Love and money can actually deliver bliss into a romantic relationship but the whole set-up needs to be governed by mutual trust and respect, a new report suggested.

Most couples opting to pool their finances in a singular account appeared gravitating towards a common goal - to build a family under a roof that together they have worked to build up through agreed and concerted saving measures, according to the new survey conducted by ING Direct.

One couple interviewed by The Daily Telegraph disclosed that their financial arrangement was first dictated by the agreement that money concerns should not overwhelm the relationship lest it would lead to the souring of the union.

Boredom would ensue and possibly lead to a break up if a couple living together would put too much emphasis on money matters instead of enjoying the privileges that prudent financial management could bring into a relationship, the couple told The Telegraph.

Financial independence hence came out as the primal concern of those polled by ING Direct, with 20 per cent of them, the report said, deciding that shared accounts could lead the other partner into spending blowouts.

Another 15 per cent declared that settling money issues could become a nightmarish experience if for some reason the couple decided to call it quits, leaving the financial component of the relationship a tough nut to crack for an amicable split.

Trust, it turned out, was equally cited by male and female respondents as the main reason they would agree to open a joint account with their respective partners.

Such basis though could prove as a very fragile ground for couples to take the money plunge, analysts said, as explicitly expressed by a good portion of those queried by ING Direct researchers.

The same report highlighted the reality that not every loving couple is under the influence of complete trust as ING researchers found that there are men and women, currently in a serious relationship, who maintained that having a secret account represents a wise move.

On men's part, keeping some money from their partner would allow them some financial flexibility and give them the freedom to splurge on things that normally a wife or a girlfriend would frown at.

The ING report, in fact, has concluded that men would most likely keep certain amounts of cash from their better-half, with women less likely to do the same thing.

About 20 per cent of the respondents have admitted that they would probably resort to some form of cash-keeping from their partners, with women, the report emphasised, doing so in order to rack up her cash holdings.

"Women were far more conservative with their secret account, using it as a place for extra saving instead of secret purchases," the ING report said.

The research noted too that despite some of the survey participants hiding money for their own use, about seven out of ten believe that opening a joint account with their romantic partners was not a bad proposition at all.

And the initiative of getting into that kind of financial collaboration, the ING report said, would mostly come from men, indicating that males were more trustful with the apple of their eye.