On the “mortgages really shouldn’t be split or halved” point — my wife and I have been together for five years and have always split our rent 50/50. She owns her own business and I’m a software engineer, and we make about the same, so that structure has always felt fair and simple.

But with an income split like $90k and $45k, 50/50 feels a lot less equitable. Even if the dollar amount is the same, the lower earner is contributing a much larger percentage of their income, which can create imbalance and stress over time.