Community Chat

[tansy]

When I first married, my husband was in charge of our money. Eventually, when my sons came along, it made more sense that I would handle our purchases and the budget.  

Maybe since he liked his job and I didn't -- lol -- I'm the one who became interested in investments and preparing for retirement like paying off the mortgage.  

We never argue about money.  

[CelticCrafter]

I pay all the bills and after we discuss it, he pretty much leaves it up to me to decide where or how to invest but he knows what we have.

We're both careful how we spend, not to say there isn't the occasional splurge but big ticket items are always dicussed and together we decide what our limit would be for that particular item.

I can say to him, I would like this new or that new for the house and if I don't get an eyeroll I know I'm good to go!

[Love my grandkids]

Sorry, I can't make a generalization. I personally don't make generalizations as a rule. I find them to be unfair.

[Golden_Oldie]

DH is the saver. He puts things like a new roof, replacing all the windows in the savings account.

He does the grocery shopping, however he will get what he thinks is a big sale. The sale may not be on my list.

I have to say he does a better job than I would do.

[DiAnne]

I have a friend who charges everything (so does her husband) and she makes a spread sheet every month of where every cent was spent.  I asked her once why she did that and her answer was "How else will we know how we spend our money?".  

[Hooty]

I am the money person in our family, I pay all the bills, keep tract of checking and savings accts., contributions, and do our taxes, I have an accounting background and love doing it, plus I am retired and my DH still works.

[AngelPuppy1]

I don't think its gender based.  I know couples where the woman is better with the money and handles all the financial matters and vice versa.  I think back in the old days, when men worked and women stayed home, it was thought that since the men made the money, they were the ones who should be in control of it also.  But this was not always the most wise decision.  I grew up with both my parents working and my dad basically handled the money but my mother had a lot of input into and no major purchases were made without discussing it first.  

I've handled the money matters for the most part in my marriage.  I've always been the --- we need to think about putting a few dollars back type person and DH is more the --- let's have fun now, life is short type person --- so I have had to kind of take control of things for my own peace of mind.  

In relationships, whether married or not, I think it becomes pretty evident early on which party is more suitable to handle money matters.  

[CAMOGIRL]

I think it just comes down to the person not the gender. 

I think some women can handle money just as well as some men.

And, sometimes I do not think either of them have a clue. 

[151949]

My parents did not have much to spare each month for spending money. My Dad only had a 3rd grade education and so my Mom was in charge of the money and made all the decisions about what they could or could not buy. Every morning my Mom would set out my Dad's spending money for the day and the amount would depend on how much she had. It was kinda a family joke that no matter what she gave him he spent every cent every day. He never questioned her about the amount she gave him - if she gave him 50 cents he would walk out the door whistling and off to work - and come home broke but if she gave him $5 he did the exact same. His brothers would tease him about it and he would smile and say I know she never takes more for herself than she gives me.My Mom was fabulous at managing their small income and we never needed anything we didn't have.

At different times both DH and I have managed the money at our house - I did it while we were working and DH does it now since he retired. We have always had enough income to pay the bills and have enough left over to be able to buy ourselves something if we wanted. We are both on the same page with money management - we are both savers and pretty frugal. 

[magicmoodz]

I have always handled money matters in our home.  I am just better at it and I am a control freak.  😊

I do think there are gender differences that I have learned in my career.  Men are global thinkers--they are much more interested in the big picture. Women, on the other hand, are much more detail-oriented.  Case in point, I will work fervently to find a ten-cent error when balancing our checkbooks.  I think if my husband came within $100 of balancing, he would be done with it.