Yahoo Finance How women and men manage money between them
Most couples say they manage their money at least partly together, according to a survey Hargreaves Lansdown did with 2,000 people. It doesn’t necessarily mean they sign off every penny spent by their partner, or that they have a joint bank account for everything, but to some degree, they make decisions together. However, there are still some worrying gaps.
We found that two in five couples leave money management to just one of them. It may feel perfectly sensible to leave it to the person who likes the job more, or is better at it, but it could backfire. There’s the risk that the money manager makes a mistake, or builds up problems that they don’t feel they can share. Over the long term, one partner may be prioritising their own plans for the future, so the other falls short of the retirement they want, or ends up completely dependent on their partner.
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Even if the person who is in charge does a perfect job for both of you, if one of you hands over all financial responsibilities to the other, you need to think about what you’d do if you suddenly found yourself on your own. Even if you’re together for life, one of you will eventually die first, which could leave the other getting to grips with their finances at the worst possible time.
Among those who say they manage money together, there’s also an odd anomaly. When you split the answers down by sex, men are far more likely to say they manage long-term finances on their own – at more than a third, compared to around a fifth of women. Women, meanwhile, are more likely to say they do these things together – at two thirds compared with around half of men.
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The problem is that statistically most of these women are in relationships with men, so one of the couple is misreading the situation.
It may be that women are having money conversations with their partner that make them feel they are coming to a joint decision, while their partner thinks it’s optional to consider their input. Alternatively, it may be that women are subtly influencing their partner’s decision-making, so he feels he’s in the driving seat, but she’s making sure her views are considered. In either case, it’s worth getting to grips with what’s actually going on, so there are no nasty surprises later.
If you’re not sure how much control you have over your household finances, or how much you should have, there are some questions to ask yourself. If you don’t know the answer, or where to find it, you may need to reconnect with your joint finances.
Where are your bank accounts held?
How much debt does your partner have?
Does your income exceed your outgoings?
How much savings do you have?
Are you on track with pensions as a couple?
Watch: How to save money on a low income
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