Poll: Who manages the money in your house?

[obgyn65]

I do. Male. I expect to let my girlfriend take over one day, when my cognitive abilities decrease.

 

[John Galt III]

Judging by your avatar, you are quite the looker for a guy!

Thanks!

 

[Accidental Retiree]

My wife handles the household budgeting and takes cares of all the bills. I on the other hand have always done the investing for us. We have been married 31 years and this has seemed to work.

We're the opposite. My husband takes care of household budgeting and bills, except for any credit cards I have carried. Before 2005, we managed our investments separately. Since 2005, I have taken the lead on our retirement/investment portfolio management.

 

[JakeBrake]

I, male, do all the financial management, investments, bill-paying, etc.

DW write a check for $X to cash every week and buys all the groceries and other household products. My job is to be sure there's enough money in the checking account so that she can cash the check. She takes a paper check to the bank. No ATM's for her.

DW is a much better shopper and bargainer than I am. She takes the lead when we are shopping for a car, house, or tube of toothpaste.

 

[Sassy]

Considering my current situation, I find it very interesting to read several comments here about the spouse not interested, don't like to discuss, or their eyes glaze over when the subject comes out. I wouldn't have even said that was me, but the parallels are interesting.

Even talking with my parents this week and I asked Mom if she was aware of her financial health when they were budgeting/building their house a few years back.
"I was," she said.
"How did you know? Did you look at the accounts yourself?" I asked.
"No, you're dad told me."

So, I suspect there are a lot of households like this in similar situations.

 

[aida2003]

I do since the wife doesn't want to deal with it. But I do try to keep her fully informed (and it's well documented) in case some day she'll need to take it over.

It's other way around in our family. My DH doesn't have any interest in this whatsover. However, I MUST prepare a fresh document with passwords and directions of accessing various accounts.

 

[aida2003]

I am astounded at the level of trust my DH has in me. I doubt he even knows his VG password. I have written out detailed instructions for him in case I get hit by the proverbial truck.

+1. Mine knows (after long thinking) his 401k's password. Other than that, it's all my doing.

 

[gerntz]

I marked 50/50. DW takes care of the day to day expenses and I manage our investments. She has no interest in learning about the market or investing.

This is us. I rarely look at the checkbook & certainly don't pay the bills - which she has set up online. She rarely looks at the investments (once/yr?) but I let her know how we're doing when big things happen. She was part of the initial investment balance - eq/fixed/cash - but not much at all since. Since I retired a year ago, we've needed to start hitting our major taxable account a bit. Once I showed her we had checking on that account, she's been happy. Me too.

 

[sengsational]

I'm male and married to a bookkeeper/budget analyst. I handle the details and she sets policy.

Good one!

I do, but then the only alternative is my dog, and she's not very good at balancing the checkbook.

Several years ago I put a sarcastic remark on the first page of instructions of what to do "in case" in THE BINDER". - " if you're reading this I must be dead, because up to now you have shown absolutely no interest in our financial affairs". Still haven't heard any comment.

DW write a check for $X to cash every week and buys all the groceries and other household products. My job is to be sure there's enough money in the checking account so that she can cash the check.

Similar here: DW has budget for groceries, her gasoline, her cloths and personal effects, as well as anything to do with the kids' stuff.

I pay the bills and do financial planning.

On the "glaze over" comment, the last decision she made (I forced her to make) about investing was 21 years ago when we picked a mutual fund to rollover her account from megacorp. In 21 years, she hasn't opened the envelope (just puts it in my mail slot).

 

[freebird5825]

Female

When I was married, I did 100% of the finances, with frequent discussions with DH so he knew where things were. All accounts were registered JTWROS. All account records were stored in hanging file folders with current statements and cost basis records. I managed an R&D laboratory during my career, so this was effortless for me to set up and maintain.

Today, as a single woman (widow), I completely control my assets. Mr B controls his. We split COL expenses 50-50.

Mr B is an accountant and is very savvy about taxes and purchasing, so his input is fabulous. I am more well read on investing.

We make a hell of a team.

 

[Ronstar]

DW and I share expenses close to 50-50. We have separate checking accounts, credit cards, and investments. I help her as needed with decisions, etc.

 

[audreyh1]

my wife controls all finances. I ask for permission to spend.

That's kind of how it works in our household.

Well, DH does take care of the annual Federal income taxes, although I handle the estimated taxes. I do discuss investment plans with him a couple of times a year. He just likes to hear the results and otherwise relies on his personal financial planner (me).

 

[FinanceDude]

DW takes care of the monthly bills and such, I take care of the financial stuff for the most part. She does stay in the loop however. When it comes to taxes, I do the initial work, then print off a copy so DW can "correct" the "many errors" I make..............

Marrying a accountant has its "rewards".............

 

[Brett_Cameron]

I do it all. I give DW money into her separate checking account for her gas and groceries. I budget and pay all the bills all the financial planning and tax returns. She falls asleep when I try to talk to her about our finances. She has a separate checking account and has never balanced her checkbook. She just checks the balance on line and makes estimates on what she can spend. She rarely writes checks and uses debit card only to prevent overdraft.

 

[SumDay]

She has a separate checking account and has never balanced her checkbook. She just checks the balance on line and makes estimates on what she can spend. She rarely writes checks and uses debit card only to prevent overdraft.

OMG, this must be my husband's sister.

 

[W2R]

One of the most delightful things about living alone, is that I am solely responsible for money management in my house, and I am also the only one spending anything. So, I didn't vote.

When I was married, I did ALL the money management, and I mean all. My ex literally did not even know how to write a check or pay a bill. He used the credit cards for purchasing, and otherwise had no interest in money management.

 

[dessert]

I do.....male. My wife simply does not have an interest at all. We've been married for over 40 years so we know each other's spending habits and our finances keep up with that. She puts everything on a credit card and we have a joint checking account that she has never balanced ever. All of our bills are automatic draft so that's not an issue either. Every once in a while she will ask me how our funds are doing and I show her. I make very few moves with out market accounts but when I do I explain it to her and make sure she understands why and agrees to it.
She is not a spend thrift so that helps a lot. Just to be fair, I'm not either.

 

[tightasadrum]

I do it all dam**t ! DW used to handle it all, except for IRA/401K etc. until she hit a healthcare problem. I got it all temporarily. I'm still waiting to give it back. That said, I prepare an annual letter to DW/heirs just in case or if there is a big change. File it and show her how to find it. Pretty simple actually.

 

[Lisa99]

I do it all; female.

My challenge with DH and finances is well-documented on this forum. Thankfully about a year ago he became very interesting in early retirement, so while I still do all of the finance, he's interested.

We keep it simple with index funds and I use Quicken, so having him take over would be a breeze. He knows where all of our money is, knows where to find the passwords and how to rebalance should he ever need to pick that up.

I do need to do some more education on income streams, tax loss harvesting and the like, but baby steps are best.