How do you split money duties in the first place? Well, there are three major roles to play as we’ve been practicing in our family:
Role #1: Earning money
Earning money for your family is a huge responsibility and puts a lot of pressure on you. We’ve seen single-income families who have managed to do well. This is probably the best situation, especially for couples with young kids. But of course, there are women who also want to find fulfillment in their career, and that’s fine. However, more often than not, women work because “they have to” in order to help make ends meet, support a certain lifestyle, or accelerate their wealth-building plan. We believe though that it’s the man’s primary responsibility to provide for the family. So what duties are involved in earning money?
- working at a job
- managing a business
- selling stuff
- doing sidelines
Role #2: Spending money
Spending money may be equally as demanding as there’s also a lot of pressure to keep to the budget. And for that, you need a lot of skills — time management skills, organization skills, analytical skills, negotiation skills, and detail-oriented skills. While men and women have these skills, it’s more typical that women tend to be more detail-oriented, and that for us is the most critical skill in managing the family budget. What are the tasks involved in this role?
- preparing the budget
- monitoring expenses
- researching purchases
- keeping the financial books
- doing banking transactions
- paying the bills
- haggling with vendors
- doing the groceries
- overseeing repairs and maintenance
- buying stuff for the household
- shopping for the family
- cutting costs
- keeping records
Role #3: Investing money
Spending money is a fun role, but it’s not without pressure. Make a bad bet and you’re in for a major disaster! But compared to earning and spending money, it doesn’t take as much time and effort. Nevertheless, you have to make informed and rational decisions. Between men and women, it’s usually men who are more into investing in terms of knowledge, skills, interest, and risk appetite. We’re not saying men are better than women in investing because there are studies that say that women actually make better investors than men, just the fact that women are less confident than men when it comes to investing. So the husband becomes the de facto investor. Now, what’s involved in this role?
- doing research
- comparing options
- opening accounts
- tracking the performance
- reading business and financial news
- managing the portfolio
- developing a strategy
- stopping losses
