Carol’s review and giveaway in yesterday’s post got me thinking about how same-sex couples plan for retirement and in general, deal with household financial matters. Those ‘œoften mundane planning issues’ as she refers to it, are so important to a couple’s long term goals.

The Hartford partnered with the MIT AgeLab to conduct research on couples and their financial planning in order to better understand how American couples can create financial security in retirement that extends throughout their lifetime. The data doesn’t cite any specifics about same-sex couples, but many of the findings still apply.

The study identified four financial planning styles and habits of ‘œhighly effective’ planning couples:

Drivers (17%): One partner handles all financial matters of the household including the day-to-day finances and the investments.

Passengers (19%): One partner is not involved in the day-to-day finances or investments or that they are less involved in both areas than their partner.

Joined at the Hip (53%): Both partners share financial management, choosing to make every financial decision and take every action together.

Divide and Conquer (11%): Each partner takes the lead on some aspects of the household finances and plays a secondary role on other aspects.

I suspect that most same-sex couples fall in the last two categories, but as the study reveals, it’s the couples that have learned how to divide and conquer that will approach retirement well-prepared.

Communication tops the list of how to become a Divide and Conquer Couple although many couples, even after being together for years, find it difficult to communicate about their financial future. Why is that?

Second, I’m curious how you and your partner divvy up the financial responsibilities with your household’¦ and what you specifically do when it comes to planning, budgeting, bill paying, organizing, etc. Are you a financial planning power couple and if so, how did you become one?

Image credit: The Hartford.