My husband and I both work similar hours but due to our fields he makes about 4x more than I do. I contribute as much as I can but under your logic that means I could never do or own even half the things my husband could. For example. We are planning a vacation. His job makes him travel a lot so due to the frequent flyer points he's accumulated he got his ticket for free and has upgraded luxuries and services. So under your logic that means I should just sit in the back of the plane for 13 hours because I can't quiet afford a seat next to him on my own? No; the cost of my ticket is coming out of our joint funds and I'll get to sit next to him. If this is the logic I would always drive a worse car, rarely get to join him for vacations/trips, and basically struggle just because I happen to make less (even though I put in the same effort!). It's not like I'm just sitting and home and being a bum. 50/50 doesn't mean doing everything evenly. For example; I do all of the cooking at home (my husbands cooking is pretty terrible), I also do about 90% of the driving. I also run most of the errands and a bulk of the cleaning. In the case of buying a house (which we are looking for right now!) we both have EQUAL say. We basically made a list on what we want/ what we are looking for and we both make our arguments. We set a budget for mortgage, taxes, etc. If he is totally against something I love then we don't go for it and vice versa. It's called compromise. I'll be the one doing most of the maintenance and physical labor around the house; I want to enjoy living in it as well! Also, f it were to be split 50/50 then we'd have to wait longer to be able to afford one, when it makes more financial and long-term sense to buy a house earlier. Splitting everything 50/50 DOES sound like roommates because in the example of the vacation I wouldn't put in extra money so my roommate could sit next to me in first class. However you typically want to be with your spouse. If your roommate was struggling with car issues you'd probably just be like "Oh man, that sucks, I hope you can save up for a new car soon!", rather than a spouse who probably wouldn't want their other half wasting hard earned cash bringing a busted vehicle to the shop yet AGAIN and budget to help SO purchase a new vehicle (especially if they could easily afford it). Marriage should be two people working together to build a life for each other.