Poll: (Based on a recent thread of interest) Who oversees the finances @ your house?

[6packofun]

Poll coming...

 

This poll addresses married couples, so I apologize to singles out there! (Feel free to give input, of course.) I was simply interested because in the thread on women who say, "I don't know, my dh takes care of that" I noticed a LOT of ladies taking on the finances in their marriages! Thanks for voting!

Edited July 27, 2012 by 6packofun
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[6packofun]

I voted that my dh does most of it, but this is not what I would prefer. It's difficult because with a very low income, there is VERY little wiggle room and he has everything balanced (on the edge of a precipice?? LOL) just so. For me to get in the middle of it--or him if the tables were turned--might get messy.

 

HOWEVER, I'm still not satisfied because the knowledge and accessibility is NOT where it needs to be for me to feel secure if something were to happen to him. I'm working on it. (This is not because dh is an authoritarian patriarch, btw, it just sort of slipped into this routine, if that even makes sense.)

[momto2Cs]

We share the responsibility. We both have an income, which goes into the joint account. Money is always tight, so it is good for both of us to know what is going on.

[BakersDozen]

I oversee finances 100%. Dh has twice in our married life tried to take over...good grief. "It's a decimal...what's the big deal?" That was his excuse for a $100 error. Another time he fussed about the $ I'd saved in our 'vehicle upkeep' line item. Tired of his complaining I said sure, move the $ and spend it. Two months later one of our vans needed major work but the $ wasn't there. He's never challenged/questioned my budget since then as he quickly recognized that numbers/$ are not his strength. ;)

Edited July 27, 2012 by LuvnMySvn

[Soror]

I picked the wife because I do the paperwork and such, we do discuss the budget, spending, and other financial decisions together although generally I will take care of what needs to be done.

[PeacefulChaos]

I do.

And I think that who does it should be who has the most natural aptitude for it. I don't think there is a defined 'man should do this' (mistaken patriarchal way) or 'woman should do this' (for whatever reason) - I think that whoever is better at it, should do it. :)

DH is involved in it a bit, but it's mostly me. He knows where everything is should something happen to me. That's about it. :D

[Parrothead]

I'm the CFO here.

[KrissiK]

I do. I do all the budgeting and pay all the bills. Now, dh does take charge of our investments. He's interested in that and is better at that than I am.

[edelweiss]

DH and are are both accountants, so we're both completely capable of attending to our finances. I did it for the first 10 years of our marriage, but now DH is in charge. I didn't think I'd like to give up that "control" but I actually love it! :D Of course, it does help that money isn't tight for us anymore, so now I just spend it and he takes care of the bills. :lol:

[West Coast Mom]

I voted other.

 

We take turns. Length of turn depends on where we are in life at that time. When I was pregnant and dealing with little ones, DH took over the task. When his work life was crazy with 18 hour days/ 6 days a week, I took over the finances. We switch every couple of years.

 

We stay in communication about the general state of our finances, but the one paying the bills deals with the details. Big decisions are made together regardless of which person is managing things at the time.

 

It works for us. We both know what it takes to run the show, but we aren't saddled with the details year after year.

[LaxMom]

I'm the CFO here.

 

Me, too.

[Trilliums]

I'm the CFO here.

 

Same here. I do our taxes as well.

 

When DH and I were dating he had his electricity cut off due to not paying his bill. :lol: Once we were married I started taking care of it all. We don't discuss it much except for major purchases. We both agree on not acquiring any credit card debt and saving as much as possible.

[Ellie]

I voted shared.

 

I pay all the bills.

 

Mr. Ellie knows what our actual financial situation is (401K/other retirement, stuff like that).

 

I pay the bills not because I'm better at bookkeeping or anything, but because Mr. Ellie is not administrative at all, and he didn't do a very good job of keeping up on them. We never defaulted on anything, or were majorly late, but there were double payments and stuff like that. Argh.

[LadyMSews]

I voted "wife" because I do the day to day stuff, plus the taxes. But really, I'm the bookkeeper and dh is the CFO. He is the one who makes the money and has the 51% vote to my 49%...but we are almost always on the same page anyway. :)

 

But not always. For example, we are moving to a new house and need a fridge. I was thinking to get a used one from craigslist because it would cost less (this is for a garage fridge) and I wanted to buy some other stuff for the house (pricey curtains for the living room). Dh said no, he would rather we buy a inexpensive but still brand new fridge and get less expensive curtains. It's not often we disagree like this, but I've found that dh is almost always right in the long run, so now I'm looking for cheaper curtains. :)

[kricau]

This is so funny :) The poll is showing that the women are incharge of the finances LOL I always have been in our house, but I though that was odd. Guess not

[Amy Jo]

I voted shared. It used to be me, then it was basically nobody because there was no money. Now DH is doing his own business and we split responsibility. I have the house, animals and homeschooling plus gas for my truck. He has business expenses, auto repairs, outside stuff, etc., and gas for his truck. The bills are paid, then he has an allowance for his spending needs (business checking or cash) and I have the allowance in the personal account.

 

We have just started this so we are still working out details, but this way we can make easier/faster decisions. We are each "in charge" of areas we care about and know about. So no one feels that they are being micro-managed (or micro-managing).

 

As far as keeping the books - that's me.

[Scuff]

Dh handled it until about a year ago. I'm much better at it. :) DH is just as capable with the math, but he's much more of a spender. With me taking care of things, we're much more likely to keep our savings. We do discuss the bigger things together.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Scuff

[FairyMom]

We talk about long term goals a few times a year and see if we are on track. As far as the day-to-day finances, only me. He tried to take it over when I was in training for 8 weeks at the flight academy, but half way through he said, "Don't ever let me try to do that again!" :lol: We both like it that way.

[MeaganS]

I picked me, the wife. My husband is completely capable, I just have more time for it. He's at school for 9 hours or more a day and then studies. We like for his free time to be spent with us as much as possible, so I try to take care of everything besides his studies. It's actually flattering that he trusts me with it so much that he doesn't worry about whether bills are getting paid on time or anything.

 

My parents were the same way. I remember a story my dad, a CPA, told about when he was in school. My mom always did the taxes for the same reasons I listed above. One of my dad's accounting professors threatened to fail him when he found out! Luckily, he didn't. :001_smile:

[FairyMom]

I voted shared.

 

I pay all the bills.

 

Mr. Ellie knows what our actual financial situation is (401K/other retirement, stuff like that).

 

I pay the bills not because I'm better at bookkeeping or anything, but because Mr. Ellie is not administrative at all, and he didn't do a very good job of keeping up on them. We never defaulted on anything, or were majorly late, but there were double payments and stuff like that. Argh.

 

:iagree: This is exactly us.

 

(but I voted "wife" because of the daily finances)

[nukeswife]

I choose that I am in charge. Dh and I will discuss things, but it's just easier for me to handle the bank accounts and bill paying because when he's deployed it would be a holy mess if he did it all.

[jewellsmommy]

I, the wife, maintain the finances as far as organizing and deciding who to pay, when, and how much. We both decided/agreed on the 'master' plan, but I implement it. I brief dh on the status of things.

 

Numbers just stay in my head better. I can keep a running balance of almost everything in my head. Dh just can't, he has other things in his head, and he says there is limited space. :lol: Plus, I am more of the anxious/controlling one :D.

[PrincessMommy]

I saw the original post but never really read much of it. My husband does all the investing and financial planning type stuff. I pay the bills.

 

I really have no head for numbers and when dh starts talking about investing and net worth and all that stuff, it just goes in one ear and out the other. I could never work as a teller or anything with numbers. I know I should be on top of it, because if anything happened to my dh, I'd be sunk. I really would be lost... he's done so well with investing and all of that would be lost if it were up to me.

 

But, I'm happy to pay the bills. Although don't ask me what I pay per month for such and such. It really does float right over me and I don't remember - although I DO notice if it seems high - it's just not something I keep in my memory between bill paying times. It's probably partly because we don't have a tight budget where I have to watch what we spend closely. It makes me lazy - I guess. I think it's also because I pay almost all our bills online. If I had to write out a check each month I think I'd retain the info. a bit longer.

[PrincessMommy]

oops, I forgot to say that I choose "mainly the husband" because I feel that the investing portion is much more important and he definitely spends a lot more time per month on it than I do paying bills. Paying the bills is like doing the laundry.

[Impish]

Wolf is clueless.

 

I don't think he even knows the password to online banking.

[BigMamaBird]

In our family my dh does. He used to work in the same building as our Credit Union so it was a pretty logical thing to do. His office moved down the street a few miles, but he's got it all handled electronically over the computer and I trust him so it's cool.

[KS_]

Wolf is clueless.

 

I don't think he even knows the password to online banking.

 

I know my dh doesn't know the passwords to the online banking, or any of the sites I pay bills/credit cards online. It's one of those things he's glad I do and that he doesn't have to keep track of.

[Kathryn]

As I said on the other thread, I'm in charge though I'd love to be able to give it up and not have to be the one worrying about it. However, we tried that and let's just say it didn't work.

[tex-mex]

This is so funny :) The poll is showing that the women are incharge of the finances LOL I always have been in our house, but I though that was odd. Guess not

MIL used to have this notice over her desk:

 

 

Do you want to talk to the "Man-in-charge" or the Lady WHO KNOWS WHAT IS GOING ON?

 

:lol: MIL wore the pants in that family... lol

[melissel]

I picked the wife because I do the paperwork and such, we do discuss the budget, spending, and other financial decisions together although generally I will take care of what needs to be done.

 

:iagree: This is the way it is here too. We both have the aptitude, but I have the time to spare for financial research and the patience/inclination to search for the best deals in general. Large-scale financial decisions are the exception. When it comes to doing things like moving 401Ks around, where to stash our minimal retirement finds, etc., he's the one doing the research because he has the patience/inclination to understand those aspects. We discuss before any moves are made. Of course, I've been asking him to figure out where we should move my small 401K from my old job and he hasn't quite gotten on that yet, but he knows the ball is still in his court on that one!

[Robin M]

I'm completely in charge of the finances for both home and business which includes taxes as well. Hubby takes cash here and there from the business so we have emergency stash at home. The only time we get into arguments it when I need to borrow from it. :lol:

[Chava_Raizel]

My husband is mainly in charge of the finances. However, I am aware what our bills are and such, I just don't like having to deal with them.

[nykatie]

I did this for years, but put him in physical charge of paying the bills so he could get a sense of where the money goes. Still not 50-50, but we're working on it. ;)

[WIS0320]

Me.

[Mom22ns]

I pay the bills and do most of the financial stuff. That said, the other thread talked about insurance and dh chooses the insurance and I pay the bill. If you ask me about our insurance, I'm fairly clueless by choice.

[kalanamak]

Me. Hubby's retirement plan (prior to meeting me) was to work until he dropped and then move to Mexico and be homeless, so he wouldn't be a burden to his kids.

 

He suggested I drop my malpractice insurance when he found out the "tail" was $23K. Uh, no.

[6packofun]

Yes, I agree! :)

[ebrindam]

DH makes the money and pays the bills & is in charge of investments, etc. I spend the money and tell him what I spent. It works for us. I hate being in charge of the money so I gave it over years ago, but I still know how much is where and how to access it.

[Heidi]

Right now it is mainly dh, but previously it has been mainly me.

[Maverick_Mom]

Dh does the planning and has the final say, but we discuss everything, and I take care of the organization of the bills (noting them as they arrive in the mail, mailing the ones that go by mail, filing paperwork, etc.).

[6packofun]

*bump* to get a few more responses... :)

[PRTGSw2K]

DH handles it here b/c he's better with numbers.

[justLisa]

DH does all the bills and such, and I do all the spending :D

 

Well kidding. We talk about big purchases but he knows far more about our budget.

[ZeldaRules]

He makes the money, I pay the bills, but we both make decisions on spending. So I voted it's equal.

[Ipsey]

He makes most of the money.

I'm in charge of bills because I like to know what we have and what we can afford from month to month. I have anxiety issues about money, and if I'm in charge of it, I feel better. He trusts me and doesn't care :)

 

I keep in touch with our financial advisor and the money I make from my part time jobs goes into a separate savings account for extras and "mad money" and vacation money, and I sometimes put it in our joint account.

 

Hubby would do it, but I prefer to.

 

We make large purchase decisions together. I don't spend over about $100 without consulting him, generally, unless I'm buying groceries or other necessities.

 

Whatever works!

 

Oh ETA. I just realized several weeks ago that we could probably refinance our mortgage and do well with it. I called around. Hubby and I agreed on a new bank loan etc. and I'm taking care of the refinance.

Edited July 28, 2012 by Ipsey

[SKL]

Other. There's no spouse. The buck stops here.

[ksr5377]

I didn't vote because I'm not sure what to put. DH takes care of monthly bills and things like that. I make sure to pay DR's bills and anything out of the ordinary. I am also the one that does all the research for our investments and our taxes.

[MiniBlondes]

Husband.

 

He has a knack for all things financial so I let him handle it. He's crazy frugal and I am not. So it's really just better that way. He pays the bills, budgets everything, and gives me cash for certain things. If I need more, I ask and he gives it. It's my job to pinch pennies and make the money stretch on variable things (i.e. groceries and gas)

[black_midori]

I do.

And I think that who does it should be who has the most natural aptitude for it. I don't think there is a defined 'man should do this' (mistaken patriarchal way) or 'woman should do this' (for whatever reason) - I think that whoever is better at it, should do it. :)

DH is involved in it a bit, but it's mostly me. He knows where everything is should something happen to me. That's about it. :D

 

:iagree::iagree:

Couldn't agree more!! I do it, but I'm also a CPA and I'm just plain better at it. We communicate & discuss large purchases, budget changes, etc but in general I just take care of it.

[Element]

Dh pays the "big stuff" and then pays me to take care of the "small stuff." We maintain separate accounts, which works best for us.