Teresa Ghilarducci, Columnist

How to Handle Finances When You Find Love After 50

As more older Americans find love and live together, their personal finances can get messy. Figuring out whether your partner or children come first can help.

March 20, 2022 at 12:00 PM UTC

By Teresa Ghilarducci

Teresa Ghilarducci is the Schwartz Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research. She's the co-author of "Rescuing Retirement" and a member of the board of directors of the Economic Policy Institute.

First comes love, then comes figuring out long-term care. — First comes love, then comes figuring out long-term care.
*Photographer: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP*

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Some of the most dramatic shifts in family life are occurring among older Americans. Over the past two decades, divorces have doubled for baby boomers and the number of individuals aged 50 years and older who are cohabiting has surged 85%.

So, when a reader wrote with a problem, I knew it was shared by many. After a late-life divorce, the reader met his current girlfriend. They've been together for eight years. Right before the pandemic began, they bought their dream house for $1.5 million, together as equal owners. But it stretched their finances -- they drained accounts, stopped going out and now spend more than 50% of their total income on the new mortgage.