Managing Family Finances

Personal finance at home – budgeting, spending, analyzing, saving, investing – could be a boring topic. But then managing family finances or family financial management is important. Many families simply do not manage it so their financial planning is always in trouble.

For families that do, it’s either the husband or the wife who take it headlong.

Which spouse do you think are generally responsible for managing family finance?

Spouse’s involvement

In our earlier days, the men folks used to go and earn the bread and butter so it was but natural that the money management used to lie with them. The women used to be at home taking care of the house and kids.

With time, the women have stepped out of the house and begun to earn alongside their husbands. Which actually means that there is less time for the household.

In these less times of availability, it is still the responsibility of the wife to make food and take care of the children. Given this, a woman is left with less time to get involved in other things, like finance.

So the lead is taken by husbands. Not in all instances of course.

In families where the wife steps out to work, there is support back at home in the form of parents or full time maids. If one has robust support at home, a wife can still look at dip her hands into managing finances.

I do not know of any trend which establishes why in one household the man manages finances and why in another the woman. But there is one big reason for the person to get interested in managing family finance.

That is interest ! One can involve himself or herself into something which draws your interest. Some families do not do management of finances because they are not aware and some simply because they are not interested. If you are interested, you WILL find the time to do it.

Otherwise you will simply find reasons not to do it – it’s like the men – each Friday, come what may, they do find time for a drink with friends. Men will be men !

I have seen families where men take acute interest in the monthly finances and in others the women.

Whatever be the case, in very few cases do families actually sit and discuss. About their actual past spends. And how they can bring the most worrying and heavy spend items down.

Generally it’s a decision and loud talk done by one partner. The reason the other partner does not get involved. Apart from interest, is the assumption that his/her spouse must be taking care of it, in the best way. This can lead to issues in the future as bad performance of finance can lead one spouse to point fingers at the other.

That is precisely why management of family finances is also based on trust. There is no guarantee that the man or the woman will do better at finances. Women seem to be less aggressive and play safe usually. But if one spouse thinks that he or she could have done better, then they should have taken up the mantle in the first place.

This is a concept that is learnt over a period of time. It is best done when both the couples sit down and do it together. Two heads are better than one.

In fact, we have seen families where the parents have stepped in budgeting and the family, like a business company, has accepted decisions on money management. It is such families which actually prosper in the long run and are able to build trust among each other.

So who in your household managing family finance – click to vote below.