The MORE (Money + Relationships + Equality) Initiative was created to establish equality for women and men in relationships, family life, and financial decision making, while embracing the central questions of self-worth, purpose, and meaning-making throughout the life course.
Our Project
MORE educates women and men of all ages, in classroom settings and beyond, with the understanding that full equality for women cannot be accomplished without education and behavior change of the men with whom they partner. Founded on principles of the Wisconsin Idea, MORE achieves its goals through an integrated program of research, outreach, and teaching.
Research: MORE uses a research synthesis approach to integrate the best evidence on the study of dual-career marriages, women’s earnings and divorce, financial and relationship self-help guides, the importance of premarital counseling, communication and support within marriages, the role of community in long-lasting partnerships, and the special challenges of women in non-traditional work and financial situations.
Outreach: Using this evidence, MORE produces outreach materials to be shared online and in press features and speaking engagements. Materials include diagnostic tools to help couples learn their money “types” prior to entering a marriage, as well as accessible workbooks on financial equality and philanthropy at various stages of the relationship.
Teaching: Finally, drawing on research and outreach materials, MORE teaches students valuable lessons on financial equality through specialized courses on the intersection of relationships, finances, consumption, and wellbeing in the UW-Madison School of Human Ecology.
Next Steps
• Develop resources for low-income families and non-nuclear household formations, such as single mothers.
Activities and Impacts
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Workbook checklist
Building on the success of the 2015 “Equal from the Start” workbook, a free primer
for couples who will be married or cohabiting in the near future, MORE has created “The Practical Guide to Making Wise Financial Decisions.” Based on the research of Dr. Dayana Kupisk, who served as the MORE Project Assistant for several years and is now a MORE Fellow, this workbook teaches a practical wisdom approach to finances, offering a framework to tailor financial advice to meet one’s individual needs and situational goals. In addition to these workbooks, MORE has developed more than a dozen “checklists” with helpful tips on topics like decision-making related to merging money, money management for wellbeing, talking about money, making financial resolutions, and holiday spending.
Outreach and publicity
In 2019 alone, MORE received more than two dozen press mentions, including in TODAY.com and The Atlantic. MORE Director Christine Whelan has made regular appearances on TV and radio and presented her work in a widely-shared TEDx talk in 2019. She has done outreach and presentations on purpose and meaning-making throughout the life-course for thousands of individuals in a range of settings, from Kaiser- Permanente Medical Group conferences, to psychiatric and psychological association meetings, to Linkage Leadership seminars, to dozens of local organizations.
Director Christine Whelan also does direct outreach work through her extensive speaking engagements at universities, philanthropic organizations, and businesses. For a complete list, please see here.
Course development
Since 2016, MORE has played
a pivotal role in the development of three courses, now completed by over 2,000 students. In the future, MORE hopes to develop online versions of these courses to make them accessible for diverse groups of learners.
1. Offered every semester – and always with a waiting list – “Consumer Science 173: Consuming Happiness” explores the intersection of money and happiness throughout the life course.
2. Newly taught by MORE partner, Professor Meg Bea, “Consumer Science 273: Finances & Families” uses many of the MORE workbooks and materials to educate future professionals preparing for careers in counselling and financial advising.
3. “Interdisciplinary Human Ecology 201: Belonging, Purpose, and the Ecology of Human Happiness (EcoYou)” taught by MORE partner Kristy Burkholder, similarly uses MORE material to introduce concepts of financial equality to students in their first year on campus.
Leaders
Additional information and MORE resources can be found on their website. You can also follow them on Twitter @UWmore.