I'm Lynette Calfani Cox.

I own a financial education company and older, this is a significant topic, maybe more significant than when we were younger?

I would say that, yes, the weight does grow in terms of the significance of financial standing.

And that's because of a whole host of things.

Longevity obviously is going to be shortened or diminished as we get older.

And so if you're counting on or needing a partner for financial, emotional, and other forms of support as you get older,

then, of course, you want to pick the strongest possible mate.

And I don't know why someone in, say, their late 60s or maybe even 70s would not consider whether or not a major red flag financially could potentially set them back.

So again, a lack of savings in your 50s may not be such a deal breaker, but if you're in your 70s and you have a

complete lack of savings, then what does that mean for the other party? If they need long-term care,

if they need critical nursing support, other things that are going to be financially

taxing where that person doesn't have the assets to support the care that they're going to need,

and then it's going to fall on the partner to be that source of financial aid and support.

If I'm not on equal standing with my partner, can we be happy?

You can absolutely still find love and happiness, even with your financial opposite.

Now, I do think it's important that listeners know as well that you might have a long-term committed

relationship and not be married and that can work out just fine. When it comes to marriage,

however, that's obviously a different arrangement from a legal standpoint and otherwise. And there

is some research around financial opposites in certain ways.

One study looked at people with disparate credit scores. The person who had, say, a 760 or better

credit score who had a very strong credit profile, which meant that he or she was

managing their credit and debts wisely, versus people who had poor credit scores, 620 and under,

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