Men and women often have different ideas about money; how typical are you?
Women tend to save less, retire on less and invest less than men, but it's not all bad news...
If I gave you £10,000 to invest, what would you do with it? Don’t get too excited, because I don't have £10,000 to spare. But I wonder whether your first thought would be to put it in a savings account or to buy shares? It’s a cliché to say that men are risk takers in life and women prefer security, but when it comes to money there is an element of truth in it. It’s partly because we’re more sceptical and/or cautious and prefer to find out exactly how much we could lose before we invest. But that’s not the only money difference between the sexes.
Does your partner know how you handle money? Would you share your bank statements and credit card bills?
Around one in five couples confess to keeping financial secrets from each other and many of those who don’t still think money is the hardest subject to talk about.
How open are you and your partner when it comes to money? This Valentine’s day I suggested that couples should gift wrap their bank and credit card statements and show their partner they really care. Some of you told me that such a move would signal the end of your relationship. Being in a relationship with someone doesn’t mean you have to know everything each other does, but – if you have joint financial commitments – it’s useful to get an idea of how you manage your money.
You’re a spender, your partner is a saver and you find that talking about money is hard. What can you do?
You don't have to have the same ideas about money for your relationship to work, but if you don't know how to handle your differences, there could be problems.
Opposites attract – so the saying goes – but is that true of the way you handle money? We already know that arguments over money is one of the most common reasons for couples to break up and – although there hasn’t been masses of research into how easy couples find it to talk about finances – the financial regulator (the Financial Services Authority) did look into this subject a few years ago. It found that 75% of couples said that money was the hardest subject to talk about.
