More money can lead to more stress

‘‘Having a higher income does mean you need to make more money decisions and there can be stress that comes from that.’’ Tom Hartmann

Commission for Financial Capability personal finance lead

Money is causing relationship stress for 20 per cent of New Zealanders – and even those who earn more than $150,000 a year are struggling, research by the Commission for Financial Capability shows.

Its survey of more than 3000 people found one in five had relationship problems with partners, family or close friends because of financial concerns.

The 18-34 age group reported the highest degree of relationship strain because of money, at 24 per cent.

It decreased with age to 21 per cent of those aged 53 to 54 experiencing problems, 14 per cent of those aged 55 to 65 and 7 per cent of people over 65.

People with an income of less than $10,000 were most likely to experience financial relationship problems but even 21 per cent of those earning $150,000 to $200,000 a year reported relationship stress because of money.

Commission personal finance lead Tom Hartmann said having more money could create more problems.

‘‘Having a higher income does mean you need to make more money decisions and there can be stress that comes from that.’’

People would have trouble talking about money for a range of reasons, he said, including their own backgrounds and the fact that it was often see as taboo. But he said open conversations were needed to allow people to work together.

Financial adviser Hannah McQueen, of Enable-Me, said the higher people’s incomes, the worse the problems could be.

‘‘The person who is not engaged leans into ‘there’s plenty of money, it’ll be OK’. It gives them permission to disengage.’’

She said there was evidence that the more money people earned, the less wealthy they were because it gave them an ‘‘optimism bias’’.

She said couples she dealt with frequently said they did not have shared financial goals or similar money personalities. Some would want to work on it but others said they didn’t want to think about it, she said.