The quirky and cute TerraNovaBoys of YouTube fame are at it again, this time giving out some sound financial advice on how to split or merge your money as a gay couple. Responding to several questions about financial advice, Wil and Adam answer questions like “How do two men with corresponding male ego’s handle money in a relationship?”
If you don’t know Wil and Adam they’re a sweet couple that have been together for about ten years and they have an opinion on just about everything. They’re adorable, totally in love, and pretty funny as they discuss everything from types of gay kisses to relationship advice. In this video, “Gay Dating Finance Advice”, Wil and Adam don’t share investment tips, but rather how they work around money in their relationship and their advice for other gay couples.
Sat up in what Wil cheekily calls their “boudoir”, Wil and Adam alternate between teasing and touching each other and spouting off little bits of financial and relationship wisdom. Using the story of their relationship Adam and Wil jointly describe how they split the bills from beginning to present, paralleling it to other possible situations, and it’s fairly sound advice. Adam and Wil are obviously a couple that does well financially and in previous videos have even stated that they save a whopping 50% of their money.
It turns out that at different times in their relationship both Wil and Adam have made substantially more than the other. So how have these two guys managed to keep it chill?
Apparently they started out slow, building trust in each other and their relationship, keeping everything separate as they got to know each other. By the second year of being together they were placing equal deposits into a joint account so they could split household bills, and it kept things fair. By year three Wil and Adam were comfortable enough to merge their money into one account and pay for everything from household bills to personal items out of it despite Wil making substantially more. Now by year ten Adam is the major breadwinner, or as he jokes, “the sugar daddy”.
Their advice to other couples? Follow their lead and keep things separate while you get to fully know each other. Just because you make good friends and like to hang out doesn’t mean that you have similar financial goals. Is he a saver while you spend everything on impulse? Take some time, a couple of years at least, and if after that time you still can’t merge your financial goals then don’t do so with your money. As Adam and Wil make clear, keeping your money together is NOT a prerequisite for a successful relationship. For them, putting all of their money together relieved the stress of separating bills and keeping things fair, plus it implied a step forward for their relationship and the level of trust that they had for each other, while for others money will mean something different and keeping it separate may keep resentment at bay if your partner is a big spender but low earner.
For couples that want to keep their money separate but make different amounts Wil has some advice about splitting bills proportionally. Using an example of someone making $100,000 a year and their partner with an income of $50,000 a year, Wil suggests a proportional splitting of bills that would see the higher income earner pay a larger share, allowing for a more equal distribution that doesn’t limit activities and invite resentment.
Gay or straight, money always has the potential to ruin a relationship, but as long as the adorable TerraNovaBoys Wil and Adam are giving out financial advice we’ll watch and hopefully learn something too!
