Differing Investment Strategies Among Single Individuals and Heterosexual Couples, And What This Reveals About Household Financial Decision-Making Dynamics.

It is important to understand the various factors that influence investment behavior and outcomes because it is crucial to invest in order for an individual to successfully prepare for their retirement. Couples who are a part of the same household often prepare for retirement together, thus emphasizing the importance of understanding the underlying aspects that influence financial bargaining power. Prior literature has shown that each gender has particular psychological bias' that influence their investment preferences. Thus, it is important to understand the determinants of financial bargaining power in a household to examine how investment decisions are made. We used The Survey of Consumer Finances from 2022 to provide a nationally representative sample of household finances in the United States. Four models in an OLS regression were used to test the relationship between measures of marital inequality, as measured by education, age, and employment gaps and stock share of a family's assets. Results indicated that couples with a larger education gap had investments that were more heavily concentrated in stocks, while couples with employment differences had investments that were less heavily concentrated in stocks. These findings suggest that certain measures of marital inequality, such as education gaps can influence household financial bargaining power.