I just began reading Dave Ramsey's book The Total Money Makeover and it is absolutely fabulous! My husband and I talk about the finances regularly and have recently considered having me take over the finances since when I was single I survived on hardly any income and was debt free within months. I still am unsure about taking over this responsibility. I'm just wondering how others handle this situation. Any thoughts?
Oh, and be sure to aswer the poll above! Thanks!
Stumble it!
15 Thoughts Shared:
I hate to say I handle the finances, but David is in charge of the 401Ks, IRAs and that sort of thing. I actually sit down and write the checks for the bills. We discuss all major purchases together (major meaning more than $100).
We do need to sit down together and priorities the major purchases for the future. In the mix to consider are domestic or international adoption, saving up for our next car (current van has 130K miles on it), above ground pool (we so need this in the summer!), possibly investing in a land deal... Right now we have all these things that we'd like to do, but no PLAN to actually save up and accomplish them.
Do you catch Dave Ramsey on the radio? He is way motivating! I can't wait to call in one day and be able to yell "FREEEEEEEDOM!!!"
Amy, in our family it works better for the person who is more gifted with financial responsibility to handle this task. My husband has delegated the finances to me and our marriage is much healthier as a result. (Not that I love doing the finances. It's just that I'm better at it than my husband. At that's okay!)
My husband handles the finances because he is gifted mathematically and I am not. I tried doing our finances and was just too overwhelmed with the stress. However, I know a lot of wives who handle the finances and do it very well and the husbands are grateful. I think that whatever you and your husband agree best works for your family is fine. And that if you do take it over that pride wouldn't be an issue if you do it better than he does...just wrote that because it probably would be an issue for me. :-)
Love Dave Ramsey. Several members of my family have had great success.
My husband pays the bills and handles all of the finances. We discuss everything though. He just does the work.
I discovered Dave Ramsey just over a year ago, and in recent months my husband has come on board. For the 1st 15 years of our marriage, by mutual agreement, I handled the finances, only discussing together the big purchases. Not a good thing! In the past few months my husband has begun partnering with me on paying the bills and seeing where our money is going. Now we are in agreement with paying cash for purchases and have long term financial goals. It will take awhile for us to climb out of debt, but God is so faithful in providing more than we need that I know we can do it. In fact just this past month we were able to pay cash for a new vehicle for me.
You can also listen to the Dave Ramsey show archives at www.daveramsey.com.
I handle all of the finances in our family. My husband is interested in the "big picture" items, but he has neither the time nor the interest in the "day to day" bill paying, bank reconiliation, etc. This takes a burden off him.
In addition, I am much more in tune with the kids' issues (things like upcoming doctors appointments, shoes getting snug, school needs, etc.) and am better able to anticipate and set funds aside for these items. Since I do most of the spending (groceries, kids, household, etc.), this gives me "real time" information if I need to cut back in one area to cover an unexpected expense.
I feel it's critical that both spouses understand their overall financial position and are comfortable with how the money is spent/saved. It's pretty insignificant, overall, who cuts the checks, reconciles the bank account and maintains overall records.
It's so funny you would ask this question because my husband and I are in major transition. Over the past 20 yrs. finances have definitely been our biggest obstacle! When we were first married he handled the $$(bad idea!). Then I took over and got us on a budget and slowly climbing out of debt (I could tell you exactly what we spent and where it went in 2000-2001). Then he changed careers which completely threw off my budget so he took over again (bad idea!).
So, here we are 6 yrs. later trying to figure out how to solve the financial mess that has become our life. In the church bulletin yesterday we discovered a Dave Ramsey program coming to our city next month. We are going! If nothing else my husband has finally hit "bottom" and is ready to work together to fix our problem. I feel like the first step was being on the same page about money and spending and it looks like we may be there! So hopefully we can move in a forward direction from here....
This may be TMI but it just came spilling out.....
I do all the finances here. I am the gifted one in that area and do so much better keeping up with it. It is not something I took, but something my husband asked me to do. He sees that I fit well in that role.
My husband is involve in the big decisions but the day to day stuff and bill paying I handle.
Hope this helps.
Julie
I wish my husband could do it, but since he's in the Navy, he's gone a lot, and there's no reason for us to be passing the responsibility back and forth. We just decided I would track it, and that works well for us.
And Dave Ramsey is great!
I handle the finances in our family because I have a flare for numbers. Once I have figured out who gets what I sit down with dh and talk about the amounts if he has a different opinion I change the amount. We are working our way out of debt and that is feeling great. In three years we have paid off 3000. We only have my dh's disability of 20000 a year so I think we are doing well. My dh always ask me to check the budget if he wants to buy something. We work well together and that is the most important thing. Clare
I think it depends on the reason. If the husband puts things off on the wife to avoid responsibility, that is a bad thing.
If the wife is doing the finances in order to take a burden off of him, yet he still oversees and has input (or even direction), then it's a different thing.
I pay the bills and hubby knows every penny spent. "Every dollar has a name", probably not as enforced as we could - but we've found our fit. Hubby and I discuss our plans regularly and he knows more about investing and such. Although I do not understand all of that - we discuss it and are in agreement with every $ spent. So I guess we are a 50/50 family but I take the load of bill paying off of my husband. He prefers it that way and I don't mind either!
Blessings!
I do all of our finances including IRAs, investments, and major purchases. Dh doesn't have time nor does he enjoy doing all the research that I do when figuring these things out. So, for example, we decide together we need furniture or a vehicle or whatever, but I'll do the research and make the purchase.
I already answered your poll, and said that we both do it. But, for the most part, it's normally hubby. When he would deploy, tho, for 6-8 months at a time, it was naturally me who was in-charge of the finances. And the stinker would always come home and praise me for how good I had done, wonder how I had managed to get the finances in such good shape ... then take them back over! lol Ahh, the give and take of marriage!
We do tend to talk money quite a bit, but we are trying to work ourselves out of debt, so it's a trying (but working!) time financially. (in all honesty, we may be getting out of the Navy before the end of the year, and need as much in savings as we can handle to help with getting a house!) Anything really over $20 or so, and we try to make sure that 1)the other is aware of and okay with the purchase, and 2) think whether or not this is a NEED or a WANT. Tough one at times, especially when trying to get the point across to two tweens! But that's where we are right now - stuck between the Needs and the Wants.
We went through Financial Peace University (Dave Ramsey's financial school..in essence) and it was fabulous! Coming from a family where Mom did all the finances, it puts a burden on the woman to be the only one handling all the bills, etc. Dave is totally right on when he recommends both husband and wife get together and do the finances. When my husband and I started it, the stress of bill paying was greatly reduced and he always knew where the money was going. We have since then slipped back into our old ways and I am feeling the stress. We need to get back to the basics of FPU!
Blessings on your journey to financial freedom!
Mrs. Q
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