Text 1 　　It's an annual argument. Do we or do we not go on holiday? My partner says no because the boiler could go, or the roof fall off, and we have no savings to save us. I say you only live once and we work hard and what's the point if you can't go on holiday. 　　The joy of a recession means no argument next year – we just won't go. Since money is known to be one of the things most likely to bring a relationship to its knees, we should be grateful. For many families the recession means more than not booking a holiday. A YouGov poll of 2,000 people found 22% said they were arguing more with their partners because of concerns about money. 　　What's less clear is whether divorce and separation rates rise in a recession – financial pressures mean couples argue more but make splitting up less affordable. A recent research shows arguments about money were especially damaging to couples. Disputes were characterized by intense verbal aggression, tended to be repeated and not resolved, and made men, more than women, extremely angry. 　　Kim Stephenson, an occupational psychologist, believes money is such a big deal because of what it symbolizes, which may be different things to men and women. “People can say the same things about money but have different ideas of what it's for,” he explains. “They'll say it's to save, to spend, for security, for freedom, to show someone you love them.” He says men are more likely to see money as a way of buying status and of showing their parents that they've achieved something. “The biggest problem is that couples assume each other knows what's going on with their finances, but they don't. There seems to be more of a taboo about talking about money than about death. But you both need to know what you're doing, who's paying what into the joint account and how much you keep separately. In a healthy relationship, you don't have to agree about money, but you have to talk about it.”