Growing up my mother was always in charge of the money. When it came to paying bills, doling out allowances, and shopping, we always saw our mom take care of it. So when I got married I just assumed that women and finances went hand in hand.
In the beginning of our marriage my husband took care of the bills. Since he was already paying the mortgage, gas & electric, cable etc before we were married it was just easier for him to continue to handle the payments. But just because he was paying the bills doesn’t mean that I wasn’t involved in the decision making behind our finances.
After we had our second child and I started to work from home we decided to adjust how we viewed finances and paying bills. I took over paying everything and created a financial plan for where our money was going. And after discussions together we came up with our game plan.
Women and Finances: The Truth About How We Manage Money
As we get older and our relationship grows I’m starting to see how important it is to be financially aware and knowledgeable about where we are with our finances. After reading an article addressing the fact that growing older makes women better with money I realized that I could be doing a lot more to learn how to manage our funds better.
How crazy is this thought:
Household financial management is typically the husband’s role, but as a woman ages, she has a greater incentive to learn financial management tools in order to survive widowhood.
That’s something that definitely woke me up into becoming more financially savvy and aware of what’s going on in our own home. Because I do not want to wait until I’m older to learn about finances.
From a young age I’ve been taught to prepare for retirement and be aware of my spending and savings. I didn’t need to be married to realize that. But I will need to come up with a game plan for if and when my husband does die (far, far from now!).
Here are several online resources to help women become more financially literate:
- LearnVest is a money management website for women. It has a variety of tools including a Bootcamp to help with specific money problems or life stages.
- Mint – Mint is a personal money management website that keeps your finances all under one roof.
- Suze Orman – Advice, news, and information about finances and money management designed for women.
- WIFE (Women’s Institute for Financial Education) – A non-profit organization developed to educate women about finances.
Disclaimer: Information for this post is sourced from Genworth Financial in partnership with the SheHeard Influencer Network. All opinions are my own.
I’ve always handled the money, but there is still more I need to learn. Like I have no idea about any for our retirement funds, etc.
I like to think that we team up pretty well with our finances. We are both focused on saving for retirement and the future for our children. It’s nice to be on the same page.
Great post, in this house it is my husband who is clueless about money, that is not god for him!
I am a penny pincher and and my husband loves to spend… together we balance each other out. Although I do tend to win out more often than he does which is good for our bank account.
I actually wish my husband would get MORE involved in our finances! I do think it’s important for both partners to be on top of the financials.
I’m pretty good with money although I do love to spend. I try and pace myself and think of experience vs tangible object unless they are household items and necessary.