss the common ground between the specific objectives and tools and the ways that 

each community can offer additional tools to the other. We highlight opportunities for 

collaboration between the marriage and family-strengthening initiatives and the financial literacy 

and asset-building initiatives, and we conclude with some lessons for building the foundations of 

family and financial stability. Throughout this brief there are green boxes highlighting examples 

of existing program curricula or related literature, chosen not to indicate an endorsement or 

preferred status, but instead selected to show the diversity and range of content available. There 

are also blue boxes that provide additional information on existing programs or suggestions from

other practitioners. 

In many ways, a relationship with money is akin to an intimate relationship. Learning how to 

make good decisions and choices in relationships involves emotion and trust, while balancing 

immediate and long-term planning horizons is complicated. Marriage and relationship skills 

educators may be able to offer ways to address the emotional context of financial decisions, and 

they may benefit from understanding the broad array of tools available for assisting families in 

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financial difficulty. Financial educators may be able to give guidance to families experiencing 

financial crises and expand their understanding of emotional issues that couples face. In any 

case, family problems are a significant threat to financial stability, and financial problems are a 

significant threat to family stability, so let us begin the conversation. 

What Do Marriage and Family Strengthening Programs Do? 

Marriage and family-strengthening programs seek to develop participants’ relationship skills 

(e.g. communication, problem solving) in order to develop and sustain healthy relationships, 

marriages and families. Learning how to create and maintain a stable relationship is important 

especially for parents because of the higher poverty rates associated with single parenthood and 

divorce.6 Close to 75 percent of children in single-parent homes will experience poverty before 

they reach 11 years old, compared with 20 percent of children in two-parent homes.7 Economic 

and other disadvantages related to the absence of a parent and unhealthy family relationships can 

negatively affect children’s academic performance and social development8

 while also limiting 

their long-term economic prospects.9 On average, children from married-parent families are less 

likely to have a teen birth,10 drop out of school,11 have health problems12 and psychological 

disorders,13 and commit crimes.14 They are more likely than children in single-parent homes to 

attain positive outcomes15 and have higher grade point averages and vocabulary test scores,16 go 

to college, achieve better labor market outcomes,17 and have more stable marriages.18

Due to these economic and social consequences associated with family break-up, family conflict, 

and absent parents, the federally sponsored Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI) was enacted to 

implement broad-based marriage education programs nationwide at the local level to strengthen 

healthy family relationships and marriages. Over 125 grantees around the country are providing 

relationship skill-building services, including mentoring services, education in schools, and other 

marriage education classes for adults who want to strengthen their marriage or relationship, are 

considering marriage, or who are at risk of getting a divorce. In addition, over 100 grantees are 

providing services to fathers and their partners to improve family functioning through a menu of 

services that includes parenting and marriage education. 

Marriage and family-strengthening programs provide families and individuals with the support, 

knowledge, and skills necessary to build stable families so that they can achieve their goals, both 

financial and otherwise. These programs focus on skill-building and address important issues, 

such as conflict management, communication skills, developing and maintaining fun and 

friendship, understanding commitment and trust, and developing shared long-term goals as a 

couple or family. Relationship skills educators recognize and address expectations about 

relationships that come from families of origin and early experiences, and are adept at 

recognizing hidden barriers to stability. One example of a family-strengthening curriculum, 

Family Wellness, is provided in Figure 1. 

It is important to note that marriage and relationship skills education programs provide a 

different set of services than marital or family counseling. Counseling includes treatment of 

couple-specific issues and conflicts whereas marriage and relationship skills education provides 

a skill-building curriculum geared toward prevention of family problems. While marital 

counseling by definition occurs with a married couple, marriage education programs may work 

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with individuals to develop their relationship skills in anticipation of future relationships or with 

couples that are considering marriage or recently married. 

One primary goal of the HMI is to broaden the target group receiving marriage education 

services and reach out to families that may otherwise might not know about, or have access to, 

marriage education and family-strengthening programs. Marriage education services for lowincome couples, as well as diverse ethnic groups and families, are being widely funded by 

Federal grants. Programs that target a specific ethnic group have been established, including the 

African-American Healthy Marriage Initiative and the Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative. 

These programs are culturally adapted to better understand issues unique to the populations 

being served. Programs that teach about marriage and building healthy relationships serve all 

types of people: unmarried or married couples, individuals who are not married who want to 

learn about what it takes to develop a successful relationship and marriage, and even young 

people who want to learn more about healthy relationships and how to identify a good partner. 

What Do Financial Education and Asset Building Programs Do? 

Financial Education 

Financial education programs seek to equip individuals with the information, knowledge, and 

skills to manage their household finances and navigate the financial services marketplace. 

Financial literacy skills taught in these programs include money management, goal setting, 

budgeting, and retirement planning. Investment and savings, bank products and services, home 

ownership, and personal credit are common financial education topics. 

As discussed in the introduction, many federal agencies have programs or initiatives related to 

financial education. To coordinate these efforts, the Financial Literacy and Education 

Commission (FLEC) was formed in 2003. Led by the Office of Financial Education at the U.S. 

Department of Treasury, the FLEC is composed of 20 federal agencies, including HHS. A key 

venture of the FLEC has been the creation of the MyMoney.gov website, which provides free 

financial information and resources for individuals and families. One of the resources available is 

the FDIC’s Money Smart curriculum (mentioned in the introduction), which is used to help 

adults outside the financial mainstream enhance their financial literacy skills and create positive 

banking relationships. Figure 2 provides more information on this free curriculum. 

While surveys indicate that many Americans, regardless of income, have much to learn about 

basic financial management, HHS is particularly interested in building the knowledge and skills 

of low-income families and couples in order to improve their economic stability and overall 

wellbeing. Community groups working with low-income families and special populations found 

that financial education programs needed to be tailored to address issues such as predatory 

lending practices or to specific immigrant groups who may mistrust financial institutions. Some 

programs also found that they needed to help families understand the financial and tax 

implications of complex family situations.

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Figure 1 

Example of a Relationship Curriculum: Family Wellness 

Family Wellness: The Strongest Link: The Couple, is a curriculum that was developed by George 

Doub to teach couples and families skills to promote healthy relationships. Family Wellness believes 

that people learn best by practicing new skills in the moment and therefore provides facilitators with 

lesson plans that include a variety of interactive activities, such as role plays, sculpting, group and 

individual exercises, handouts and worksheets, and coaching opportunities. The couple-based 

curriculum has six classes that last for two hours each, listed below. 

Session 1: Getting Started Together. This session discusses what defines a couple, what we bring to 

a relationship, individuals’ dreams and backgrounds, getting to know you and your partner, skills for 

building the relationship, and knowing when to speak up and when to listen. 

Session 2: Being a Strong Team. This session centers on building and maintaining commitment. The 

class focuses on issues that can affect trust and respect—time, money, sex, parents, and in-laws. 

Participants are encouraged to look at their commitment to each other and discuss what it takes be a 

strong team. 

Session 3: Two Worlds/One Relationship. This session considers how couples must have a good 

sense of themselves as individuals to be successful as a couple. It addresses cross-cultural couples; 

couples are asked to learn to accept and tolerate differences. The class also talks about building your 

family’s own cultural statement and integrating different rituals 

Session 4: Know What You Want. This session asks participants to consider what they want for 

themselves and for their relationship, and what their values and goals are related to finances, time, and 

children. This session includes homework on paying bills, the cash-flow sheet, to consider your fixed 

expenses, flexible expenses, and occasional spending. 

Session 5: Say and Get What You Want. This session focuses on working together to resolve 

conflict. It reminds participants that to get what you want with your partner you must also commit to 

help them get what they want, say what you want, listen, find and build on areas of agreement, take 

breaks when you're stuck, make short-term agreements, and make and follow rules for handling 

conflict. 

Session 6: Blowing on the Embers. This session is about intimacy and how people define intimacy

differently. It looks at intimacy in three parts; choosing the right partner, speaking the language of 

love, and the intimacy of touch. It also includes a discussion of what can reignite passion in a 

relationship. 

In addition to this core couples curriculum, Family Wellness includes additional sessions for various 

target populations including expectant and new parents, couples as parents, couples and their parents, 

power and control in couples, adult relationships and stepfamilies, couple separations, and reunions. 

More information is available online at http://www.familywellness.com

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Figure 2 

Example of a Financial Education Curriculum: Money Smart 

Money Smart is a financial education program created and run by the Federal Deposit 

Insurance Corporation (FDIC). There are currently two Money Smart curricula, one targeted 

at adults outside the financial mainstream and one for youth ages 12-20. Money Smart 

materials are free and can be ordered on the FDIC’s website. 

The adult Money Smart curriculum has ten modules, as follows: 

• Bank On It: Explains basic banking concepts 

• Borrowing Basics: How to borrow money from the bank 

• Check It Out: How to manage money through checking accounts 

• Money Matters: How to take control of financial situation by preparing a budget that 

includes savings and spending plans 

• Pay Yourself First: How to start savings plans and best ways to make money grow 

• Keep It Safe: Discusses how your money is protected by banks

• To Your Credit: How to order and read credit reports; how to improve credit history

• Charge It Right: Explains credit cards, characteristics, and their costs

• Loan To Own: How to shop for consumer installment loans

• Your Own Home: Explains benefits and pitfalls of owning a home versus renting, 

and how to apply for a mortgage 

For more information, see http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/moneysmart/

In response to the demand for financial education content tailored to low-income families, 

specialized financial education curricula have been developed, often for use in conjunction with 

asset building programs (discussed further below). One such curriculum, Finding Pathways to 

Prosperity, is described in Figure 3. 

Asset Building 

While financial education is focused on knowledge and skill development, asset building goes 

further, seeking to build wealth for low-income and economically vulnerable individuals and 

families. While these two areas can and do intersect, as with asset building programs that include 

financial education requirements, they are separate fields. 

After families learn the basics of financial management, asset-building programs take the next 

step of helping families use what they have learned to build wealth. Asset building efforts are 

focused on the goal of building wealth to alleviate poverty and economic hardship. A variety of 

asset-building strategies, programs, and initiatives currently exist, through the efforts of federal, 

state, and local governments as well as non-profits and community-based organizations. 

6 
Figure 3 

Example of Financial Education Curriculum: Finding Pathways to Prosperity 

Finding Paths to Prosperity is designed to be interactive. That means there are places where 

participants are asked to respond to questions about their goals, dreams, values, or money habits. The 

National Endowment for Financial Education, the Corporation for Enterprise Development, and the 

Fannie Mae Foundation collaborated to develop the curriculum. It is designed to be used in 

conjunction with Individual Development Account (IDA) programs. Each chapter is described below: 

Chapter 1: Financial Literacy and Money Management includes modules on building assets, 

income versus assets, financial literacy, IDAs, and asset building. 

Chapter 2: Dreams, Values, and Goals includes modules on the importance of dreams and values, 

turning dreams into plans and goals, and planning for life events. 

Chapter 3: Obstacles, Resources, and Attitudes Toward Money includes modules on identifying

obstacles, putting your finger on the obstacle, overcoming obstacles, resources, and attitudes towards 

money. 

Chapter 4: How to Find the Money to Save includes modules on what is meant by saving, how one 

can begin to save, what are needs and wants, earned income credit, recent earned income credit 

eligibility information, and how to get an earned income credit advance. 

Chapter 5: Record Keeping, Spending Plans, and Cash Flow includes modules on record keeping, 

spending plans, and managing cash flows. 

Chapter 6: Communicating About Money includes modules on communicating about money, 

strategies for communicating about money, the challenges of consumerism, how to be a smart 

consumer, and the laws in place to protect consumers. 

Chapter 7: Understanding Credit includes modules on what is credit, good credit as an asset, good

credit and IDAs, reading a credit report, what to consider if one does not have good credit, and how to 

maintain good credit. 

Chapter 8: Financial Institutions and What They Can Do for You includes modules on financial 

institutions, banks and credit unions, services available at banks and credit unions, loans, and 

electronic banking services. 

Chapter 9: Investing includes modules on investing basics, saving versus investing, risk, the 

risk/return relationship, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, compound interest, how to get started 

investing, research, and retirement as a very important goal. 

Chapter 10: Putting Your IDA to Work for You includes modules on net worth and asset 

ownership, an overview of insurance products, and estate planning. 

For more information: http://www.cfed.org/think.m?id=112&pubid=178

One asset-building approach is the individual development account (IDA), a short-term, limited 

use; goal-oriented, matched savings account bundled with financial education and other services 

into a program. Participant savings are matched by the program. IDA programs generally have 

eligibility requirements that target lower income or other vulnerable populations. 

Federal funding for IDA programs is available from two HHS programs, the Assets for 

Independence grant program and the Office of Refugee Resettlement IDA program. The larger of 

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the two is the AFI program, established in 1998. The AFI program makes five year grants 

directly to community-based nonprofits and state, local, and tribal government agencies of up to 

$1,000,000. Currently, almost 400 AFI projects are in operation, and, since the program began, 

close to 60,000 participants have saved earn income in AFI supported IDAs. The ORR IDA 

grant program, which restricts program participation to refugees, has 22 grantees. Other sources 

of funding for IDA programs include state and/or local government, banks and other financial 

institutions, and/or private foundations. While some IDA programs may have single source 

funding, many combine funding sources, in part due to a requirement of the AFI program that 

applicants must secure non-federal funds in an amount equal to or greater than the grant amount 

requested from AFI. 

Depending on funding sources, IDA programs offer various match rates and have different 

allowable uses for match funds. For example, IDA programs funded by an ORR grant cannot 

offer a match higher than one-to-one, but participants can use their savings and the match money 

to purchase a vehicle. IDA programs funded by an AFI grant can offer up to an eight-to-one 

match rate (every dollar deposited by the account holder gets eight dollars of match), but 

vehicles are not an allowable use of match funds. The most common allowable uses are buying a 

first home, starting or expanding a small business, and obtaining post-secondary education or 

training. Some IDAs allow matched savings for home repair, adaptive equipment, and 

retirement. 

While IDA programs allow participants to save for their own education or training, there are also 

asset-building programs that focus on saving for one’s child (or children’s) higher education. 

Qualified Tuition Programs, commonly known as 529 plans because they were authorized by 

Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code, are tax-advantaged savings plans intended to 

encourage savings for future college costs. There are currently two types of 529 plans, college 

savings plans and pre-paid tuition plans. With a college savings plan, an adult creates an account 

to save for a child’s college expenses. Account-holders must decide what type of account to 

create, taking into consideration investment concepts like risk and return. Withdrawals can be 

used for qualified higher education expenses at most colleges and universities. Pre-paid tuition 

plans essentially allow a parent to make tuition payments over time and in advance of their child 

actually beginning college. One benefit of this type of plan is that it locks in tuition expenses, 

protecting against future increases. A downside is that these plans also lock a student into a 

particular college or university system (often a state system). 

While 529 plans are available to any family regardless of income and often require a low initial 

investment, the main incentive these plans offer is that of a reduced federal income tax burden, 

which is less of a benefit for lower-income families that pay little or no income tax than for those 

families that earn more. To encourage college savings among the low income, some states—

Louisiana, Michigan, Maine, Minnesota, and Rhode Island—will match 529 deposits for families 

that meet eligibility rules established by the respective state. 

As a third example, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a refundable federal income tax 

credit for low-income working individuals and families, is considered to be an asset building tool 

by practitioners in the field. When the EITC exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax 

refund to those who claim and qualify for the credit. This can result in a large amount of money 

coming into a low-income household every year, which provides an opportunity to save, invest, 

8 
or purchase an asset. However, individuals must file a tax return in order to receive the EITC, 

and IRS estimates indicate that many eligible persons miss out on this opportunity every year. 

Thus, increasing awareness of the EITC through targeted campaigns has been another focus of 

organizations and practitioners working on asset building among the low income. 

Additionally, asset building policy advocates have worked with the IRS to make it easier for tax 

filers receiving a tax refund to split the refund into two accounts, e.g. a transaction account and a 

savings account. Others see tax refunds and the receipt of the EITC lump sum as an opportunity 

to encourage lower-income individuals to purchase US savings bonds. Interest continues in 

looking at EITC-related initiatives and programs to not only ensure that eligible families receive 

the EITC, but to encourage the use of these funds to build assets. 

Federal Programs Across the U.S. 

Federally funded healthy marriage, relationship skills, fatherhood, and asset building programs 

are located across the United States. The map below displays all of the healthy marriage and 

family-strengthening programs that have Healthy Marriage or Responsible Fatherhood grants 

(purple triangles) as well as the Assets for Independence (AFI) grantee programs (blue dots). 

Opportunities for collaboration and referrals may exist in your community, or they may already 

be occurring. 

Map of Office of Family Assistance Grantees (Healthy Marriage and Responsible 

Fatherhood) and Assets for Financial Independence Grantees 

9 
Making the Case: Common Ground between the Marriage and Financial Fields 

Research suggests that those that have healthy and stable relationships are more likely to have 

healthy stable finances and vice versa. Stability in one area seems to reinforce stability in the 

other, and familial and financial stability share a common foundation. 

Both the level and the stability of family income differ depending on family composition. For 

example, single parents, on average, have lower family incomes and experience greater financial 

instability for several reasons: they have only one potential earner in the household and at times 

face unpredictability of financial support from non-custodial parents; find it difficult to recover 

from economically destabilizing events such as unemployment; can suffer downward mobility 

following divorce; accumulate lower levels of wealth across the life course; and have access to 

social networks that provide short-term financial help but more limited access to those that foster 

long-term economic mobility. 

Not only do family structure and 

processes influence finances, but lower 

levels of financial resources and greater 

economic uncertainty beget less 

marriage.19 Financial instability is 

associated with higher stress levels20 and 

presents challenges to effective 

communication and long-term 

planning.21 Of course, marriage does not 

automatically guarantee financial 

stability or high quality relationships. 

Even within marriage, financial issues 

such as budgeting, spending, debt, savings and asset-building have been identified as major 

sources of conflict.22 Thus, enhancing low-income couples’ communication, problem-solving, 

and conflict management skills in conjunction with providing support for financial planning and 

economic development could increase both family and financial stability. 

Tip from the Field: 

“Financial education is marriage strengthening. Money 

is the top problem for most couples. When couples are 

sitting together, hearing the same thing, doing spending

sheets together—they are talking. Many couples have

never talked like this before about money.” 

Karen Oswald, Sonoma Community Action Partnership,

California, an AFI Project 

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

Office of Community Services. 2005. Building Assets, 

Building Stronger Families: A Guide to Integrating AssetBuilding and Marriage-Strengthening Services.

Washington, DC. 

A Helpful Hint: 

Relationships are similar to bank accounts; 

to withdraw emotional support or financial

support from a friend, you have to have

invested some capital, time or trust in that

relationship. To keep your accounts, you

must balance them. Pooling resources

usually leads to improved outcomes. 

In addition to offering synergies in service delivery, 

coordination of services in the relationship skills and 

financial education fields offers opportunities to 

reinforce and build upon similar skills sets. Marriage 

and family-strengthening education and financial 

literacy and asset-building education require similar 

foundations and skill development for families to 

achieve successful outcomes. Programs in each area 

generally include such topics as setting goals and selfawareness about deeply held expectations. Participants learn that stability, either financial or 

familial, requires a commitment to working hard and investing in relationships, jobs, or savings 

accounts. 

Another similarity between financial and relationship skills education is that both require 

participants to consider short-term versus long-term choices and outcomes. The most 

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immediately attractive option, whether it is a partner, a consumer good, or a financial service, 

may not be the best option for achieving one’s long-term goals. The ability to pass up immediate 

rewards to wait for a better opportunity is a key theme in both family strengthening and finances. 

Saving money for retirement or a house may be less attractive than buying something today, or 

turning down an individual you find attractive because he or she has different long-term 

aspirations can be a hard skill to implement and teach, but is emphasized in both successful 

relationships and finances. P.I.C.K. a Partner is a curriculum that focuses on teaching youth how 

to make relationship decisions and is described in Figure 4. 

Planning for the long-term also relies upon common expectations. Practitioners in the marriage 

field report that correcting couple’s expectations about marriage and the challenges they are 

likely to face is an important element. Similarly, practitioners at financial education and/or asset 

building programs help individuals understand what they can realistically achieve and what steps 

they must take to meet their savings and economic development goals. Individuals prioritize 

different aspects of their finances and relationships. Good decision-making and long-term 

planning requires an understanding of underlying priorities in both financial and romantic 

matters. 

Figure 4 

Example of a Youth-Focused Relationship Curriculum: P.I.C.K.* A Partner 

One of the relationship curricula that is used with youth in the family strengthening field is 

the P.I.C.K. a Partner program by John Van Epp, Ph.D.. This program encourages individuals 

to carefully evaluate their partners on a number of different issues and to not rush headlong 

into a relationship without evaluating all their options. Similar logic can be applied to other 

important choices, like choosing a job or a mortgage. Understanding your potential partner’s 

credit history can have important implications for you. 

Students are encouraged to evaluate their knowledge of their potential partner on a series of 

scales. Building knowledge of the partner, along the dimensions of family dynamics and 

childhood experiences, their attitudes, joint compatibility potential, examples from their 

previous relationships, and their skills of communication are considered perquisites to trusting 

and relying of the partner, which are prerequisites to committing to a partner. 

*Premarital Interpersonal Choices & Knowledge 

For more information: http://nojerks.com/index.php?page=Overview1

Today’s attitudes, behaviors, and priorities are generally shaped by one’s past. Bad (and good) 

habits formed from previous experiences or behaviors learned from one’s family can affect 

current romantic relationships and financial circumstances. While early patterning and beliefs 

about family, relationships, and the role of money can be challenging to discuss, understanding 

how couples differ in terms of sharing responsibilities, expectations, priorities, commitment, and 

cultural ideals is important in successfully addressing issues in relationships and finances. Power 

and control of money is a challenge to navigate when a couple has reliable employment and 

surplus income; this can be an even larger challenge for low-income or financially unstable 

couples. Fear, shame, anxiety, and conflict avoidance are issues couples face in relationships 

with families and finances. 

11 
Openly and honestly discussing relationship and financial expectations is no simple task. As 

circumstances change, there are opportunities to revisit joint expectations. For example, the birth 

of a child or the loss of a job may lead to shifts in the roles and responsibilities within the family. 

are the following goals for their participants in their work 

 relationship education 

differences, and how to set attainable goals as a family. These skills are placed in the context of 

s 

g their 

These opportunities may be disguised by fear, shame, and anxiety that the role changes may 

involve, and thus are difficult topics of conversation. In addition, deception in relationships can 

be a problem. The dangers of infidelity are a main topic of some marriage education curricula, 

but secrets in the realm of financial decision-making can be equally destructive and are 

sometimes overlooked. 

Shared Goals of Financial Education and Marriage Education 

Financial and marriage educators sh

with couples and families, but have different tools at their disposal for attaining these goals (see 

Figure 5.) 

Figure 5 

Shared Goals of Financial Education and Marriage Education 

• Plan for the long-term. 

• Set realist

t and to weather crises. 

 to money. 

 if working with a couple. 

s about financial and relationship 

ic and attainable goals together. 

• Learn to manage conflic

• Resolve potential sources of friction related

• Monitor progress on one’s plan or on a joint plan

• Better understanding of personal values and expectation

matters. 

• Be aware of partners’ family’s patterns of spending (i.e., those of his or her parents) to 

understand what habits and attitudes may have been reinforced 

• Explore and discuss common money issues, such as spending, budgeting, and the use of

credit, and savings. 

• Learn the importance of a financial buffer or savings for unexpected situations. 

• Consider the financial implications of having children. 

• Recognize and resolve deeper issues related to money management. 

As we have outlined above, educational curricula in financial literacy and

cover many of the same topics, such as how to plan, how to communicate, how to resolve 

learning to improve our lives as families. Although the common ground shared by these 

programs may seem obvious now, in fact many financial education programs do not addres

family and relationship issues with their participants, who are usually individuals, not couples. 

Without working out couple and family goals in financial education programs, other family 

members could undermine even the best taught financial lessons. Relationship education 

programs typically do include some discussion of financial issues, but practitioners in these 

programs may not have the experience and subject-area expertise of financial educators. 

Similarly, without a common set of financial goals, a couple will have difficulty negotiatin

12 
relationship in marriage education classes. As the common goal of both fields is to improve t

lives of low-income families, collaboration is a clear next step. Through collaboration, bo

fields can be strengthened and their work made more effective, leading to greater stability for 

low-income families. 

Existing Collaborative Efforts 

Current marriage and fi

he 

th 

nancial stability efforts have been developed at the community level by 

in the same social service agency, focus on the importance 

ed referral networks with outside agencies that could be 

ay to 

 on 

kill 

ample is the Marriage Development Account (MDA) pilot program in 

Washington, DC. Created through Congressional legislation (Public Law 109-115), the MDA 

ed 

f 

iness. 

a 

se 

ning content. David Olson in his book “Empowering Couples: 

Building on Your Strengths” highlights some of the issues around integrating financial planning 

ion 

, the 

ell. 

providers who are often located with

of family stability, and have develop

strengthened through dialogue. A number of community-based organizations that support lowincome families through financial crises saw the relevance of adding marriage and familystrengthening to their existing services. For example, they found that some mothers were 

repeatedly seeking assistance for financial crises triggered by a boyfriend moving out. They 

realized that offering financial support along with building relationship skills would be a w

break that cycle. After addressing the immediate crisis, service providers focused attention

building longer term skills to help parents plan for the future. At the level of the community 

providers, marriage and family-strengthening and financial education and asset-building are 

deeply intertwined. 

Policy approaches have also been developed to integrate asset development and relationship s

enhancement. One ex

program seeks to improve low-income couples’ financial stability and to help them to maintain 

healthy marriages using a modification of the IDA model discussed earlier. MDAs are match

joint savings accounts for low income married or engaged couples living in the District of 

Columbia. For every $1 a couple saves in their MDA, the federal government will set aside $3 o

matching funds, up to maximum federal contribution of $9,000. A participant couple can use 

their savings and the match funds to invest in a first home, higher education, or a small bus

The government has allocated $3 million to this program, half for matching funds and half for 

education services, outreach, and training. To participate in the MDA program, couples must 

complete eight hours of financial management training as well as a training related to their 

savings goal, such small business or homeownership classes. Additionally, couples are offered 

$300 bonus as an incentive to attend marriage education classes. Participant couples who are 

engaged to be married are eligible for an additional $200 to help pay for their marriage licen

and other marriage-related costs. 

In addition to integrating or co-locating services, many curricula in the family-strengthening 

field have integrated financial plan

education and relationship lessons and is described further in Figure 5. Some financial educat

and asset building resources have also moved to incorporate relationship-strengthening 

information. Most prominently, the federal Assets for Independence (AFI) IDA program office 

in HHS created a guide for combining asset building with health marriage services entitled 

Building Assets, Building Stronger Families. While primarily intended for AFI grantees

guide is available to the public on the AFI website (http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/afi/) 

and could be valuable resource for other asset building or financial education programs as w

13 
Situation specific examples of collaboration will be presented in the second brief in this series

Take Home Lessons 

. 

 finances (Figure 6.) For example, programs can choose healthy 

ystify financial education and marriage and relationship skills 

education for educators who may be more familiar with one area than another. A second 

o highlight the common ground between financial and marriage educators in 

ily stability for low-income families. Specific practices from each field 

 the 

ugh 

ployability, financial planning and family stability. Marriage 

relationship skills education also focuses on building a long-term relationship and trust with the 

Joining expertise through collaboration can sometimes be as simple as getting family and 

financial practitioners together to come up with a top-10 list that communicates the joint message 

about healthy families and

financial practices that are relevant to the population they serve or adapt each practice to think 

about couples and families. 

Figure 6 

Ten suggestions for a healthy family with healthy finances 

1. Set common financial goals and formulate steps toward that goal. 

2. Regularly discuss financial and other goals at home. 

3. Involve the

e banks), rent-to-

 in your account for your future as you pay others for 

r current financial 

 children in the plan. 

4. Avoid schemes with high hidden fees, like check cashing stores (us

own (wait and buy), credit cards. 

5. Pay yourself first. Put something

their services. 

6. Communicate when there is conflict, with a partner, child, or company. 

7. Regularly check your and your partner’s credit reports. Free copies can be ordered 

annually. 

8. Make sure family receives EITC and any other government benefits. 

9. Know when to seek assistance. Key times might be when getting married, getting 

divorced, having a baby or adopting a child. 

10. Know that there are resources available to help you, regardless of you

and family situation. 

Conclusion 

This brief was intended to dem

objective was t

terms of increasing fam

that might be relevant for the other were also suggested, to encourage an understanding that 

could lead to cross-referral and a relationship between financial and marriage educators in

same communities. The common goal is improving opportunities for the next generation thro

efforts to stabilize their families. 

Marriage and family strengthening programs have brought discussion of relationship skills like

communication and conflict resolution to the broader community, and development of these 

skills can have implications for em

14 
15 

e an 

se 

p skill-building programs. Resources and tools like EITC campaigns and 

tax preparation help, IDAs, credit repair strategies, and guidance on loans can help build family 

cific scenarios regarding the opportunities and 

challenges of long-term relationships with spouses and with finances. Potentially challenging 

educator, which might be beneficial for financial educators. Finally, many community-based 

family strengthening initiatives reach deep into the low-income community which can provid

opening for earlier financial education, and perhaps a channel for asset-building programs for 

low-income couples. 

Practitioners in financial education and asset building programs have access to specific tools and 

matching funds through various initiatives that help low-income families, including tho

referred by relationshi

stability and are especially important for low-income families. It is important that these services 

be accessed through responsible, reputable organizations. Finally, the expertise of practitioners in 

these fields can be invaluable for low-income families as they attempt to navigate a complex and 

sometimes predatory financial services market. 

The potential for collaboration between these fields is great, and the potential for benefit in the 

form of increased family and financial stability among low-income populations is real. In the 

second brief in this series, we delve into more spe

areas that affect family and financial stability, like repairing credit, bankruptcy, child support, 

mortgage financing, and divorce will be discussed in greater detail. 

 

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5

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8

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11

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12

13 Brown, S.L. (2004

c

14

delinquency: The significance of parental absence versus parental gender. Journal of Resea

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15 Waite, L.J. and Gallagher, M. (2000). 

16 Manning, W.D., & Lamb, K.A. (2003). 

17 McLanahan, S.S. (1999). Father absenc

(E

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18 Waite, L.J. and Gallagher, M. (2000). 

19 Fragile Families Research Brief. (2003). The retreat from m

fa

See also Edin, K. and M. Kefalas. (2005) 

M

20 Stanley, S. & Einhorn, L. (2007). Hitting pay dirt: Comment on "Money: A therapeutic tool 

for couples therapy". Family Process, 46: 293-299. 

21

22 Jenkins, N., Stanley, S.M., Bailey, W.C., & Markm