What would you change if money didn’t matter?

In Part 2 of Between Dreams & Paychecks, we explore how financial reality shapes career decisions — and why many people who feel satisfied still wonder about other paths. Using survey data from 850+ respondents, this article examines the tradeoffs between stability, income, and purpose.

Most of us had a dream job growing up. Using original survey data, this first installment explores which childhood career dreams actually survive into adulthood—and what happens to the rest.

A data-driven series exploring how adults balance childhood dreams, financial realities, and long-term career satisfaction—without judgment or clichés.

After examining how couples split expenses—and how those arrangements feel over time—one pattern stands out: most couples aren’t polarized. This concluding piece brings the data together to explore why fairness in relationships rarely shows up as strong agreement or dissatisfaction, and what that quiet middle reveals about how people live with financial imbalance.

Neutral responses are often treated as indifference, but survey data from 700 cohabiting U.S. adults suggests they tell a different story. This article explores why many couples describe their expense-sharing arrangements as “neither fair nor unfair,” and what that quiet middle reveals about acceptance, stability, and unexamined norms.

Proportional-to-income splits are often described as the fairest way to share expenses. But survey data from 700 cohabiting U.S. adults suggests the reality is more complicated—especially depending on who earns more. This article examines why a solution that looks equitable on paper can feel far less fair in practice.

When couples share a home, they also share expenses—but not always in the same way. Drawing on survey data from 700 cohabiting adults in the United States, this article explores how couples divide household costs and which arrangements actually feel fair. The results suggest that fairness isn’t just about equality—it’s about agreement.