I acknowledge that I’m from an older generation, but being so gives me the benefit of experience. So I’ve witnessed the full gamut of relationship styles and standards. One thing that really strikes me as being relevant to how successful a relationship is, is how the couple treats their finances. The people who don’t mix their finances into joint accounts and insist that everything is split down the middle, seem to lack the cohesiveness that’s fundamentally necessary for a true partnership. When I was young, even couples who lived together without being married usually fully combined their finances. In my case we had both a joint account and individual accounts of our own into which we both deposited equal amounts of money once we’d made sure that our necessary expenses were covered, but the joint account was for both of us and it wasn’t viewed as theirs or mine, but ours. So we decided together how we would spend our money, and that was typical of the other couples we knew. I think if you’re not willing to fully commit to that type of partnership, then you’re not ready for the long haul with that person. Obviously it requires that each person has an equal say, but that applies to every other aspect of the relationship too, so I still think it’s relevant to the ultimate success of the relationship.