MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Re: Dear married binners, please explain

Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to sell you on marriage. I'm just regurgitating a list of items that people claim are "marriage benefits". I'm not married and I probably won't ever be.

I think most of the points in that list that aren't child-related come down to money in some way. For example, if you're married, when you go to collect social security, you have the option of taking "your" amount or 1/2 of your spouse's amount which could be greater than your full amount if your spouse made a lot more than you.

Regarding health insurance, in the past, you could only add someone to your health insurance plan if they were a spouse or a dependent. Even now with most plans recognizing "domestic partners" they often charge you a financial penalty to add the person if they aren't a spouse. Also, the contribution limits for an health savings account are higher if you are married.

Regarding "retirement plans", I think that might be referring to IRAs. Consider an unmarried couple where one person works and the other doesn't. In this scenario, only the person who is working can contribute to a Roth IRA. The other person doesn't have any income so they are not allowed. However, in the same situation if they were married, then they could both contribute to a Roth IRA even though one of them has zero income. Essentially, they have a "joint income" that can be used to fund both IRAs. There's also different tax implications if you die and leave a retirement account balance to a spouse vs someone who you aren't married to.

For some people, the point of marriage is to confirm to the other person that you're serious and committed. But not everyone needs that.

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