Regarding the first letter to Dave, I agree absolutely with what he says but may I add something? We have some friends who were just like this.... husband is a good man with many skills and strengths. However, he wasn’t great with money. So, his wife took over the financial planning, paying bills, etc... In this particular case, they are now doing great financially. Perhaps whatever spouse is more disciplined with the finances... should be the one who deals with the family budget. Just a thought.
That’s pretty much what we did. My wife is the disciplined, organized one so I put her in charge of the finances. My job is to code the spreadsheets and make the money.
My husband has put me in charge of paying the bills from the day we got married which was over 48 years ago, and I always made sure to pay our bills on time
That is exactly right!!
That is exactly right!!
You are absolutely right that the spouse who is best with finances should handle it. In our house, it’s my husband. I have one sister who handles all of the money questions and pays the bills. They agreed on this early in their marriage and it has worked out well for them. I have another sister whose finances cause her great stress. Sister #2 and her husband have never come up with a strategy, so that he spends money on something without consulting her and she does likewise. And she keeps saying that she can’t afford to retire, although she is pushing 70.
I am pretty good with money, but my wife (stay at home CPA) is better, and she is much, much better at keeping things organized. Thus, she handles all the finances. We make major decisions together.
(I also do most of the grocery shopping!)
“whatever spouse is more disciplined with the finances... should be the one who deals with the family budget. Just a thought.”
My wife and DIL are great shoppers but terrible money planners.
My son and I are good money planners/managers and investors and terrible shoppers because we don’t like to shop. He is even worse than I am.
So in our families, the guys plan/manage and invest the money. The gals find the bargins and do most of the regular daily/weekly/monthly shopping.
My DIL and I are the deal makers, and our son and my wife are worthless when it comes to making deals on bigger items.
So she and I make the deals on our vehicles, trucks, remodel jobs and other big ticket items.
This basic adult team work. You put the egos aside and let the one with the best skills do the job with backing if needed.