April Masini, a New York City-based relationship and etiquette expert and author, says what you bring into a relationship determines what you need. “Whether you favor fun over financial health or financial health over fun really depends on what you bring to the table,” Masini says. “If you’re all about spreadsheets, you’re probably going to be more interested in someone who’s fun to balance your experience. Occasionally, people prefer someone more like themselves, so if you’re all about living in the moment, it may be more comfortable for you to be with someone who’s got the same outlook on fun.”
Masini subscribes to the theory that you need both fun and finances to make a long-term relationship work. “Ideally, you need both, because that trip to London isn’t going to happen more than once or twice simply, because you have a working credit card,” she explains. “If you want to have the kind of fun that requires financial resources, you need to be able to pay your bills, know your assets and deficits and be able to save up for something really fun because you know that long term fun requires a secure money background.”
