<prompt> Human: I understand that marriage brings comfort, security, companionship, easier family ability, etc.However, I am curious to see it purely from a financial perspective in the USA at least, where I live.I am not too familiar with the pros and cons but the expected value of the cons of a potential divorce seem to be either relatively equal or greater than the pros of marriage financially.Again, mega financial noob here, so am curious to see some people who have thought about this.  <response>: If you file your taxes jointly it can lower your taxable income. My wife is a stay at home mom. So when we file jointly it lowers my taxable income by quite a bit because instead of being taxed as one person making my salary, were taxed as two people making my salary. Another thing is if my wife will be eligible for Social Security at a rate of half of my rate when we retire. If she decides to start working after the kids all go to school, or when theyre all grown, she can still be eligible for the benefit if the amount is greater than what she would qualify for on her own. If either of us pass away there are less hoops to jump through, and other family members really have no claim to the estate. It will go straight to the surviving spouse. Without being legally married, a death in the relationship can be very muddy if the family of the deceased choose to be greedy or vindictive. Medical decisions can be made, and medical information can be given to the spouse in case one of you are in the hospital.I love seeing her wedding ring on her finger. And I love wearing mine. Another pro, and I can honestly say this, my wedding day was the 2nd best day of my life first was my son being born, and the most fun day of my life. We got married at a casino. All of our guests booked rooms for the weekend and it was like a 3 day partyfamily reunion. It was a lot of fun. I didnt expect that at all. I was actually not too excited as Im not into big parties or being the center of attention. But it was so much fun. 